Google’s ‘future is really bright’ in Austin, company executive says – Austin American-Statesman

For Google's Nuha Elkhiamy, it's exciting to see the company's Austinoperations grow into one of Google's largest hubs.

Elkhiamy, who was recently named the site leadfor Google's Austin hub,said Google has received a warm welcome since debuting operations in the city 14 years ago. She said she wants to ensure Google maintains "responsible growth" as it continues to expand in Central Texas.

"At a personal level, it's a place I call home and in my role in Google I committed to investing in the place where I work and I live. So for me, and I think for many of our other Googlers, it is personal,"Elkhiamy said. "We want to build upon thereal positive reception we've had in terms of the tech industry in Austin and we want to continueas partnersaswe grow in the city of Austin."

The company opened an Austin office in 2007 and now has more than 1,500 employees in Central Texas. Google plans to occupyall of a new 35-story tower being built at 601 W. Second St.

Elkhiamy, who is also director of Google's corporate engineering division, said she views her role as support for 800 engineering employees based in Austin, and the broader Google Austin hub. This entails everything from helping with development andcareer aspirations to building and fostering community relationships.

Before taking over as leader of the Austinhub, Elkhiamy was in charge of Google's Austin engineering diversity, equityand inclusion operations. In that role she alsoworked with the broader Austin community including anumber of partner organizations like Code to College as well as Huston-Tillotson University.

Elkhiamy spoke with the American-Statesman about her new role, her vision for Google's Austin hubandGoogle's involvement in the community. The interview has been edited for space and clarity.

American-Statesman: Austin is a growing location for Google. How do you work tokeep inclusion in mind as it expands?

Elkhiamy: One of the things that we did last year was a three-pronged approach to diversity, equity inclusion within the Austin site.

We looked at manager development, knowing that our managers are critical to creating inclusive environments, providing safe space for them to talk about various issues, and also really focusing on their development as they create those inclusive environments.

We also had a focus on allyship. We have a really rich employee resource groupfootprintwithin the Austin site... We look at how do we, as a community, facilitate strong allyship and partnership. We hosted things like listening sessions where folks that did not necessarily belong to a community but that care about a community can learn more about different communities.

The last is really trying to bring a more representative tech industrymore broadly. We focused on bringing STEM education, as well as computer science-based curriculum,to middle school and high school and engage with universities. We aim to bring up and build a more representative tech industry, that's one of the ways that we believe that we can help create a more representative Austin.

How is Google working to be inclusivewhile hiring in a competitive tech talent market?

We've had a healthy flow of tech talent coming into Google... Whether it's internal candidates or we're goingout in the market,orbuilding university relationships, we really want to be building a representative tech industry. We are investing earlier in students' careers, to ensure we do have a healthy pipeline of talent going forward. For example, in the average market, women represent less than 30% of the tech industry. We want to really challenge that and say how can we invest earlier in younger students, and change the dynamic to build a more representative tech industry and talent pipeline.

We ultimately want the best and the brightest minds. We believe that diverse perspectives are the right thing to do but it's also great for the communities we live and work in. We know that companies that have diverse representation, actually perform better.I think the more perspectives we bring into our workforce the better quality products and solutions we build for our customers and for our communities every day.

Why is Google involved in the community? What types of ways does the company work with local organizations?

Our missions are very much aligned in that we want to build a representative technology industry, that offers technologies for everyone. Our partner, Code to College, for example, aims to increase the number of minority high school students in STEM. When we partner with themwe have an annual interview and resume workshopswhere we support students every year and help upskill and get them ready for future interviews and interactions with companies.

We also earlier this yearco-sponsored a STEM workshop where students ended up proposing to us the future of video conferencing in collaboration with 30 or so Google volunteers. I think we have a common mission of building a more representative and accessible tech industry for all. We see that as part of our core missionwhich benefits, the places where we work and live, even if not necessarily directly benefiting the Google employee base immediately.

Youre taking over as site lead in a time of a lot of change between the pandemic and the hubs growth. What do you see for GoogleAustins future?

I'm really excited about this time. It's new territory for all of us collectively when we return to the office environment. It's a time for me, where I havebeen very intentionally empathetic. I know that a lot of our employees have questions about what this could look like and I'm really taking the time for questionsand helping them feel supported through the transition.

I think we have a really bright future here.Just anecdotally I'm hearing that there are existing employees that are really interested in transferring to Austin and so we expect that Austin will continue to grow as a site. We're building out a new office to occupy in 2023, so I'm really excited in terms of the growth of Google talent. I'm also really excited to hear from our employee base that they are excited to come back and start collaborating with their fellow employees, and also engage in the community.

I was talking to someone who was asking about opportunities on how she can specifically engagein the community. So I do see continued growth in our employee footprint here in Austin, but also in our engagement in the community really fueled by our fellow Googlers.

How does the Austin hub fit into Google at large?

I see our growth footprint as being very strong. As I make my rounds and as I hear about the return to the office, Austin is repeatedly one of the locations where our leaders are committed to invest, as well as employees themselves,are expressing interest in. I think our future is really brightfor years to come.

Austin's tech scene is booming. How do you seeGooglefitting into this growing ecosystem?

I think well continue to be partners with local communities and local community organizations.That's going to be really critical to the fabric of what we consider responsible growth. And also leveraging the power of some of our Google-wide programs. For example, our Growwith Google program in 2020 hosted hundreds of small business owners and job seekers at the Austin Public Library where we provided workshops and training. It's that same program and footprint that enabled us to help, Huston-Tillotson apply and get accepted into the Grow with Google HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities)Career Readiness Program, that's a $1 milliongrant that's focused specifically on digital enablementfor HBCU students.

One of the critical ways that we hope to continue to foster growth in the community is by supporting local organizations like Us Together, harnessing the power of Google-wide programs, and really demonstrating economic impact in the places where we work and live.

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Google's 'future is really bright' in Austin, company executive says - Austin American-Statesman