"Scientific" analysis of Australian Googlers

Posted by Kate Conroy, Account Associate

It can come as a surprise to find out it takes more than 12 000 'Googlers' worldwide (and hiring) to bring you the 117 versions of that search box every day (my personal favourite, after Google.com.au, is the Elmer Fudd interface with the 'I'm Feewing Wucky' button).

In Australia, we get a lot of questions about who we are and what we're like. I decided to dig a bit deeper into the Aussie Googler profile and share a little about ourselves. Some serious in-depth research was required (OK it was more of a quick and dirty office poll but shhhh...don't tell) but we now have a guide to your Googler Downunder.

Although the majority of us were born in Oz, more than 40% hail from other parts of the globe and about half are happy striking up a conversation in another language - 18 languages all together. Our average age indicates fond childhood memories of watching Inspector Gadget and probably some embarrassing baby photos featuring 70's infant's wear.

We have way too many iPods, with one third of us having 2 or more. Maybe it's so we can listen to them on long haul flights - 97% of us went overseas in the past year even though that requires a scary number of hours with *no internet connection* (gasp!). Our favourite Google product is still Search, but we've got some big fans of Maps and Earth, which is something the Engineering team here spends a lot of time on. It might be worth going back to the baby photos to see if at least some Aussie Googlers were born with an ethernet cable for an umbilical cord.

But all that is hardly surprising for an Internet company. Let's get to the good stuff and delve deeper into our formative years and lifetime achievements.

As little tackers, 25% of us dreamed of being astronauts and super heroes, with a smaller minority (21%) aiming for careers as ballerinas, vets, nurses, doctors and world leaders. The rest of us had an eclectic set of aspirations ranging from princesses to postmen, fishmongers, rappers, dolphin trainers, diplomats, magicians and park rangers.

Among us we have a pilot trainee and others who have flown helicopters and 747 simulators (still aiming for that childhood dream). We've also got someone who beat out Pat Rafter for High School Sportsperson of the Year, former contestants on Sale of the Century and Family Feud, descendants of Little Jack Horner and Jane Austen, an ex-Canterbury Bulldogs cheerleader, someone who's been lost on horseback in the Egyptian desert at night and someone else who's collected dinosaur bones in the Gobi desert.

Between us, we've written spell-checkers for Aboriginal languages, built a half million volt tesla coil, appeared in operas, played cricket for Germany, been hit by a bus, starred in Home & Away, collected stamps and train tickets and been part of a world record attempt to have the most people playing the Irish drum. One of us has three kidneys, another has climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge (back when you weren't supposed to) and we are very proud to employ both the formerchairman of the National Rube Goldberg Machine contest and the 2nd place getter in the primary school 'Stop-Drop-and Roll' fire safety sign design contest.

So next time you're on Google.com.au, you can be confident there's an eclectic bunch of Australians helping to make sure that Australia is involved in anything preceded by a www.