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My Job Interview at Google (2008)

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Re: My Job Interview at Google (2008)

#71

Post by pydry »

thiagocesar wrote: post #50
robinduckett wrote: post #34

I recently had an interview at a taxi firm that followed this format. One two three pre-interviews followed by a day of 5 grueling 1 hour interviews. I didn't get the role. Apparently the frontend guy I had the first interview of the days five was concerned about my technical skills. I mean, I find it insulting, having worked for the last 12+ years as a developer to be told that there were "concerns about your techni…

I understand your frustration, but it seems clear to me that there is difference in what you consider high level technical skills, and what others might perceive as such. In a highly paid position, both selling yourself and your ideas, and smoothing out differences such as this one, are expected from the employee. While I believe that with your experience, you have accomplished a high degree of strong delivery... You…

It's pretty indisputable that the industry has a penchant for interviewing problems/techniques that are deliberately unrealistic.

Whiteboarding interviews aren't about a lack of time in interviews, for instance, theyre an homage to the academic background of many of the initial internet trailblazers (google, et al).

Re: My Job Interview at Google (2008)

#72

Post by [deleted] »

Rockslide wrote: post #66
chrisseaton wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve never worked at Google. Have you done one of their interviews? How do you think the world leading research results that they do without world leading people?

I have no doubts that _some_ people working at Google are top of their field. But that hardly applies to all of their workforce...

[deleted]

Re: My Job Interview at Google (2008)

#73

Post by rwmj »

cdent wrote: post #39

These sorts of interviews do not find good software developers, they simply remove a certain kind of bad (not really) software developers along with a whole host of very good software developers that don't fit a very specific mold (perhaps people who write cheery blog posts about how fun it was? ...weird). Which is fine if you're the company doing the interviewing, but completely time wasting for the interviewee. In…

I'm not going to defend this style of interviewing, but I think it's useful to have tests which filter out people who cannot program at all. If you do any hiring you'll know that a surprising proportion of interviewees who make it to an on-site interview for software positions simply know nothing about the subject. When I did interviews at my start-up we'd have a Linux machine connected to a projector for interviewees to use (this is for Linux programmer and sysadmin positions), and a small but significant proportion of the candidates had no idea what to type into the terminal to list files, or what an absolutely trivial program (like loop to 10 printing numbers) did.

Re: My Job Interview at Google (2008)

#74

Post by c0l0 »

My interview process for SRE in Dublin in 2012 went pretty much exactly the same (procedure-wise - content was different though), and passing the on-site interview felt hard enough that I'm kinda proud of it to this day... But I also had to agree to not ever talk about the questions presented, in case I ever wanted to work for them.

Now I wonder if that provision was alreay in place when that article was written initially, and the author just doesn't and didn't care - or if it had to be installed after such articles started popping up, and Google engineers and recruiters felt like running out of questions people couldn't prepare for :)

Re: My Job Interview at Google (2008)

#75

Post by soygul »

I like how they asked a map-reduce question. If your previous experiences didn't involve working over massive datasets with distributed computing, you wouldn't have a clue. But if you did your search about your prospective position, you could find and study for the potential interview topics.

They are effectively selecting candidates who have spot-on experience for the position in hand or are willing to put the time to study for it. Is it too much to ask? Probably not for what you would be getting in the next couple of years if you were to keep it up.

Re: My Job Interview at Google (2008)

#76

Post by denzil_correa »

chrisseaton wrote: post #37
Rockslide wrote: post #8

Reading that stuff always makes me feel incredibly stupid (or rather clueless). I wouldn't be able to answer most of those questions off the top of my head. Including this weird clock hand question (which is probably some trivial math that might or might not have been taught to me more than a decade ago and which I never ever actually applied since). Then I probably have to remind myself that I'm (halfway successfull…

> Maybe Google scale isn't for me. Google employs the very elite of the elite. If you're working there you're probably at the very top of your field. Obviously not every can meet that standard and there's no shame in not being the absolute best.

> Obviously not every can meet that standard and there's no shame in not being the absolute best.

There's an interesting implication in your statement. The inherent assumption is that the metrics which Google uses to hire interviews would be the definition of the best. In other words, if you'd use Google's interview process in the whole world - the filter of that would lead you to the "best of the best" and "not so the best".

I don't know the answer to it but you may want to consider this aspect before reaching the conclusion.

Re: My Job Interview at Google (2008)

#77

Post by rasz »

Rockslide wrote: post #8

Reading that stuff always makes me feel incredibly stupid (or rather clueless). I wouldn't be able to answer most of those questions off the top of my head. Including this weird clock hand question (which is probably some trivial math that might or might not have been taught to me more than a decade ago and which I never ever actually applied since). Then I probably have to remind myself that I'm (halfway successfull…

Clock hand question is painfully obvious once you look at actual analog clock face. All of the questions were easy bordering on trivial as long as your background lines up with target position. The problem is not the questions, but the culture of gotcha interviewing. Haha we got you doing off by one by offering the C option on whiteboard, haha you didnt initialize one variable on whiteboard, haha I have bad mood therefore you fail, etc.

>I recently came across your name as a _possible world class Engineer_

That right here is the cancer.

Re: My Job Interview at Google (2008)

#79

Post by jcahill »

anon7683213 wrote: post #6

I’ve passed the exact same SRE interview, well enough to be offered follow up interviews for a higher level. I’m not saying that to boast, I’m saying this to remind people that the celebrity developers, whose blogs and tweets we share here, are just as good as you, and more importantly, you can be just as good as them.

Single-purpose account.

You are neither a nym nor a Real Name™.

You are immaterial to any discussion.

Re: My Job Interview at Google (2008)

#80

Post by zerr »

robinduckett wrote: post #34

I recently had an interview at a taxi firm that followed this format. One two three pre-interviews followed by a day of 5 grueling 1 hour interviews. I didn't get the role. Apparently the frontend guy I had the first interview of the days five was concerned about my technical skills. I mean, I find it insulting, having worked for the last 12+ years as a developer to be told that there were "concerns about your techni…

Most roles at big advertising or taxi companies are unfulfilling.
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