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How to get a job at Google, interview questions & process

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Re: How to get a job at Google, interview questions & process

#31

Post by moobot »

sabat wrote: post #25
ddodge wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. The process is designed to reduce false positives. The downside is there will be some false negatives. It is not 100% accurate and it can take months to get through the process, but if we do it right we will be spending years together. So, it is worth the investment in time. Don

Don, IMHO, you're using the wrong techniques. Tests of random knowledge and focussing strictly on quick answers to logic problems will get you lucky left-brainers -- they're the ones who happened to know what command options are available for sed and awk, and are good linear thinkers. Google should be doing better than that -- much better.

I just got done interviewing for an SRE position, and while there were a few small "trivia" questions, most of it was about general Linux userland tools, and were mostly used as a lead-in to having me solve some sort of practical, real world problem. For the few cases where I didn't know the answer, the interviewer just moved on to the next portion. It seemed rather balanced IMO.

Re: How to get a job at Google, interview questions & process

#32

Post by smokinn »

wheaties wrote: post #23
harryh wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

False positives are way worse for most companies than false negatives. Interviews processes are generally designed around this principle.

They've actually said as much. They understand that their process generates false negatives but they don't want any "crud."

Exactly.

They've also said that their high false negative rate is why they clear out their records every couple of years. If you got rejected a couple years ago you can apply again and they won't be looking at your previous attempt's performance.

Re: How to get a job at Google, interview questions & process

#34

Post by stevejohnson »

When I saw this I felt like I had seen this exact thread play itself out before, so I Ducked around to check my feeling. It was correct:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1130984

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=784479

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=374722

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=145035

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1520323

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=135666

(And for future reference, for when I inevitably re-post this in some future Google interview thread and forget to include this post itself in the list: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1690792)

Re: How to get a job at Google, interview questions & process

#35

Post by rjurney »

Why would anyone want to work at Google at this point? They can't hold onto their people, have very high churn and dissatisfaction rates, etc.

I could see maybe wanting to put in a year to learn the google stack, or if you have a particular area you've been researching and they will pay you to do exactly what you want, but beyond that... there are lots of companies offering better salaries and options with serious value, with similar challenges, that are going places. When you have people leaving despite half million dollar retention offers... why would you jump on that ship? Don't get me wrong - I think Google is fundamentally a good company. I just don't get why people aspire to work there, given the other options available.

Is it a mensa thing, with a brand recognizable outside the valley? Like you pass the interview, you're in the IQ club, stamp of approval, all that?

Re: How to get a job at Google, interview questions & process

#36

Post by bkhl »

Personally, I think Google's recruiting process can become very long and tedious. I interviewed with Google 4 months before my graduation and went through 6 different interviews (all technical) for two different positions. The HR person told me that she would like to schedule another hour for interviews and took my availability for next 2-3 weeks. I got no response back. I contacted the HR person again, and she told me that they were going through reorgs and things were getting lost. She then took another 2 weeks of availability. No response. I didn't have much time to wait any longer, I decided to join another company.

From friends and colleagues who interviewed and/or are working at Google..I found out that the interview for college hires can become very long. One of my friends took 6 months to get a job. If this is still happening at some part of Google, they must improve this process. People don't usually have time to wait 6 months to know whether they got a job or not.

Re: How to get a job at Google, interview questions & process

#37

Post by moobot »

marknutter wrote: post #28

Why anyone with the talent to get through the interview process at Google would rather work there than start their own startup I will never understand.

Some of us require more stability than the startup scene allows. Some of us also have wives that want to be able to afford decent living/eating conditions, and demand to be able to spend time with their spouses. Some of us also don't like the amount of stress involved, or the need to do things other than just working on software...

Re: How to get a job at Google, interview questions & process

#38

Post by MichaelSalib »

ekidd wrote: post #27

I've heard several claims about Google: 1) They hire less than 0.5% of applicants. 2) Their interview process is extremely time-consuming. 3) They pay below-market salaries in many cases. 4) They're a reasonably nice place to work, by big-company standards. The current article supports (1) and (2), disagrees with (3), and supplies no data about (4). For a talented engineer, what's the expected payoff of actually goin…

I recently interviewed with Google and I'd dispute (2). I have a friend at Google who vouched for me, so they didn't bother with a phone screen. The interview process consisted of two half-days where I spoke with 5 interviewers in total. That seems about the norm for tech companies. I certainly prefer splitting it across two half days rather than having one giant wall of interviewing from 9 to 5.

Also, your payoff/cost calculation is off since they choose whether to invite your back for the second round. I was told that because I got called back, the odds of me getting an offer were much, much higher. So if you get flushed early, you only blew half a day. If you end up having to spend two half-days, then the chances you'll get an offer are quite high.

I've heard some anecdotal support for (3), but they also seem to have very generous 401k matching. Plus, getting good food for free every day has to be worth something too.

Also, what's the upside of actually working for Google, compared to a startup?

One can generally work on different classes of problems at an established company with enormous problems and tons of really smart people like Google. Most startups aren't dealing with data anywhere close to the scale that Google is, and there is no startup in the world that can give you access to the internal talent pool Google has assembled.

Re: How to get a job at Google, interview questions & process

#39

Post by shadowfox »

rjurney wrote: post #35

Why would anyone want to work at Google at this point? They can't hold onto their people, have very high churn and dissatisfaction rates, etc. I could see maybe wanting to put in a year to learn the google stack, or if you have a particular area you've been researching and they will pay you to do exactly what you want, but beyond that... there are lots of companies offering better salaries and options with serious va…

> there are lots of companies offering better salaries and options with serious value, with similar challenges, that are going places

Genuinely curious. What companies are you talking about?

Re: How to get a job at Google, interview questions & process

#40

Post by rsbrown »

MC27 wrote: post #12

Whenever I read about these interviews, I get the impression that they are designed for recruiting students - that is, they are loaded with theory and don't test experience.

This was my impression when I interviewed with them. I passed two phone screens and interviewed on-site, but my resume died in committee. The on-site interview was pretty brutal for me, because it was very heavy on CS theory and I interviewed "cold" (meaning I did no preparation beforehand).

I subsequently read Steve Yegge's tips on getting hired there:

http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2008/03/get-that-job-at-goog...

His post made me feel simultaneously better (he also failed in his first attempt) and stupid (how could I think I would breeze through the Google hiring process without first boning up on CS theory?)

The interview questions would have been better suited for me 12 years ago when I was a new graduate and sorting algorithms and low-level file structures were fresher for me.

I don't blame Google, though. These are important concepts for them and it's my fault I didn't freshen my knowledge (or keep those skills honed over the years).

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