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Google Sandbox aims to foster tech talent in underrepresented cities around the world

Google has a number of outreach and philanthropy initiatives from Google.org to encouraging STEM programs. The latest is called Google Sandbox and aims to foster “talent in communities that have been historically underrepresented in the tech industry.”

Google Sandbox is a program series designed for industry professionals to explore career opportunities while gaining deeper insight into Google’s technology, business, and culture. While open to everyone, the program has a focus on people from communities and backgrounds that have been historically underrepresented in the tech industry.

While not explicitly a recruiting event, this initiative aids to address under-representation in the tech community by exposing more people to the inner workings of Google. Of course, it does help to spur interest in working at the company.

One goal of this outreach is to build a “company that reflects the varied backgrounds, communities and mindsets of the people who use our products.” Local Googlers often participate, and it gives them a chance to give back to their communities.

This effort is global and expands beyond the U.S. with six countries and 24 cities in total. So far, nearly 4,000 people have participated in tech talks, product demos, codelabs, case studies, design sprints, workshops, career discussions, and panels. Other events are business-focussed and geared towards building advertising systems that can scale internationally.

They get a sense of what working at Google is like, and walk away with new perspectives or skills–for example, our Machine Learning Labs show participants how various applications and tools, like TensorFlow and dataset modeling, can apply to their own professional projects.

Google has a number of upcoming Sandbox events planned in Portland, San Francisco, Houston, Kansas City, Birmingham, Louisville, Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham, and Washington D.C. in the US. An event in Haifa, Israel is also planned, with more cities this year planned.

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Avatar for Abner Li Abner Li

Editor-in-chief. Interested in the minutiae of Google and Alphabet. Tips/talk: abner@9to5g.com