Two computer science alums bring Google to UB’s Davis Hall

Nisha during the Google Games event helping students.

Nisha Chaudhari (left), who works within the Google Hire sector at Googleplex in Mountain View, Calif., provides help to a student during the Google Games event.

By Whitney Singleton

Published October 12, 2017 This content is archived.

Bob Zwolinski (BA ’83) and Nisha Chaudhari (MS ’15) remember how well-prepared they were for the job force after earning computer science degrees at UB. 

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“You want to find ways to give back because you’ve been successful and I think doing this is a great way to give back to the school.”
Bob Zwolinski
Google

Now both employed at Google, the two visited their alma mater to talk with more than 175 students about careers at Google and how to prepare for internships and employment at the company.

They started off with a resume workshop to help students understand what Google is looking for in a resume. Chaudhari kicked off the event by asking students to share their thoughts on some sample resumes. Zwolinski brought the mic to eager students so they could share their views, while Chaudhari gave some tips on what to include and not include on resumes when seeking jobs in the field of computer science.

Soon after the resume workshop, the room turned into a mock Google internship interview. With Zwolinski as the interviewer, and Chaudhari as the interviewee, students were shown what goes on during a Google internship interview and what is expected out of an interviewee during the process.

Chaudhari shared that UB helped prepare her to enter the workforce stating, “I really learned Java at UB and that prepared me for interviews and has served me well in my career.”  She works within the Google Hire sector at Googleplex, the famous corporate headquarters located in Mountain View, Calif.

Next came the Google Games: Campus edition, where students had the opportunity to compete in teams against each other to solve puzzles and play word association games. At the start of the event, the room went silent as students analyzed the puzzles in front of them. At the conclusion of the event, smiles and sighs of relief echoed throughout the room and Zwolinski proceeded to declare the winners.

“You want to find ways to give back because you’ve been successful and I think doing this is a great way to give back to the school,” said Zwolinski, who works within the Google Flights sector at the Cambridge location in Massachusetts.

The event has some practical implications for many UB students, as according to Brendan Collins, University Programs Expansion Specialist at Google, there are currently 154 UB alums across all degrees and concentrations working at Google.

“The total intern alumni number is untraceable, but in the last six years we've hired 21 interns across five of our offices: London, Cambridge (MA), Kirkland WA, our Mountain View CA headquarters, and our satellite office down the road from HQ in Sunnyvale, CA,” added Collins.

The visit took place on September 25-26, 2017, and was hosted jointly by the Department of Computer Science and Engineering and UB’s Office of Career Services.