Local science whiz loves Google gig

This story ran in the south Fort Myers weekly and in the business section.

Jonathan Hamilton works at California-based Google Inc. and his south Fort Myers parents couldn't be happier.

The 25-year-old is a hometown boy who attended several schools in the area and used his love of science to gain a job at the 2007 Forbes Magazine Best Place to Work.

"It's a dream come true ... It takes a village to raise a family and my teachers helped me a lot," said Hamilton, who grew up in south Fort Myers and now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. "I was encouraged by people in the area who were heavily involved in the sciences."

Born to Ann, an area nurse, and Paul, a pharmacist, Hamilton became enthralled with science and computers in elementary school.

"He got first place in the science fair in fifth grade by creating a computer," said Ann Hamilton about her son who attended San Carlos Elementary. "He was always a really good kid and even the principal didn't believe he could build that kind of project."

The project was just the start for Hamilton who would later get involved in the community as a boy scout, attend Cypress Lake Middle, Cypress Lake High and graduate from Florida State University in Information Studies.

"He had a couple of teachers at Cypress that really took an interest in him and challenged him," Ann Hamilton said adding that she has a few family members who were also in the science fields. "We always encouraged his computer interest and it helped him."

Helping him is what got Hamilton out of college and into Google's Atlanta office where he worked as a paid contractor. He was eventually hired full time and promoted to the Google campus in California.

"After you prove yourself then you move up ... it's been an adjustment because traffic up there is so bad," said Hamilton who lives 15 minutes from work but spends 45 minutes on his morning commute. "When I was growing up here, Fort Myers was a small town but now it's growing more and more."

The growth Hamilton has seen since he moved away shocks him every time he comes to visit his family.

"California looks a lot like Florida with the palm trees but now every time I come back home, there are more buildings and FGCU is here," Hamilton said adding that he can no longer say he is from a small town.

But moving away to work at Google has its perks.

Employees of the company benefit from free on-site day care services, three catered meals daily, laundry facilities and even haircuts.

"It's a dream come true and sometimes I wonder 'if I ever quit working for Google, where would I go?'," said Hamilton, adding that employees are also compensated in different ways when they complete a project successfully. "I wake up in the morning and I don't hate going to work. It's a good way to make a living."