11 Google leaders share their first summer jobs, from making scrunchies to ringing up orders at McDonald's

"Because of this job, I had a farm license to drive a $250,000 tractor before I had my state driver's license!"

"At 15, I started a business that sold hair scrunchie to a Costa Rican national supermarket chain. My team and I covered every job from cutting fabrics, to sewing and developing final packaging, to managing the finances."

"I planted more than 250,000 trees over several summers, plus, I was chased by black bears twice and was charged by a moose."

"Being in the sun and in a pool for eight hours a day came with occupational hazards. I had a perpetual sunburn and a perfume of chlorine and sunscreen that was impossible to shake."

"A temp agency sent me to work at various local jobs each summer, and once I was sent to the Palo Alto Sanitation Company. I filed papers and answered the phones — often it was someone upset that their garbage hadn't been picked up, and I'd radio the garbage trucks to return to the house."

A flyboy is someone who catches stacks of papers as they come off the presses.

"It was a deeply frenetic but oddly satisfying job, if you could keep up. Done at dawn, we'd head to a Rhode Island beach and sleep."

"I worked the register and drive-thru but couldn't work the grill, where you earned more, because only guys got those jobs."

"At age 14, I was paid $1.10 an hour to replenish coffee grounds in automatic coffee makers. The inside looked like an eight-cylinder airplane engine!"

"I learned that stats about down-fill ratios are less effective than talking about how a sleeping bag kept you worm while cross-country-skiing in Mt. Lassen. (Plus, I met some wild characters from a team when Palo Alto was transitioning from Joan Beez to Silicon Valley.)"

"I learned to respect every profession. Many jobs in this country are back-breaking with long, lonely days — I never take for granted that this kind of work is key to making the economy run."