So my name is Malika Weak. And today I will be giving a talk about how leading a Google community in a foreign land taught me the company culture. So uh and again, I'm the Google Ds L A 2020 to 2021.And also if you guys have any questions or anything, we will be answering them towards the end of the session. So I was breaking, I will break down this talk into three parts. That is first we talk about the foreign land, then we go on to the uh to the uh Google community. And thirdly, we talk about how the Google community taught me about the company culture. So also I would like it if any of you could type, where are you, are you all joining us from and also type us if you are away from home and also in a foreign land. OK. So I will start with myself. I'm originally from Pakistan and I am studying Turkey right now. I am a sophomore student and I'm majoring in math. So uh obviously, like before coming to Turkey, I had been watching few Turkish series and Turkish shows and getting to know about the culture. And obviously we've heard about the touristic attractions in Turkey for quite some time. Like we have been hearing them growing up. But also there's a thing that coming to a place and just hearing and just watching that place from like, you know, far away is different.

So when it came to Turkey, the language barrier was larger than I had expected it to be. So in the first few days, it was just me Google Granulate. I was just using few slides just to understand even, you know, on campus, I live in the dorms. So talking to the dormitory management uh was also very, very hard for me. So as a foreign and also like the first semester was on campus and second semester onwards, everything got online due to pandemic and everything and our com uh university, it is uh you know, operated in English but uh the clubs and societies, they are mainly in Turkish that is uh you know, there are 300 to 4 like many hundreds of societies on campus.

But I I could just watch like there were 3 to 4 societies that were in English and amongst the Turkish ones, there was like photography. There were, you know, all those passions that you cannot follow inside the classroom that you think of, you know, following your habits outside the classroom that is different club societies, those were in Turkish and as internationals, that was a bit hard because um just having 3 to 4 clubs that also an environment and one was for South Asians and one was specifically for international students.

So they didn't really, you know, follow the other uh entrepreneurship and the computer societies and the tech society, etcetera were in Turkish. So it was hard as internationals for us to follow. Now, towards the end of the first year, I actually applied for DS C lead and I was like 90% sure of rejection. But uh uh like I got selected thankfully and it was, you know, I was actually thinking that about the language barrier when I was selected and the team and the Google community is called Google, DS E, Google, DS, E stands for Google Developer Students Club. Uh In this society, we actually provide a peer to peer learning uh environment where we share resources in the form of hackathons tech workshops. We uh have speaker sessions and also various competitions. And among the various competitions, there is an annual competition called the Solution Challenge.

And this time, we actually collaborate with U NDP and UN in Turkey. And we also discussed the 17 STGS that is that are sustainable development goals and that is the 2030 agenda of U NDP. And to all the stu students who have joined us today, I would recommend you to join that uh to you don't apply for DS E in your community or just become a part of the community since there are different ways, even if you are not that interested in tech, uh there are many different ways in which you can, you know, just become a part of it.

And that is what Google gave me, like, apart from, you know, becoming the lead in a foreign country. And I established the club in November 2020. That is uh the, it's the first time that there was a Google club on our on campus and it became official. So, and also like, you know, we had to go through the process of building a team that is, it taught me how to, you know, make a hierarchy of my own. It taught me the depart uh mental organization and everything. So uh like, and also amongst this, that was the diversity in the team. So Google gave me a different, you know, it gave me a community where I could learn, it gave me a reflection of leadership, manage and culture all together because, you know, as international students, obviously, when you're in a different country, we get to uh learn from different people, we get to know the different backgrounds and different perspectives and everything and we hang out with different people and socialize with different people.

But when you're in a workplace and you need to collaborate, you need to have professional meetings, it's different. That is um it's like when you want to know the culture and the society, the best thing that you can do is meet people in different work settings, in different areas. That is someone who, you know, personally that is you hang out with, you have fun and socialize and just go out. It's different. But the same person when you uh meet that per uh meet that person in a professional meeting, it is different. So that is the case with this. So that is what I would recommend when that when you come to a foreign land that is try to meet the same people in different settings to get to know them. And you know, it's like um the different settings in those, you learn how that person approaches. For example, I have grown up in Pakistan, I'm originally from Pakistan and I know the people, the culture and everything over there, the language over there because I have lived there for so many years. But when I came to Turkey, it's my second year in Turkey now.

It's still different. Like the way I live here and the way I live in Pakistan are very different. So you wish you know how to approach something differently in Turkey and and Pakistan because the same problem in different places has different approaches. And this is uh what I have learned. And also those who do not have a language barrier and those coun countries where you can, you know, talk in English, the mindset is different. Like you need to understand where people are coming from. So obviously, each person may be unique in their own way. That is each individual is unique. That is even people from the same country who have lived together their whole life, even siblings or twins are way different from one another. So this is what we need to understand as human beings that you talk to one person, you understand the uniqueness and treat each individual as a learning experience as a new adventure. And that is exactly how you learn more. So when you do that, it's like you realize that this person said this about the same thing and that person said this about the same thing. They might have said different things, but there's always some common ground and similarities between how the two people have approached or thought about it. So hence this, that is the common ground that you need to actually work more on and focus more on.

And that allows you to learn more about the place you live in and the place you are, even if you just go from one city to another, it's like very different, a very different way because people even in same city, people have different setups and they've grown up in different ways.

So it's like having a conversation with the father of the same house and a child of the same house of main different, but they might have common ground because of the setup. So that is exactly what we need to focus on and that is how we understand the company culture as well for company culture, it's like you need to put yourself more out there that is uh by putting yourself out there. I mean that, you know, just have more discussions, have more meetings, like ask more questions. And when you're doing all of this, the first thing that you need to like that is rule number one is that it's all right if you are wrong because you know, as an international, I messed up with Turkish multiple times in multiple places in public places. So I've actually become used to it because there's this word in Turkish that is so similar, but one means bread and one means man. So I've confused the two and it's ok to be wrong. So it's the same case when you are, you know, having a conversation with someone like us students, I would say join the clubs and societies in your university.

And just, you know, just put yourself out there have conversations with different people with different uh like people from different backgrounds that people from, for example, different countries and even from people from different cities of the same country because that allows you more to understand the same people but people coming from different places.

And that allows you more to understand the common ground that all of these people hold despite being so different from one another. And yeah, so the company culture is something again that you need to put yourself more out there. So even if you're working, I would say that there are many communities that each, you know, city has in every country, mostly that is, there might be a uh you know, uh tea society, some other societies that just meeting people and getting to know people in different communities in different ways and different settings allows you to understand the people more.

So that is exactly what we need to learn that allow us to learn in different ways. Like even our friends, the closest friends that we have, they will be very different when it comes to professional meetings, profession calls, et cetera. So, and also those who uh have a language barrier, who are living in countries that have a language barrier. I would say that, you know, just I had actually read this fact somewhere that uh getting to know a new language allows you to think differently. Like I have actually experienced this, that when I'm talking in Turkish, it's like I'm thinking in a completely different way. And when I'm talking in uh English, it's different. When I'm talking in Urdu, it's different. So again, as we go back, as I said that it's different when I'm in Pakistan, it's different when I'm in Turkey and the same way, it's like, you know, the same do as the Romans do. Um So that's how it is. It's like you need to adapt to the culture and the different settings, etcetera. So yeah, so this is all I wanted to say about the company culture and how the Google community helped me. So if you guys have any questions, please mention them and share them. Also, if you guys want to reach out to me on linkedin, here's my linkedin account. So feel free to reach out to me. And also if there are any questions, please let me know no problem. Where are you guys from? Why don't you guys share that?

Oh, nice to meet you, Yasmin. I've got a few friends from Morocco also, by the way, I was a math major. And also if you any of your students, I would recommend that you apply for Google Ds ee because you know, I'm a math major and people always go up to me that. How did you do that? Because tech is very different from math meter and everything. So that is how it is that even if you are not related to the field, just go for it. Just give it a try because I was 90% sure of rejection when I applied for DS C. I'm from the UK, but originally from Morocco. Oh, that's nice, Miriam. So how is it like, do you feel like a connection? Do you when like how do you go about it? Like does it feel different as an international? And also another way to get to the company? Culture is that just do a few projects and, or just internships and you know, just putting yourself out there in the form of societies, in the form of communities or in the form of workplace that is, you know, Google when I, well, I became a part of Google. It's like I got to know people from the industry leaders that were locally from Turkey. I got to go collaborated with Ds CS in Nigeria, in UK, in different parts of the world.

So along with DS C being a very beautiful experience, there was this part that allowed me to under uh you know, talk to the locals and understand the locals, for example, my regional lead and my other leads and the other D sds based in Turkey were very different, but I could understand where they are all coming from.

So that is the case. Having different conversations have helped me a lot. It hasn't hurt since I moved a few weeks ago. Mm Yeah. Uh So do if things getting online, a lot of things have stopped and hindered and it, it takes a greater effort when things are online because I remember when I had to start the club that is, it was online and al also online takes a greater effort. And you know, there are people who want to be led differently and we need to understand what the community wants because when it comes to uh Google, DS D, you are sharing Google technologies and you need to share different Google technologies, but you just cannot share any technology randomly.

You need to understand what the community wants and then share accordingly. So that is the case, it takes a greater effort, but it's not impossible. And uh also like I remember in 2020 I just ran, I was a participant of me tech uh global conference last year. And there I actually met my boss who had actually uh you know, shared this link that we do in the boot camp. 1st 50 signups are free. So I became a participant after becoming the part, I got the chance to do an internship with her. So it's just like, you know, go with the flow and always, you know, put in effort. And after the internship over there, I got a chance to like, you know, uh reach out to people, interview people from different parts of the world that is Estonia, Azerbaijan, UK, Italy, and so many parts of the world. So it's like, always, you know, make an effort. Hi, Nadia, good morning. It's three, almost 340 in Turkey right now PM. Oh, great. And also that I would suggest that as I joined Google D IC, that was an extracurricular. I established another English group in my society in my university. So it also gave me a chance to give back to the community because, you know, I grew up in Pakistan. And whenever I go back. I always make it a chance to get back to the community where I grew up.

And that we have, I have, you know, have like 16 years of education in Pakistan. And here this is my second year in Turkey and I've learned so much in two years. So it's always been a thing for me to give back to the community. So just that um way, just it helps us so much. Like right now I feel so happy and blessed to have that ability as the experience and to have been able to give back to Turkey that has given me so much. And also like as Hi. Hi, Amy, I hope I pro not spent your name. Right. If you guys have any other questions, please reach out to me. And also I have shared my linkedin once again, I'll share it. Uh You can always reach out to me that is, I worked in various interesting that is journalism, research and analytics and various other ways. So, and in tech and entrepreneurship as well. So feel free to reach out to me whenever good luck for your masters. Yeah, I'm sure you'll do well. And also, you know what uh when I was looking for internships, it was like last year, I wasn't prepared for anything. I hadn't applied anywhere. So it just happened. I joined this conference, I landed up one internship where I, you know, could interview and recruit. I was in charge of recruiting people.

And then after that, I just uh landed Google DS C and I just, that was just it, I was just going with the flow that helped me, I had not applied anywhere. I just, you know, went with the flow. So even if you feel that you are not prepared, you don't. And there's a lot of uncertainty right now, then it's all right. And also I know that there is a lot of uncertainty right now because of the pandemic and everything. But you know, the thing is uh I actually learned this from a mentor who said that there was certainty, cer uncertainty always. But you know, um uh the the uncertainty has become more obvious right now due to the pandemic situation. So there's always uncertainty and you just need to go with the flow and that brings me to the end of my session. It was nice meeting you all. Thank you so much.