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Google interviewing process for software developer role in 2020

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Re: Google interviewing process for software developer role in 2020

#21

Post by vsareto »

karatestomp wrote: post #16
untog wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine there are industries where this is a lot more punishing. Personally I'm not prepared to go through that bullshit, so I just get a job somewhere else. But we're lucky that our industry is flush with jobs, I have to imagine other industries have similar requirements that are much less avoidable. And maybe there will be a downturn in tech one day, and I'll very much rue this day.

I'm not aware of another industry that has interviews as awful as FAANG and their copycats. There may be something out there but I've not seen it. Try describing what they do to non-tech folks and watch the reactions. Incredulity and/or astonishment are typical, in my experience. But yes we do have tons of jobs and IME most places don't do this crap. So that's nice, compared with how other workers have it. Though you…

I'm sure if they didn't have the interviews, they'd only select from Ivy League or top X school computer science graduate pools.

I bet investment bank or hedge fund jobs are/were just as tough for anyone to apply to and get.

Re: Google interviewing process for software developer role in 2020

#22

Post by hello_moto »

adpirz wrote: post #15

Point blank: is it all worth it? Googlers and Xooglers alike, is going through all of this worth return? If it depends, what does it depend on?

Money + Google's name on your resume + the experience of going through grueling interviews (self-confident).

Re: Google interviewing process for software developer role in 2020

#23

Post by friday99 »

mav3rick wrote: post #13

"I got an idea of how Google works internally" No he didn't. He wasn't even hired. 99% of companies don't split interviews over 2 days. Most people are pressed for time and days off. If he would have gotten an offer, I would have loved to see if he would freelance then.

It was two phone interviews that he didn't want to do back to back after having already completed two successful phone interviews. People can often take a phone interview over their lunch break as it is typically less than an hour. That is impossible if they want you to take two phone interviews back to back. 99.999% of companies don't do four phone interviews before an all day on-site interview. He was correct that Google doesn't respect an interviewer's time and that signals that they will not respect your time when you are an employee.

Re: Google interviewing process for software developer role in 2020

#24

Post by speedgoose »

dijit wrote: post #9

I interviewed at Google for an SRE:Systems role around a month ago; I can share my anecdotes. The first interview put me in contact with a recruiter who would basically be my guide throughout the process, at first he asked me some basic questions to feel out where I was weak and then told me to prepare those weaknesses for the next round. The next round was 2 phone interviews, lasting about an hour each and over diff…

I would never dare to suggest writing a new database in a professional context, even less during an interview. Probably as a joke at the coffee machine because it's ridiculous but otherwise no.

It's so many distributed databases around there, no one is better than one good PostgreSQL for the majority of uses cases.

Re: Google interviewing process for software developer role in 2020

#25

Post by tehlike »

ctvo wrote: post #17

The current interview process is expensive for giant tech companies. In one hour chunks, per candidate: - Engineers for the phone screens or coding assessment reviews: 1-2 - Interviewers for the on-site: 6-7. 3-4 engineers, 2-3 managers - Reviewers for the feedback sessions: Interviewers + 0-2 This doesn't take into account the cost of HR, flights, hotels, on and on. Giant tech companies have data going back decades…

You are assuming companies "did" try different methods of recruiting.

You will see, there are companies in bay area that actually differ on how they do interview.

Some are better than others.

Also remember this: google started hiring crazy in 2008 shortly after crisis when noone else was hiring. So google didnt probably try hard to sharpen its interviewing process...

Re: Google interviewing process for software developer role in 2020

#26

Post by untog »

ctvo wrote: post #17

The current interview process is expensive for giant tech companies. In one hour chunks, per candidate: - Engineers for the phone screens or coding assessment reviews: 1-2 - Interviewers for the on-site: 6-7. 3-4 engineers, 2-3 managers - Reviewers for the feedback sessions: Interviewers + 0-2 This doesn't take into account the cost of HR, flights, hotels, on and on. Giant tech companies have data going back decades…

> The position that they blindly incur this expense for no benefits is hard to believe

You really find it hard to believe that giant companies like Google spend money needlessly?

Re: Google interviewing process for software developer role in 2020

#27

Post by OhSoHumble »

dijit wrote: post #9

I interviewed at Google for an SRE:Systems role around a month ago; I can share my anecdotes. The first interview put me in contact with a recruiter who would basically be my guide throughout the process, at first he asked me some basic questions to feel out where I was weak and then told me to prepare those weaknesses for the next round. The next round was 2 phone interviews, lasting about an hour each and over diff…

> (where the interviewer got hung up on the fact that I said I would use postgres instead of making my own database

Huh? Google thinks it's valuable for their SREs to be hand-writing databases in place of industry standards? SREs specifically?

Re: Google interviewing process for software developer role in 2020

#28

Post by mtnGoat »

All I have heard are nightmare stories from everyone I know whom has interviewed at a FAANG(or the likes).

It's crazy how disrespectful(and frankly insulting) these companies are to candidates, under the guise of trying to get the best. I would assume the best aren't sitting around on their hands for months waiting for offers, nor are they overly willing to be jerked around.

Re: Google interviewing process for software developer role in 2020

#29

Post by johannes1234321 »

mtnGoat wrote: post #28

All I have heard are nightmare stories from everyone I know whom has interviewed at a FAANG(or the likes). It's crazy how disrespectful(and frankly insulting) these companies are to candidates, under the guise of trying to get the best. I would assume the best aren't sitting around on their hands for months waiting for offers, nor are they overly willing to be jerked around.

Maybe it's a good filter for them. If people start complaining in the interview process they will complain at work, too. Maybe such a process only keeps the ones who are eager and willing to work there and will continue their tasks even when jerked around ...

Re: Google interviewing process for software developer role in 2020

#30

Post by thedance »

The best way to get a job at google is to get some high ranking insiders to refer you and then show up at the interview and do your best. The yammering about how to ace the coding interview overlooks that without a referral you are at a severe disadvantage.
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