Google interviewing process for software developer role in 2020 • Hacker News Board

Re: Google interviewing process for software developer role in 2020

#41

Post by mtnGoat » Mon, Feb 24, 2020, 5:12 PM UTC

loriverkutya wrote: post #4

> I had been waiting for them for several weeks, and now they wanted to be «time efficient». > Frustrating moment #3. Google doesn't respect your time. Yeah, usually at that time I already wrapped up my interviews with other places and off the market. I wonder why people still wants to work for google after they put through this "you jump, when they say jump" where they clearly giving you the signal: sorry, your time…

Google(et al) isn't searching for the best in the world. They are searching for the best malleable candidates that fit into their mold.

This is why some of them recruit heavily from fresh grads, so they can indoctrinate them as they see fit.

Re: Google interviewing process for software developer role in 2020

#42

Post by Grimm1 » Mon, Feb 24, 2020, 5:12 PM UTC

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 went through the interview process with Square and their compensation is around that level and it was just a 3 round interview process no muss no fuss. Phone interview went well, completely crushed the coding interview (which was coderpad with one human talking through my thought process as I went) and we were about schedule the third round which would have just been an onsite with a bit of white boarding and what not when they had a last minute internal transfer (which they profusely apologized about and offered other positions I could go for but they were all in SF not NY) but it was a pretty healthy process compared to some of the other stuff I've done in interviews so not all high comp companies are insane. Would definitely recommend them as a place to work.

Re: Google interviewing process for software developer role in 2020

#43

Post by karatestomp » Mon, Feb 24, 2020, 5:13 PM UTC

chrisvogt wrote: post #31

karatestomp wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All I can figure is that's by design. The process selects for some combination of IQ and how bad you want it, basically. If you can't or don't want to put in 10-15hrs a week prepping, for a few months, on top of your actual job (god knows nothing I actually do at work as a programmer helps me be better prepared for this kind of shit), to then subject yourself to a crushing marathon of a day, they don't want you. They…

nit: Cialdini's Influence: Science and Practice .

Yeah, that. That's what I get for not checking my shelf first. In my defense mine's the version that at least does contain the word "persuasion" somewhere in the title, though the proper short version is still Influence. I'll leave my original post as-is as a monument to my failure.

Re: Google interviewing process for software developer role in 2020

#44

Post by falcolas » Mon, Feb 24, 2020, 5:13 PM UTC

The biggest WTF I got out of this was:

Writing code and tests in a Google Doc. I can't think of a much less friendly environment to write code in, except perhaps Notepad. I did it once (for an intra-company interview), and it was nasty to deal with.

The WTF in second place was a blind requirement to know the mechanics behind a somewhat niche game that was big two years ago.

Re: Google interviewing process for software developer role in 2020

#45

Post by bowmessage » Mon, Feb 24, 2020, 5:14 PM UTC

OhSoHumble wrote: post #27

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?

They were probably looking for something non-relational, not suggesting you write your own.

Re: Google interviewing process for software developer role in 2020

#46

Post by mtnGoat » Mon, Feb 24, 2020, 5:15 PM UTC

mav3rick wrote: post #39

friday99 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Yes. Extrapolate from one data point. Many many people are happy here. No matter how hard HN tries to avoid this fact by citing random blog posts.

Unfortunately, a lot of the most damning stuff posted here, has been from google employees. I remember a long HN post recently where Google Engineers were lamenting about how they do nothing at work all day, are losing their skills, and only stick around for outrageous pay. Outwardly happy is not always the truth of the matter.

Re: Google interviewing process for software developer role in 2020

#47

Post by asdfman123 » Mon, Feb 24, 2020, 5:16 PM UTC

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…

To be really good at those interviews you have to practice to be really good at those interviews. It takes a tremendous amount of time to get good enough that you can't possibly fail (especially for people like me, who are incapable of thinking clearly when they're asked to perform in front of others).

My brother hires for a consulting firm and he was talking about how there really is a shortage of talent out there. That's true, but in an earlier era, companies would hire a bunch of people out of college and spend resources training them. I know there are a lot of intelligent people out there who would be more than capable of performing if the entry bar wasn't set so high. Unfortunately, I guess that model doesn't work in the era of job hopping.

Re: Google interviewing process for software developer role in 2020

#48

Post by crispyambulance » Mon, Feb 24, 2020, 5:17 PM UTC

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…

> Giant tech companies have data going back decades now on the performance of this method vs. alternatives. The position that they blindly incur this expense for no benefits is hard to believe.

I am not so sure about this. People change, HR fads come and go, leadership always has their own ideas. A company is always ascendant, in plateau, or declining. There's a lot of factors in hiring. It's intrinsically and necessarily subjective.

I think the FAANG's benefit far more from having an appeal to candidates (people really want to work there) than by using some kind of home-grown data-driven algorithm for candidate evaluation.

Ultimately, if these companies can afford to offer compensation in multiples of what others do in other domains and other parts of the world, they really will attract competitive candidates. Does an elaborate selection process help? Sure, but it's only part of the picture and I think it's a relatively small part.

Re: Google interviewing process for software developer role in 2020

#49

Post by toomuchtodo » Mon, Feb 24, 2020, 5:19 PM UTC

asdfman123 wrote: post #47

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…

To be really good at those interviews you have to practice to be really good at those interviews. It takes a tremendous amount of time to get good enough that you can't possibly fail (especially for people like me, who are incapable of thinking clearly when they're asked to perform in front of others). My brother hires for a consulting firm and he was talking about how there really is a shortage of talent out there.…

> My brother hires for a consulting firm and he was talking about how there really is a shortage of talent out there.

Exceptional talent is rare. There's only a shortage if you're unreasonable. Lots of employers are some combination of apathetic, unreasonable, or plain ol' lazy. It costs them nothing to fish for talent for 6-12 months, accept hundreds of applications, and then complain when a unicorn didn't come along who was willing to take at or below market rate.

Re: Google interviewing process for software developer role in 2020

#50

Post by falcolas » Mon, Feb 24, 2020, 5:20 PM UTC

loriverkutya wrote: post #4

> I had been waiting for them for several weeks, and now they wanted to be «time efficient». > Frustrating moment #3. Google doesn't respect your time. Yeah, usually at that time I already wrapped up my interviews with other places and off the market. I wonder why people still wants to work for google after they put through this "you jump, when they say jump" where they clearly giving you the signal: sorry, your time…

> I wonder why people still wants to work for google after they put through this

Unfortunately, I think the answer is quite simple, and twofold: Google pays a lot, and having Google on your resume will get you any job you want afterwards, if you don't want to keep working there. It's a highly pragmatic decision early in your career (which also corresponds to a place in life where many folks place little value on their own time).