Live data from Hacker News

My Job Interview at Google (2008)

catonmat.net

141–150 of 169 posts

Re: My Job Interview at Google (2008)

#141

There are three types of developer. Those who never worked at Google, those who currently work there, and those who used to work there. The third kind are the ones to avoid if you're interviewing for your company.

So you can interview current Google employees, but not former ones? Why?

Re: My Job Interview at Google (2008)

#142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's an interview, so a more accurate piece of feedback would have been "you couldn't convince us you have practical experience programming." So maybe they had a question like, how would you solve those problem, and you said, here's the solution, but they really wanted you to say, there are three potential approaches that i would use, these are the things i evaluate to decide which approach is likely best, these are…

Yeah I guess but how much open source do they want? If you've already got a hundred thousand lines and it isn't fixing what they're after then suggesting something else would be more helpful. But I guess their interview method works for them.

They're not looking for open source per se, they're looking for you to demonstrate range/depth of experience. If you haven't been able to pick it up from your job, because they're too limited in the types of projects and assignments you can work on, then they're hoping that you can get it yourself from open source.

Now, you may already have the abilities that they want you to have, then what you lack is the ability to show so in the interview.

edit: Just to clarify, in technical interviews, they often don't even look at your resume, they just ask you the questions and judge you on how you answer them. Stating your years of experience or lines of code written have no bearing.

Re: My Job Interview at Google (2008)

#143

I doubt they do the eight-separate-interviewer hazing to people with public achievements. Who would stand for it? " Go calculate the angle, Linus. "

If you consider homebrew a public achievement, then yes: https://mobile.twitter.com/mxcl/status/608682016205344768?la...

Re: My Job Interview at Google (2008)

#144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I guess but how much open source do they want? If you've already got a hundred thousand lines and it isn't fixing what they're after then suggesting something else would be more helpful. But I guess their interview method works for them.

They're not looking for open source per se, they're looking for you to demonstrate range/depth of experience. If you haven't been able to pick it up from your job, because they're too limited in the types of projects and assignments you can work on, then they're hoping that you can get it yourself from open source. Now, you may already have the abilities that they want you to have, then what you lack is the ability t…

I don't know if we're talking past each other, but if you've already done tons of open source, and it hasn't gotten you the skills they want, then is just repeating 'do yet more open source' useful advice? That's what I mean. If someone had done tons of open source and it wasn't coming through in terms of skills I'd give them advice like 'get a friend to help you practice interviewing'.

Re: My Job Interview at Google (2008)

#145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're not looking for open source per se, they're looking for you to demonstrate range/depth of experience. If you haven't been able to pick it up from your job, because they're too limited in the types of projects and assignments you can work on, then they're hoping that you can get it yourself from open source. Now, you may already have the abilities that they want you to have, then what you lack is the ability t…

I don't know if we're talking past each other, but if you've already done tons of open source, and it hasn't gotten you the skills they want, then is just repeating 'do yet more open source' useful advice? That's what I mean. If someone had done tons of open source and it wasn't coming through in terms of skills I'd give them advice like 'get a friend to help you practice interviewing'.

Ok gotcha. I think you're asking a bit too much from them to give you personally tailored advice. Your interviewers most likely didn't even read your resume. Most companies will just send you pre-formatted email "sorry you weren't a fit".

If you're trying to parse their message "we're not sure you have enough practical experience programming - maybe try working on an open source project" then I would interpret it as I stated above - they didn't think you demonstrated the depth of experience that they were looking for, and were hoping that working on more types of projects, which you might not get at your job, but you might get by working on a whole bunch of different open source projects, might get you.

Re: My Job Interview at Google (2008)

#148
post #13

>At first I thought I would be applying for a software developer position but after we went through my skillset, the recruiter concluded that I would better fit as an SRE. I've got to say, I've been contacted by recruiters for Google a few times, and it has always been for SRE roles. I got the distinct impression that it's less about whether my skillset fitted being an SRE, but more that they need lots of SREs and ha…

Why do you feel like it's less glamorous/whatever to be an SRE?

The impression I got from talking to the recruiter is that you're spending more of your time ensuring systems work as intended and managing running systems than you are building systems from scratch, and particularly you're not working on the sexy parts of systems - the bits people actually notice,bu instead are focused on making sure those sexy bits actually turn up in a timely manner. It's not a bad thing, it's just a very long way away from what I do, and what I want to do, and the fact that the Google recruiters are always pushing me that way gives me the imipression they struggle to find people for the SRE roles.

Re: My Job Interview at Google (2008)

#149

How is "What's the angle between clock hands when it's 3:15?" a trick question? It's not 0.

I was asked that question 2 times in different companies. At the first time I apparently forgot the the Hour stick will move a little bit when the Minute stick move to 15. I guess it's a trick question when we can easily forgot that fact. My brain is train that way that when it's 3 then the Hour stick is at 3...

Wow it had not even occurred to me that anyone would not remember that the hour hand ticks forward a bit every minute. Blind spots and all that. Also just reinforces how much I dislike trivia and trick questions.

Re: My Job Interview at Google (2008)

#150
post #51

How is "What's the angle between clock hands when it's 3:15?" a trick question? It's not 0.

It's kind of a trick question because it's trivial unless you forget that the hour clock hand doesn't move?

And I'd probably be surprised at just how common it is to forget that. Not that forgetting (or remembering) provides any information as to whether someone's a good SWE or not.
Post reply on HN