Google isn't hiring anymore out of top management or very specific exceptions.
Not true.
My Job Interview at Google
21–30 of 114 posts
Re: My Job Interview at Google
#22What I would really like to read is "My Job Interview at X"
X - any startups like Twitter, Friendfeed, Posterous, Kashless. etc
Re: My Job Interview at Google
#23Re: My Job Interview at Google
#24What are the likely reasons that he did not get hired? Seems like a brilliant programmer, but for whatever reason that wasn't enough.
It's not clear whether they actually hired anyone for the position (there are contradictory opinions in this thread as to whether or not Google is hiring at all right now).
Re: My Job Interview at Google
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not true.
Citation needed. (Seriously, two totally contradictory opinions on this, wondering if there is any actual evidence either way.)
I asked my recruiter specifically if they were in a hiring freeze (I'm in the middle of the application process now), and she was very adamant that they were not. If they were, they would lay off the whole HR department, except for a skeleton crew needed for benefits and such. After all, why spend ~40M/year on recruiters if you're not recruiting?
Re: My Job Interview at Google
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
Citation needed. (Seriously, two totally contradictory opinions on this, wondering if there is any actual evidence either way.)
I asked my recruiter specifically if they were in a hiring freeze (I'm in the middle of the application process now), and she was very adamant that they were not. If they were, they would lay off the whole HR department, except for a skeleton crew needed for benefits and such. After all, why spend ~40M/year on recruiters if you're not recruiting?
Retention. Turn-over. Keeping a "hot list". Getting rid of under-performing groups by replacing them with new blood.
Those are some of the reasons. Also sometimes HR departments are just several months behind the times.
Not trying to rain on your parade. I just wouldn't take that argument too seriously in a general situation. In this particular situation, I think Google is doing great and believe they probably are hiring.
Re: My Job Interview at Google
#27"The questions were about Linux systems administration, algorithms, computer architecture and C programming." Couldn't you just Google for the answers to these questions in order to bring yourself up to speed where necessary? I'm not sure I see the value in trying to keep vast libraries of arcana in your head at all times.
They ask common questions as a proxy for experience in those fields. If you work with something daily, you will end up memorizing certain facts even if you don't consciously try to. It follows, then, that if you don't have those facts memorized, you haven't been working with that technology daily.
I stopped memorizing syntax a long time ago. It's been a few years and an the only thing I can recall about C's pointer syntax is ^ and & but the specifics are long gone. Not that long ago I had to look up the conditional shorthand (expression)? true: false in java etc. I have used around 12 different languages and I try and forget the stuff I am not using or I will mix and match syntax that does not work for the language I am programming in.
PS: I was classified with a learning disability back in school so this could just be me.
Re: My Job Interview at Google
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
Citation needed. (Seriously, two totally contradictory opinions on this, wondering if there is any actual evidence either way.)
I asked my recruiter specifically if they were in a hiring freeze (I'm in the middle of the application process now), and she was very adamant that they were not. If they were, they would lay off the whole HR department, except for a skeleton crew needed for benefits and such. After all, why spend ~40M/year on recruiters if you're not recruiting?
Who lays off the layers-off? HR departments look after themselves.
Re: My Job Interview at Google
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
Citation needed. (Seriously, two totally contradictory opinions on this, wondering if there is any actual evidence either way.)
I asked my recruiter specifically if they were in a hiring freeze (I'm in the middle of the application process now), and she was very adamant that they were not. If they were, they would lay off the whole HR department, except for a skeleton crew needed for benefits and such. After all, why spend ~40M/year on recruiters if you're not recruiting?
Lay off the entire HR department? The only reason you'd do that is if you were in a permanent hiring freeze death spiral. Recruiting works as a pipeline. So even if you're in a hiring freeze, which Google likely is, you still want to have folks lined up for interviews.
Worst case scenario is that you end up interviewing a bunch of folks and can't offer them a position. However, if you just stop recruiting activity altogether then you'll have more than a month worth of lead time to start getting new hires after the hiring freeze is lifted.
Re: My Job Interview at Google
#30"The questions were about Linux systems administration, algorithms, computer architecture and C programming." Couldn't you just Google for the answers to these questions in order to bring yourself up to speed where necessary? I'm not sure I see the value in trying to keep vast libraries of arcana in your head at all times.
Not only that, but it seems like he was penalized for very common quick to fix errors. I'm not the best programmer ever but I always forget to initialize a data structure or forget a semicolon. I always catch the error when compiling or testing. It's like penalizing someone for a grammatical mistake. Some make more mistakes than others but no one is perfect.