G'day London

Posted by Mike Perrow, Software Engineer

I just got back the Google offices in London. I was visiting London for our second G'Day Google event, meeting engineers in the UK, and telling the world about Google in Australia. (You may recall we held a similar event last year in California).


The event started with a few talks. First up was the current Australian High Commissioner in London, to tell us about how business is booming in Australia (apparently the world's 13th largest economy). Next we had talks about engineering at Google in London and Sydney. Alan Noble, the engineering director for Australia, talked a bit about the products and areas that we work on down here. Finally we heard from Carl Sjogreen, Group Product Manager for Australia/NZ, who told us about the life of a PM, and about what it takes to ship great products.

Afterwards, we had a good amount of time to mingle, eat and drink (of course, being Google, there was awesome free food), and talk amongst ourselves for a while. I had a lot of fun chatting with some Aussie expats and Londoners, and enjoyed the surreal experience of eating Kangaroo and drinking VB on a cold London evening.


I've been at Google Australia for about a year now. I moved out from Switzerland (where I'd been studying) last (Australian) summer and have been loving life in Sydney. It's quite a change from what I've been used to - coming from a colder climate, it's still hard for me to eat outside without feeling like I'm on holiday.

For all those that I met in London, it was great talking to you!