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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

#271

Post by toephu2 »

FlorianRappl wrote: post #149

I interviewed at Google and some other big tech companies in late 2015. From all the big ones Google's process was the most terrible. After the initial screening I had to deal with obviously terribly placed engineers who had an "ah I need to take another interview with a non-Googler - what do they know?" kind of attitude. Arrogant, dismissive, and actually a waste of time. In contrast, Microsoft was much more profess…

Guys, as with all interviews, YMMV.

Microsoft and Google interview thousands and thousands of engineers monthly, do not try to generalize the interview experience for everyone based on your one anecdotal experience (or that of a few friends) and naively assume it's that same way for everyone else.

Re: Google interviewing process for software developer role in 2020

#272

Post by walshemj »

eps wrote: post #177
foobiekr wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only time I interviewed with Google involved a phone screen that apparently went very well and then dead silence for three months: my recruiter has apparently gone on vacation for 2+ months and was finally getting back to me. In the intervening period I had taken another job (that turned out to have been worth more than the google job would have been). The recruiter was nonplussed when she called me out of the bl…

> She couldn’t believe I was not interested in continuing - how could I turn down Google?? Lol. I had the exact same experience back in the late 90s, but with... IBM. Arrogant as heck, took three months to follow up and were shocked to know I was no longer interested. It was beautiful.

Earlier than that I went an initial interview at some IBM office - they went very cold when it turns out that I did not have a degree.

Re: Google interviewing process for software developer role in 2020

#273

Post by rhizome »

gdy wrote: post #59
karatestomp wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

"I'll leave my original post as-is as a monument to my failure." I don't think anyone cares and there is no reason to make them read the wrong title.

A human smile is when you pull the sides of your head upward and back with the muscles under your skin.

Re: Google interviewing process for software developer role in 2020

#274

Post by what_ever »

meowface wrote: post #203
nikanj wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They hire people they don’t need, to build products they’ll kill in a few quarters. Must be weird working in a company with one well-identified money fountain, and then endless side projects that don’t really matter at all

If you had one solid money fountain, isn't that what you'd also do, though? Throw a lot of other things at the wall which you expect would have a high chance of failure but high reward if they succeed. (Though Amazon seems to have managed something similar without randomly shutting down AWS services and such.)

Disc: Googler

Since you are comparing to AWS, do you have any source for apparently lots of products that were killed in Google Cloud?

Re: Google interviewing process for software developer role in 2020

#275

Post by toephu2 »

JDiculous wrote: post #113

Google just loves to waste your time. A close friend of mine interviewed there, was flown out to Mountain View, and one interviewer showed up to the interview over 30 minutes late, with only about 5-10 minutes to spare. He didn't get the job. Seems like a lot of engineers there get the job after many months of (unpaid) preparation and years of interviewing many times. I can understand doing this for one's dream job,…

So because "A close friend of mine interviewed there" and the interviewer showed up late, you have concluded that the entire company, Google, "just loves to waste your time"? And every one of the tens of thousands of interviews Google does each year, all start late?

Re: Google interviewing process for software developer role in 2020

#276

Post by what_ever »

simonkafan wrote: post #234
tyrankh wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is ludicrously false and not at _all_ why Google hires people. They hire people because - big surprise - there are projects that need staffing. "At this stage, if Google hires you, you are almost certainly being used to aid in the retention of somebody else. You’re going straight for the bench." I mean, just wow. Do you really believe this? This is fantasy to an incredible degree.

Of course this is sarcasm. But after all, most of the newer Google products really seem to be there just to entertain their own people and give them something to do. No one can tell me, for example, that there was a serious business case behind Google Allo.

I don't think GP is being sarcastic.

Disc: Googler.

Re: Google interviewing process for software developer role in 2020

#277

Post by kelnos »

I interviewed at Google quite some time ago, back in 2009. It seems like their process has gone heavily downhill since then. I wasn't given an offer, but I was only subjected to two phone screens (one recruiter, one technical), and then had a day of in-person interviews. One interviewer seemed a little dickish (or perhaps just didn't feel like being there), but the rest were overwhelmingly positive, and were fun and interesting to talk to.

The process wasn't quick, but it didn't feel long and drawn out, either. If I had to wait weeks between each stage, and was expected to pester my recruiting contact for status updates, I wouldn't bother with it at all. I get that it's different when you have to deal with remote interviewers and recruiters, but there's still no excuse for stringing people along like that.

Re: Google interviewing process for software developer role in 2020

#278

Post by bradlys »

jedberg wrote: post #244

Man what a stark contrast to how my Netflix interview went. I was contacted directly by the hiring manager, three days later I was onsite for the phase one interview, three days later I was onsite for the second phase, and I had a verbal offer on my way out the door (for more than I asked for). Came back a week later to sign the paperwork after I emailed with the recruiter a few times about offer details. Started a w…

Isn't Netflix an outlier in how they hire/place anyway? They hire for specific positions versus the rest hiring generally then finding a place to put you. (Team matching coming at the end rather than first) I believe Apple works this way as well.

It would explain why I've never been contacted by either. I have no expert level skills in things they're interested in. (I've mostly worked at startups - breadth over depth)

Re: Google interviewing process for software developer role in 2020

#279

Post by bradlys »

kelnos wrote: post #277

I interviewed at Google quite some time ago, back in 2009. It seems like their process has gone heavily downhill since then. I wasn't given an offer, but I was only subjected to two phone screens (one recruiter, one technical), and then had a day of in-person interviews. One interviewer seemed a little dickish (or perhaps just didn't feel like being there), but the rest were overwhelmingly positive, and were fun and…

I believe the interview process is the same today as what you experienced but probably more difficult. As that's what I've experienced at FB/Google/etc.

I think this person wasn't performing to the same level as some other candidates and that's why they kept getting asked to do more phone interviews. Google tends to only want to progress you if they believe you're going to succeed in the next steps - otherwise, what's the point? In this person's case, I think they would've failed and that's what the phone interview filtered out.

Btw, most of these places are more than willing to speed things up if you tell them you have an offer. e.g. FB has a rule of "no meetings Wednesdays" and says they won't interview then. I told them that was my only option - they said, "oh, ok. Let's do Wednesday then!"

Re: Google interviewing process for software developer role in 2020

#280

Post by kelnos »

dunkelheit wrote: post #173
compiler-guy wrote: post #140

Google is an enormous company. Well over 100,000 employees. The answer to any question in the vein of, "Does X happen at Google?", or "Does Google do X?" is almost surely yes: Somewhere at the company, some team is probably doing that. Google's interview process is notoriously bad for some folks, and that is absolutely true and something Google tries to fix. And there are absolutely plenty of unhappy people. Even if…

One thought that I had after reading the article was just how average his experience was. This is really the bog-standard "how my Google interview went" post and not some kind of outlier. One complaint that I have seen over and over (even in this thread) is his frustrating moment #3: "Google doesn't respect your time". That's of course entirely subjective and many people may be ok with months of preparation, days of…

A problem with the long, drawn-out process is that often people are interviewing at multiple companies, and might have to make a choice between shutting the door on Google and accepting another offer now, or pushing through the murky, very-uncertain Google process, and possibly allowing other offers to expire (even if a reasonable company won't have an "expiring"/"exploding" offer, they're not going to wait forever for you to make up your mind).
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