The Practice team is looking forward to watching upcoming comedy, The Internship, when it hits cinemas this summer. Starring the hilarious and bankable duo, Vince Vaughan and Owen Wilson, the film follows a group of interns as they compete for a job at Google.

The Internship promises to deliver a typically entertaining, albeit far-fetched portrayal of intern life at the Google headquarters, showing everything from app design challenges to tech conundrums, all which of course fall flat at the feet of the two protagonists!  With this in mind, we at The Practice were interested to investigate just what is expected of budding Google employees during such a coveted internship. Is a stint as a “Googler” really as crazy as it’s been made to be believed? And are its corporate headquarters, Googleplex, in Mountain View, California, akin to, (as so many have described)- the “Land of Oz” and “The Emerald City”?

Indeed, real-life Quidditch games are believed to be the norm, whilst employee conferences are often held on its designated five-person bicycle, very appropriately named “The Conference Bike”, despite its quirky concept and design! While interns might be lucky enough to witness acts of “randomness” such as these which are also said to crop up in the film, or “rubber ducks stuck upside down to the ceiling”, as one described, it seems that day-to-day tasks are mostly routine, except for the added perks of Google’s plush surroundings and creature comforts. Certainly, current intern, Saswat Padhi, who was treated to a preview of The Internship alongside peers, agrees. “The way Google is portrayed in the movie is pretty accurate, although the way they portray the internship program is not so accurate,” he said.

From reading several intern blogs, it’s clear that a solid workflow of creative tasks and international team chats comprise the working day, with highlights including background video appearances, and experiencing culinary delights such as the chocolate fountain and free meals in the legendary canteen. Interns are clearly treated exceptionally well- only at Google are they offered to choose between a brand new MacBook Pro, Air, or Lenovo ThinkPad upon arrival! And of course, they’re able to test out a host of top-secret Google products during their stint, and as one intern recorded, also work on a number of undisclosed projects. All this, surrounded by individual state-of-the-art desk stations, a designated “special-access” floor to work from, and the beauty of the Google complex itself, only make us wish we could experience it for ourselves, if it weren’t for the rigorous multi-stage interview process!

We can only imagine that Google’s attention to creativity is in place to inspire genius ideas within its staffers and interns, and to facilitate those all-important “Eureka” moments. The Practice team certainly feels that making changes to our surroundings seems to aid imagination- we’d go as far as saying this has accounted for some of our best design work. On that note, do you agree that a dynamic working environment is best for the creative process? And do you have any tales of intern life from your office you’d like to share? We’d love to hear your stories and comments, so please tweet to us @PracticeDigital and be sure to visit our Facebook page.