What do you do when you want to find out more about careers in tech? Google it! Or ask people who work for Google directly. 

On Monday, December 5th, four “Googlers” (professionals who work for Google), led a panel discussion for Juniors and Seniors about careers in tech and spoke about their work as part of Computer Science Education Week. Two Googlers visited SAR HS in person and two were remote via Google Meet. 

The speakers talked about their journey from college through various interesting jobs, from writing software and helping to control stage effects for a theater, to their current respective positions at Google which include honing their cyber security skills, writing the code for Google sheets, and working on the core Google product to increase the speed of the results when performing searches. They all showed charts of their career progress on line graphs which had some valleys and many peaks.

I learned that working in the computer science field is much more collaborative than I thought

Junior Kerenna Klein

The panelists concluded by each sharing an inspiring closing word, such as “be bold”, or “be creative,” then the thirty students in attendance asked insightful, probing questions relating to the talk. 

“I loved that I could ask questions about complex topics like how quantum computing will affect Google as a company and hear different options about how it will impact the field of computer science,” says Junior Jake Goldmann who is currently enrolled in the App Creation and Quantum Computing elective

“As someone who loves coding, it was really interesting to see some of the potential career paths that could come from pursuing that passion,” says Senior Eden Hen. “Computer science has many incredible uses in our lives, so it was great to talk with people who are constantly working to improve the technology that we often take for granted.”

SAR High School offers a robust Design Engineering program, Robotics curriculum, and a comprehensive class on App Development and Quantum Computing, as well as AP Computer Science. Students participate in a range of co-curriculars that involve coding ranging from Robotics competitions as part of the NYC FIRST Tech Challenge League to video game coding competitions (called “game jams”) to annual hack-a-thons such as HackTrin at the Trinity School and ones sponsored by the Center for Innovation in Jewish Education (CIJE) utilizing the Arduino microcontroller. The students hope to parlay what they learn in school to innovative tech positions in the future.