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Google's “Director of Engineering” Hiring Test (2016)

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Re: Google's “Director of Engineering” Hiring Test (2016)

#271

Post by itronitron »

mempko wrote: post #207
GlennS wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you interview someone more experienced than yourself? In the last set of interviews I had to do, I've ended up doing the role of talking to people about the technologies listed on their CV and asking them detailed questions to find out just how well they really know them. This just because I happened to be the person in our company who knew a little bit about most of the things that the people we were intervie…

The alternative is for our field to have a strong organization that vets it's members, like any other professional field such as lawyers and other engineering disciplines. That way, before you even meet the person, you can assume a level of competence and can get into much deeper questions faster.

I guess the irony is that most of the interview tactics now focus simply on comparing candidate A to candidate B, in contrast to learning about candidate A or learning about candidate B and evaluating their suitability based on their skills and experience.

If you ask both candidates a question like "Johnny climbed up to the top of the hill, where was Johnny when he stopped climbing?" and then get a blank stare from both candidates then you are going to conclude that you can't find any 'qualified' candidates because they can't answer a dead-simple question.

The vetting of candidates used to be contributions to software product releases and publications (in addition to degrees and GPA). A motivated hiring manager could also search mail archives of popular open-source projects.

Re: Google's “Director of Engineering” Hiring Test (2016)

#272

Post by s17n »

itronitron wrote: post #269
drdeadringer wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the interviewer's job?

The interviewer's job should be to determine whether, and how, the candidate would succeed in the organization.

No, that's the job of whoever is making the hiring decision. The interviewer is providing signal for that person / people.

Re: Google's “Director of Engineering” Hiring Test (2016)

#273

Post by smt88 »

stanleydrew wrote: post #169
andrew_ wrote: post #10

Tossing my hat in the ring with a similar experience. Was approached in 2003 because of an app I had written that got attention, and was told that Googlers wanted to speak with me about the app. What followed was three calls with gate-keepers of sorts, between which there was zero knowledge transfer from call to call. None of them inquired about the app and all of them asked questions so unrelated to the app that the…

> It would seem Google HR / Recruiting hasn't improved in all these years. I agree that your experience in 2003 was terrible, but to draw this conclusion from the article is extremely presumptuous. There are lots of well-intentioned people working in recruiting at Google, and you are suggesting that none of them have made any improvement in the process in 15 years?

Time doesn't necessarily guarantee improvement, especially when a company is growing and not necessarily well-managed

Re: Google's “Director of Engineering” Hiring Test (2016)

#274

Post by danpalmer »

RightMillennial wrote: post #64
s17n wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I make it a point to not read resumes unless I'm supposed to be asking questions about their contents, to avoid bias.

To avoid bias? As in to be completely unprepared? Wouldn't reading the résumé give you a better idea of the interviewee's background, and allow you to better assess him?

Or her/them.

Re: Google's “Director of Engineering” Hiring Test (2016)

#275

Post by itronitron »

golergka wrote: post #186
rayiner wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that answer wrong? Does using GVIM or Aquamacs mean you don’t know vim and emacs?

When I asked if he was using a console version or some wrapper that supported window manager, he didn't understand the question. When I asked if there's some another way to close it, he, just as surprised, told about the main program menu, just below the window title. Any person who actually used either of these editors even once would have a pretty solid idea of what I was going for. It was a very simple, quick test…

the right answer would be to google stackoverflow for how to kill vim after saving your work (pressing ctrl+s) :)

Re: Google's “Director of Engineering” Hiring Test (2016)

#276

Post by danpalmer »

logicallee wrote: post #163
selimthegrim wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Less window is informal but I don’t see how it’s incorrect. Bread is both correct and fits the context better.

Yes but from "times" you can see that this is a test of VERY basic English. I agree with you that Bread is both correct and fits the context better, and I would still choose "eggs" (a worse answer, from the choices given) because I would analyze what the (really stupid) question-writer wanted. You are right that window exists in that sense but in this case it's clear that the question writers didn't think about it. F…

“Less eggs” isn’t actually correct. Eggs are countable, so it would be “fewer eggs”.

You can have “less bread”, or “fewer loaves of bread”.

This is getting very pedantic though.

Re: Google's “Director of Engineering” Hiring Test (2016)

#277

Post by itronitron »

jason_slack wrote: post #228

One of my interview questions: Interviewer: What is the difference between a mutable and immutable string? Me: A mutable string can be changed. A immutable string cannot be changed. Interviewer: Nope, think mutations. Mutable string can be mutated. Me: Mutated? Altering DNA? Interviewer: If you don't know this there isn't any sense in asking more difficult questions. Me: Floored.

I hope you didn't list String expertise as one of your technical skills.

Re: Google's “Director of Engineering” Hiring Test (2016)

#278

Post by danpalmer »

Retric wrote: post #73
eli wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd love to hear thoughtful constructive criticism during an interview. But unsolicited negativity would be a bit of a flag.

Seems like a complete wast of time in an interview. If you join then sure mention it, and if your rejected you can send an email or something but it's not constructive during an interview.

We interview specifically for people who can give and take constructive criticism. There are points in our interview process where giving a rational and constructive critique of our product would be a very good thing for a candidate. These are skills we value highly as they help employees improve faster.

We also do check for negativity in candidates though to balance this. Critical feedback can be given effectively without needing to be rude or unpleasant.

Re: Google's “Director of Engineering” Hiring Test (2016)

#279

Post by itronitron »

logicallee wrote: post #67
wyldfire wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IRL the misinformed question author wouldn't include an "E" as a possible answer and that's your cue to select C.

There are different clues in different contexts. The hardest is if there is a very technical definition that makes another answer more correct. Maybe in a test of English: "John has less _____ than Mary. So they decided to go to Mary's apartment for breakfast." A. Bread B. Window C. Eggs D. Times " This is an incredibly stupid question oh my God. What would I even pick. All of the choices, and the whole question, is…

Bread could be slang for Cash which fits grammatically and would also be a reason to go to Mary's apartment for breakfast instead of Denny's.

Re: Google's “Director of Engineering” Hiring Test (2016)

#280

Post by jason_slack »

itronitron wrote: post #277
jason_slack wrote: post #228

One of my interview questions: Interviewer: What is the difference between a mutable and immutable string? Me: A mutable string can be changed. A immutable string cannot be changed. Interviewer: Nope, think mutations. Mutable string can be mutated. Me: Mutated? Altering DNA? Interviewer: If you don't know this there isn't any sense in asking more difficult questions. Me: Floored.

I hope you didn't list String expertise as one of your technical skills.

Explain?
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