এবার জনপ্রিয় সার্চ ইঞ্জিন কোম্পানী গুগল থেকে আমন্ত্রিত হলেন ঢাকা বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের কম্পিউটার সাইন্স এন্ড ইঞ্জিনিয়ারিং বিভাগের ছাত্র শাহেদ শাহরিয়ার।
ফেসবুকে শাহেদ জানিয়েছেন গত রবিবার তিনি ঢাকা ছেড়েছেন এবং বর্তমানে আয়ারল্যান্ডের ডাবলিনে অবস্থান করছেন। তিনি দেশটির গুগল নেটওয়ার্ক কন্ট্রোল টীমে যোগদান করবেন।
তিনি আরও জানান, ২০১৮ সালের ১৬ জুলাই গুগল থেকে সাক্ষাৎকারের একটি চিঠি পান। পরে আইসিপিসির প্রস্তুতির জন্য গুগল থেকে কিছু সময় চেয়ে নেন। পরের বছর ২০১৯ সালের ২৯ এপ্রিল অনলাইনে সাক্ষাৎকারে উত্তীর্ণ হন শাহেদ।
আর একইবছর আরেকটি সরাসরি সাক্ষাৎকারে অংশগ্রহণ করে গুগলে যোগদানের আমন্ত্রণ পান। সে সময় পাসপোর্ট নবায়নের জন্য যোগদানের সময় আরো ৫ মাস বাড়িয়ে নেন। ফলে চলতি বছর গত ৬ এপ্রিল যোগদানের চূড়ান্ত তারিখ নিশ্চিত হয়।
কিন্তু মহামারী করোনাভাইরাসের কারণে আন্তর্জাতিক ফ্লাইট বাতিল হওয়ায় তখন যোগদান করতে পারেননি।
গত ১৬ জুন থেকে আন্তর্জাতিক ফ্লাইট পুনারায় চালু হওয়ায় ৮ জুলাইয়ের টিকেট নেন শাহেদ। কিন্তু ইতালী থেকে বাংলাদেশি প্রবাসীদের ফিরিয়ে দেয়ার ঘটনার পর দুবাইয়ের বিমান পরিবহন সংস্থা আরব আমিরাত ঘোষণা দেয় যাত্রীদের অবশ্যই করোনা নেগেটিভ সনদ লাগবে।
ফলে করোনা পরীক্ষা দিয়ে সনদ সংগ্রহে আবারও অপেক্ষায় থাকতে হয় শাহেদকে। অবশেষে গতকাল রবিবার প্রত্যাশিত গুগলে যোগদানের জন্য বিমানে উঠতে সক্ষম হন তিনি।
মেধাবী শাহেদ শাহরিয়ার রংপুর সরকারী কলেজ থেকে উচ্চমাধ্যমিক ও রংপুর জিলা স্কুল থেকে মাধ্যমিক পাশ করেন।
পরবর্তীতে ঢাকা বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় ভর্তি পরীক্ষায় ক ইউনিটে উত্তীর্ণ হয়ে কম্পিউটার সাইন্স এন্ড ইঞ্জিনিয়ারিং বিভাগে ভর্তি হন। শাহেদ বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ে থাকাকালীন গুগলে যোগদানের আমন্ত্রণ পান।
The Journey from DU to Google:
Shahed Shahriar, a Computer Science and Engineering graduate from the University of Dhaka, recently got his acceptance from Google.
I got a “Hi from Google!” on 16 July 2018. I thought that preparing for an interview might harm my practice for ICPC (I still think that contestants should focus on the contests).
So, I accepted the interview call but told my recruiter to hold on for a few months for ICPC.
At that time, I used to live in my University hall. I thought this was a dangerous place to do your interview as anything might come up here at any time.
So, I told my recruiter to give me a few months for preparation. I left my hall and took a new flat for rent in April 2019.
My phone interview took place on 29 April 2019. Could you remember what else happened on 29 April?
In that morning, the most awaited Game of Thrones episode aired and it was very disappointing. Glad that I passed the interview later that evening.
My onsite interview was on 23 September 2019.
Didn’t want to give the interview on India or over the phone. So, took me some time to manage my visa for Poland.
There are quite a few internal processes go on between getting the offer after you got interviewed.
I got my offer on 31 October 2019 that I am going to join the Network Control Team in Google Ireland.
I had to renew my passport. So, I wanted 5 months to relocate. So, my expected joining date was 6 April 2020.
Only if I could predict the global disaster! My flight was on 3 April.
I got my passport from the day before Bangladesh close the borders. Well, the visa starts from 1 April and ends on 31 July. I got stuck.
After Bangladesh opening the border, I could not manage to reschedule the tickets.
Thanks to Shakib Ahmed vai, I could manage to have new tickets on 16 July. Things are going to get really unimaginable from here.
On 8 July, Emirates declared that the Covid-19 negative certificate will be necessary for their flights.
Thanks to the passengers landing on Italy the day before. So, I asked my cousin Washif Shakir vaiya to let me test where he could manage in a relatively short amount of time.
He told me that it is possible to have the results within 2 days, if necessary may be a bit early. So, till then it was good.
On 9 July around early noon, I got to know that Emirates have canceled their flight on 16 July. No other flights have seats except for 11 July.
That flight was even on 1:40 am. This is kind of like on 10 July night.
After several long chats with Emirates, Shakib vai could manage to waitlist me for 11 July flight and 18 July flight. 11 July flight had seats but 18 July flight had no seat left.
So, I had to wait for someone to cancel so that I can grab that seat immediately. I decided that night to come back to Dhaka and test Covid-19 immediately.
I might have to do this several times so that I can catch any last hour flight.
So, it is never possible to test and receive the report within the same day. 1/2 days of a gap is already really a very good deal in Bangladesh. People are not getting results within a week.
I took the 10 am flight on 10 July from Rangpur to Dhaka. Reached Dhaka at 11 am. Before the flight, I asked several people that if they could manage to hold some tickets on 17 July or talk to Qatar Airways to be sure about their flights.
After landing on Dhaka I went to Qatar Airways office at the airport but it was closed. After opening the border, there is a huge rush to leave the country and the prices of the tickets are 2/3 times than regular ticket prices.
Getting a refund is not easy at this moment. So, giving away money without being sure to the airlines at this moment is not a very good idea.
So, around 11:30 am I called the lab. Asking them to give me the result within that day sounds crime.
So, I called them and asked how early they can manage to give the report. He told me that he could give the report the next day.
Well, I told him the whole story over the phone and he tried his best with the lab and told me to go to the lab, and probably they could manage to give the report on the same day.
I rushed into the lab. Meanwhile, I asked Nafis Sadique vai to talk to Emirates to confirm the rescheduled ticket on 11 July. Nafis vai was on the chat with Emirates and I was in the lab.
They told me that they could give me the report on 10 pm. I pushed them again emotionally. They accepted to give me the report at 8 pm. I gave the samples around at 12:30 pm. The flight was at 1:40 am.
The ticket was confirmed around 2 pm. So, a brand new concern came up. What if I have the virus. I went to buy a laptop and some other things on 8 July and stayed at the shop for like 3-4 hours.
I might not have any symptoms but what if I have it. And even if I don’t have the virus, will I get to have the report on time! Because I need to reach the airport around 9:30 pm.
Around 7:30 pm got the result online. I got negative, The most positive news for the last 4 months.
I went to the lab to collect the hard copy. Initially, they were telling me that they could not give the report before 10 pm.
Now the lab contained a completely different set of people. I told them that I already have the report online. Just needed the signed copy.
After getting the copy I found some issues with passport number and had to wait for like 40-50 minutes to collect the correct one.
No issues during the journey. I am in Dublin, Ireland right now. Thanks a lot to everyone who helped me go through the process. And hopefully, I am joining Google very soon.
©Shahed Shahriar
