Google says 2021 internships will remain virtual, touts success this summer

Back in June, Google announced that the summer wave of incoming engineering interns would focus on open source projects. With COVID-19 conditions mostly unchanged, Google announced today that internships will remain virtual in 2021.

As we continue to prioritize health and safety during the ongoing pandemic, we’re confirming that Google internships will be virtual again in 2021. By making this call now, we hope to give interns ample time to prepare for working in a virtual environment. 

It comes as Googlers can keep working remotely until July 2021, and the initial July plan to “open more buildings in more cities” was delayed by a month. It’s unclear how current pandemic conditions will further impact the reopening.

In announcing next year’s virtual internships, Google also provided a recap of how this summer’s program went. Thousands of students from 43 countries participated. Each was given the option of getting a mentor or taking part in a “coffee chat” with a Googler.

We hosted more than 200 orientation sessions across the globe and held more than 300 events throughout the summer to help interns connect with their peers, hear from Google leaders, and engage with various teams.  

In all, 2,600 full-time employees volunteered to “answer questions about work, life or whatever was on their mind.”

To help our interns focus on their well-being while working from home, we created a “development hub” filled with tools and resources specifically created for thriving during remote work. We also kicked off more virtual social events to make sure interns were meeting just as many Googlers and fellow interns as they would have in the office — if not more.

The company reports that “97 percent of interns were satisfied with their experience,” matching last year’s in-office program. Applications are open today for students.

We look forward to applying much of what we learned earlier this year to our 2021 program. As we get closer to next summer, we’ll continue to share more details with interns about what they can expect from their virtual internship.