This summer, as you'll later learn I am working at Google. I have a paid internship in AdSense, Google's ad publisher interface that allows you to make money while publishing advertisements from their AdWords customers. In AdSense everything is AFX. AdSense for X (x being, S for search, M for mobile, etc)... Today's post is about AdSense for Soccer.
I had just gotten back from a 1:1 meeting with a team leader in AdSense when three different people approached me asking me how come I wasn’t ready! Ready for what? I asked. For soccer, put your shoes on, this product manager (that’s quite a high position) answered. Now let me explain something about Google culture: here everything has codenames, so “soccer” probably stood for some software or meeting, and as any new intern, I felt out of place! So I proceeded by doing what I have always done when I feel out of place- I asked!
It turns out there was an actual soccer game. Yes! At 12:30 PM right in the middle of lunchtime, and I was probably not only going to miss the Texas themed 4th of July BBQ I was about to go to with some co-workers, but some of the meetings that followed. Agh! Who cares? My manager thought it’d be cool, I took the offer.
Now here was the problem- everyone at Google dresses really chill, I on the other hand was dressed on the business casual side, and therefore only found myself wearing one thing that would come useful for the soccer game- underwear. Where was I going to find sneakers, shorts and a T-shirt. By coincidence I had those things in a locker at the Gym, as the day before I had forgotten to take it home.
I walked out of the Gym and there was an SUV, with a driver waiting. He pulled down the window and called out- Sir, are you David? I laughed. He said, get on and quickly, they’re waiting for you. I had no idea what was going on. One minute there’s some managers near my desk asking me why am I not ready, the next a driver outside of the building awaiting me.
It was a chilled ride- he talked about how he always tried to play in a soccer league but never made the cut. I wanted to share a similar experience, until he interrupted by saying how he really admired people like me who can do business and play sports so well. I had no idea where he got that from, but the last time I was officially in any sort of sports team, must have been the 7th grade.
Anyways, we reached the soccer field, I got outo f the SUV and thanked him. Ran in to the Google Soccer Field (as big as any pro field you’ll find), and there they were. Six team mates waiting for me, in their soccer gear, anxious. Aren’t you Scott Sheffer, the Director of Online Sales and Operations for the company (that’s four people above my manager)? Yeah! He said. And you’re David the Venezuelan; we have high expectations for you. Well, I’m working really hard and networking with everyone I can, I answered proudly. He giggled. No, I mean for today’s game- given your country of origin we expect good results! There, I joined him in the laughing; mine was perhaps a nervous one. I immediately wanted to clear everything with my team mates. Guys, I am not sure why all of this is happening or why I was chosen to play this afternoon. Given my country of origin I should be good at baseball- Venezuela never made it to the world cup.
I was relieved. I finally built up the courage to stop time for a second and let them know I wasn’t Maradona. They didn’t seem to listen. One teammate padded me in the back, and the VP-level-executive (who no one ever gets to meet with because he’s so busy, but with whom I was now going to spend the next hour and a half playing sports) approached me and asked what position I usually play. I don’t usually play, I answered. He laughed, no seriously, where in the field? That was it for me, they weren’t going to believe me, then I was going to show off. I usually play Lateral Izquierdo, it’s our word for left defense. He suddenly became interested in how to say the rest of the positions in Spanish, and I made up half, but I was proud to be teaching him some things in the field, at least before the game started.
So yeah. This was all for real. The other team got there, everyone in cleats and sheen guards! Game starts. They scored, we scored, and they scored. We were down 1-2 towards the end of the first half. I have got to admit it; I was putting up a great fight! Poh, poh , puhh- a bunch of great passes and all, but this was a really quiet game for me. One who knows me, would picture me in a field screaming random Spanish things, “pasala brother”, “cheeeaa boii”, “aqui viejo, aqui” or “papi, papi”, or even running funny to scare the other players. Not this time, this was a job interview, man. Everyone in that field had a Bachelors Degree, most had a Master’s In Business Administration, and years of experience in the Google Soccer team.
Back to the game. There I was defending the left laterals of our empire, with my bare shoe soles, no protection or support; every man had a responsibility, and expectations upon him. What sucks about being defense is that you don’t score; you take the ball from the opponent and give it to your team mate to score and take the glory. I took a chance. This time I didn’t give it to my team mate. Went up the left lateral with the ball, thought it would be great to center the ball, and maybe get some credit for “putting it in a silver platter” to the delantero (forward). I shot, the ball torpedoed like never before and I scored. “cheeaaa boiiiii”, I was screaming down the field! The high executives clapping for me, impressive said one of them. The other one turned to him and answered, I told you, we were right. Wow! I cannot express the feeling of ecstasy that was running through me. I ran back calmly to my position while everyone celebrated. On the inside I wanted to explode!
The first half ended, I had tied the game, and we were ready for the second half. I asked for a longer break, I was exhausted, although they all seemed to be fine. What’s wrong buddy, a product manager asked. Man, I haven’t played since college, gotta give me a break, I told him. Why did I say that? You haven’t played since college!? College was three weeks ago for you. You can’t use that sentence, as an intern! Everyone laughed. The ice was definitely broken. Later I’d find out, everyone in the office was talking about how “I hadn’t played since college”.
The second half happened. We really got back to this game. I scored another one (I could not believe it either, don’t worry!), and we ended up beating that team 6-2, maybe 7; by that point I wasn’t really paying attention to the score- I was in my own world…
Game was over, time to get back to work. After all, I was still getting paid for playing that game. Just when I was going to jug back to my building, Scott offered a ride in his car. I took it. I call the shower first, he said. (We have gyms everywhere, and showers too. Our building had only one). I have a meeting soon, I answered. Well, I have a 2 O’clock, he answered. I pulled out my phone, went to our personal Google Calendars, and suggested, whoever is meeting with the most important person gets to shower first. Now, he was already more important than anyone I had met at the company, so unless he was meeting with a coworker of mine, I had no chances. He was meeting with the CEO…
Soccer is a game I have always loved, but not necessarily mastered. I have played at times where I am the star, but usually others outperform me. This time I went in with the mentality that I had to win, that I wanted to win, that I was ready to give it my all. True, I was getting paid to play and all, but this game could have been at anytime during the day, and I would have paid to e able to have this experience. Things sometimes happen to us and we ask ourselves why. We have to learn to let go of that “why?”, and worry more about the “how?” How can I make of this a great experience?
