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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

#311

Post by ryandrake »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #49
asdfman123 wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 alon…

Anytime somebody complains that there is a “shortage of talent” you need to immediately ask them 1. What level of talent they are looking for and 2. What level of compensation they are offering. Often the answers are 1. Top 25 percentile and 2. Bottom 25 percentile, so it’s no wonder they can’t find anyone.

Re: Google interviewing process for software developer role in 2020

#312

Post by erobbins »

cmckn wrote: post #36

I interviewed with Google last spring. My experience was different, but about as disappointing. I applied for a job, and received an out-of-the-blue email from a recruiter about a different job a couple months later (my resume must have landed in some "recent" bucket). The position was in Google Cloud. I was frustrated by the "you'll talk to a team after you've passed 100 hurdles" nonsense. I had one phone screen wit…

> Everyone I met at the onsite was kind of an asshole.

that was my google onsite experience in 2013. I haven't been back and wouldn't try again.

Re: Google interviewing process for software developer role in 2020

#313

Post by toyg »

8ytecoder wrote: post #178
munificent wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bias up front: I work at Google. > evidently is for a considerable portion of engineers. I only see evidence that the experience was disappointing for a single Googler, the lunch interviewer, not "a considerable portion" of them. The interviewer's data point is certainly valid, but it's not clear to me how much you can generalize it.

My experience matches other people here. 3/4 of the interviewers were good but that 1/4 ruins everything. My last round was this guy who was clearly not interested in conducting the interview. He asked me a question and just sat there. He didn't engage, was very cold to questions and I had no clue if I was on the right track. As an interviewer myself and having interviewed for startups (which is a different beast due…

> I've learnt to break the ice, encourage the candidates

I'm pretty sure that there is another "school of thought" that is exactly the opposite: start nonimpressed to make the candidate "fight for it". In some companies it's very plain how interviewers agreed a bad cop / good cop routine in advance.

Re: Google interviewing process for software developer role in 2020

#314

Post by aikinai »

joshuamorton wrote: post #212
choppaface wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have two friends who told me they were trying to get competing offers so that they could use it in their promo packet. One was in the ads team, extremely sharp guy, trying to make Staff level in his 3rd year there. Joe Beda, one of the creators of Kubernetes, had a giant competing offering from Facebook. Turned it down to stay at Google, got some more freedom, and now we have Kubernetes (!). If you look on Blind, t…

I've literally never seen mention of this on blind. I see jokes about leaving and then returning at L+1, but never "forcing promo" via a competing offer.

I know someone who did it, but that was a few years ago during the peak of talent competition with Facebook. And the person was clearly qualified for the promo anyway.

Re: Google interviewing process for software developer role in 2020

#315

Post by mav3rick »

mtnGoat wrote: post #109
mav3rick wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Talk about confirmation bias. Do you think people who are happy will come and post on HN ? "TellHN: I am really happy with my work at Google "

Yes i do, i have seen Googlers post positive experiences and defenses/responses to negative posts here.

So all 60k people visit this site and parse negative comments to rebut them ?

Re: Google interviewing process for software developer role in 2020

#316

Post by luord »

It's interesting how the process seems... completely backwards.

A group of engineers studying the CV/portfolio of the candidate followed by a culture fit interview should be the first and second thing to happen, IMO, yet for Google they're the last and second to last, respectively.

Afterwards, there should be an interview discussing the developer's portfolio with the candidate.

And then, and only then, (and if and only if the candidate's portfolio isn't extensive or clear enough) there should be a technical interview. And even that shouldn't be a stupid hackerrank/leetcode type challenge or a generic take home test, but a pair programming session resolving a recent bug that the company/team faced, in a simulated environment.

Obligatory IMO, of course.

Re: Google interviewing process for software developer role in 2020

#317

Post by seanmcdirmid »

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #300
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of 100 people who interview onsite at google, 78 are happy about it even though only 2 get job offers???? Those are some crazy statistics. Maybe they are satisfied that the interview process convinced them they didn’t want to work at google anyways? Because I don’t see how that could work out otherwise.

First, I don't have the exact numbers. Second, yes, out of 100 people that apply, less than 1 get an offer, on average. If 100 people apply, only a small subset move on to the phone-screen. And you need to at least take the phone screen to be given a chance to fill out the satisfaction survey. Otherwise, there's not much for you to be satisfied or not with. I'm not sure what the percentage of people that make it to t…

This sounds like something that is especially hard to get data on, there is the obvious selection bias that only those who want to fill out the survey are surveyed.

As for 2/100, I thought you meant onsite interviews, which would be especially crushing for those of us who are going to do a google onsite interview pretty soon. If its just applicants, I can’t imagine it being even that good since Google must get a lot of resumes and without a recommend your chance of being noticed isn’t that great. And with the recommend, it looks like you can skip the phone screen, further skewing the numbers.

Re: Google interviewing process for software developer role in 2020

#318

Post by Retric »

luord wrote: post #316

It's interesting how the process seems... completely backwards. A group of engineers studying the CV/portfolio of the candidate followed by a culture fit interview should be the first and second thing to happen, IMO, yet for Google they're the last and second to last, respectively. Afterwards, there should be an interview discussing the developer's portfolio with the candidate. And then, and only then, (and if and on…

Abstractly, assuming equivalent costs the highest efficiency comes from whatever step rejects the most candidates first. However, the costs at each stage are not equal so whatever is cheapest for the company while also filtering effectively tends to happen first. Thus generally you get something like recruiter resume review, phone interview, face to face interview, and then background checks in that order.

In that context Google’s remote coding tests must seem reasonable for them. These tests are cheap and as long as Google is getting enough talented people out the end of the process, cost savings are a significant goal.

PS: It’s not uncommon for companies to put most resumes in a holding pattern randomly. As long as they find someone good enough they don’t need to look at thousands of candidates, and if they don’t find someone they can just keep going down the list.

Re: Google interviewing process for software developer role in 2020

#319

Post by onlyrealcuzzo »

unishark wrote: post #305
onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First, I don't have the exact numbers. Second, yes, out of 100 people that apply, less than 1 get an offer, on average. If 100 people apply, only a small subset move on to the phone-screen. And you need to at least take the phone screen to be given a chance to fill out the satisfaction survey. Otherwise, there's not much for you to be satisfied or not with. I'm not sure what the percentage of people that make it to t…

> First, I don't have the exact numbers. Second, yes, out of 100 people that apply, less than 1 get an offer, on average. Hiring 1/100 applicants is not unusual for any company. Put up an ad on any job site and you'll get hundreds of resumes from across the planet. Given the low effort of putting in the initial application, the odds are not a big issue there. The interesting question is the number you seem to be gues…

It's not. If you get an on-site interview -- recently -- you had over a 25% chance of getting an offer.

Re: Google interviewing process for software developer role in 2020

#320

Post by dlwdlw »

cmckn wrote: post #36

I interviewed with Google last spring. My experience was different, but about as disappointing. I applied for a job, and received an out-of-the-blue email from a recruiter about a different job a couple months later (my resume must have landed in some "recent" bucket). The position was in Google Cloud. I was frustrated by the "you'll talk to a team after you've passed 100 hurdles" nonsense. I had one phone screen wit…

Have been inside google and have friends who have worked, work there. There’s some truth to the asshole thing. Though I think it’s more like snobbishness. That is, conditional super niceness if you demonstrate you’re googly.
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