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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)

#291

Post by geofft »

crdoconnor wrote: post #141
geofft wrote: post #43

This was posted previously, in October 2016: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12701272 An actual Google director of engineering pointed out that these are individual-contributor SWE/SRE questions (and I can attest I got very similar questions as a new college grad). As I commented previously: "Reading more closely, it sounds like they are not interviewing him for a director of engineering position; it just sounds…

>Also, a ton of this conversation makes a lot more sense if you make the assumption that the interviewee is misremembering the questions. Which is a very gentle assumption. No, that's a pretty insulting and disturbingly koolaid flavored presumption. This conversation makes sense to me because of the number of people who have commented that they ended up being unwittingly considered for position that they did not appl…

I admit that this is certainly possible (Google recruiters wildly underleveling people, at least relative to their expectations if not their actual qualifications, and not clarifying this before passing the candidate onto other recruiters).

If it's happening, it's a very different problem (no less real of a problem, though) and process fixes at this stage wouldn't help.

Also, this interview performance should have been enough to disqualify this candidate for the role he envisioned, too. If only because, if he was actually intending on applying to be a director of engineering, the right answer to question 3 is something like "I think there's been some sort of mistake."

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

#292

Post by itronitron »

sowbug wrote: post #154
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.

You seem to be getting beaten up over this point, so I'd like to un-lurk and support it. A screener's job is to read the resume and match static facts to company needs. A recruiter's job is to gauge subjective fit and mutual interest. An interviewer's job is to assess analytical ability, communication skills, personality, and culture fit, as well as to be an advertisement for the company/team/project/position if both…

>> If I interviewed with a CEO or VP of Engineering, and that person asked me questions about my resume, I'd run away

What else are they going to ask you about? If my resume highlights my notable accomplishments in XYZ and the VP of E asks me if I have any interest in doing XYZ then I am going to consider the VP of E to be a total idiot or incredibly distracted.

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

#293

Post by jason_slack »

itronitron wrote: post #287
jason_slack wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Explain?

It is a joke, as so many interviewers complain that people lie about their technical skills and experience, if you listed String as a technical skill and the interviewer thought you didn't know what a mutable String was then they would conclude that you lied about your skill set. Hopefully you can see the humor. I feel your pain so can understand why you might not think it is funny.

I thought it was a joke but then I talked myself out of it :-)

Yeah interviews have been rough this time around. Before this I hadn’t interviewed in 10 years.

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

#294

Post by dang »

guilt wrote: post #156
geofft wrote: post #43

This was posted previously, in October 2016: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12701272 An actual Google director of engineering pointed out that these are individual-contributor SWE/SRE questions (and I can attest I got very similar questions as a new college grad). As I commented previously: "Reading more closely, it sounds like they are not interviewing him for a director of engineering position; it just sounds…

Yeah, try discrediting the article than fix your mistakes. Real mature, Google.

You crossed into personal attack in this subthread. We ban accounts that do that, so could you please (re-)read https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and not do that again?

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

#295

Post by jiveturkey »

pjc50 wrote: post #225
jiveturkey wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ha! I remember this from back then. Interview process aside, did you see the guy's technology page? Which process has led to TrustLeap's technology? Instead of trying to add something on the top of a multi-layered construction done by many different persons in a period of time exceeding 30 years, TWD has resolved the problem from scratch in a few months. riiiiight

From their linkedin? > TrustLeap, the security division of TWD Industries AG (founded in 1998), protects digital assets with cryptanalytically unbreakable technology (safe against unlimited computing power as it is proven mathematically that no key leaks can be exploited). Riiight.

it is actually possible. one time pad

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

#296

Post by RightMillennial »

danpalmer wrote: post #274
RightMillennial wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

In standard American English, masculine is the default gender when the subject is unknown. So using "him" is proper. Using "them" as a singular pronoun is jarring to the ears.

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

#297

Post by drdeadringer »

s17n wrote: post #257
drdeadringer wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the interviewer's job?

Ask a technical question or two and assess the candidate based on their reply.

How can you assess this when divorced from the resume, or is this technical Q&A purely "people skills" and how is that possible?

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

#298

Post by grzm »

RightMillennial wrote: post #296
danpalmer wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or her/them.

In standard American English, masculine is the default gender when the subject is unknown. So using "him" is proper. Using "them" as a singular pronoun is jarring to the ears.

Third-person singular they has a long tradition in English. It may not be as familiar to you, but it's nothing new.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they

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

#299

Post by sowbug »

itronitron wrote: post #292
sowbug wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You seem to be getting beaten up over this point, so I'd like to un-lurk and support it. A screener's job is to read the resume and match static facts to company needs. A recruiter's job is to gauge subjective fit and mutual interest. An interviewer's job is to assess analytical ability, communication skills, personality, and culture fit, as well as to be an advertisement for the company/team/project/position if both…

>> If I interviewed with a CEO or VP of Engineering, and that person asked me questions about my resume, I'd run away What else are they going to ask you about? If my resume highlights my notable accomplishments in XYZ and the VP of E asks me if I have any interest in doing XYZ then I am going to consider the VP of E to be a total idiot or incredibly distracted.

I don't care about XYZ. The company you came from already did that. The world doesn't need another XYZ. But we do care about XYZ', and we think someone with experience in X, Y, XY, YZ, XZ, XYZ, WXY, etc. will help us build the first XYZ' in the industry. That's why the screener picked your resume among the 500 we received.

So I'll ask about XYZ', because that's what we're going to build.

(We're actually building ZYX''', but that's a secret we'll reveal once you join the team.)

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

#300

Post by [deleted] »

sowbug wrote: post #299
itronitron wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> If I interviewed with a CEO or VP of Engineering, and that person asked me questions about my resume, I'd run away What else are they going to ask you about? If my resume highlights my notable accomplishments in XYZ and the VP of E asks me if I have any interest in doing XYZ then I am going to consider the VP of E to be a total idiot or incredibly distracted.

I don't care about XYZ. The company you came from already did that. The world doesn't need another XYZ. But we do care about XYZ', and we think someone with experience in X, Y, XY, YZ, XZ, XYZ, WXY, etc. will help us build the first XYZ' in the industry. That's why the screener picked your resume among the 500 we received. So I'll ask about XYZ', because that's what we're going to build. (We're actually building ZYX'…

[deleted]
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