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My Nightmare Interviews With Google

businessinsider.com

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Re: My Nightmare Interviews With Google

#81

Post by jazzychad »

cdibona wrote: post #34
jazzychad wrote: post #3

These were just questions for a position as Associate Product Marketing Manager. During my senior-year interviews with Google for a Software Engineer position, there were 3 rounds, each getting increasingly harder, chock full of nothing but technical questions: some trivia (name all standard network port associations), some implementation (design a chat server), some theory (what is the big-O runtime advantage of dou…

Have you considered interviewing again (I'm assuming some time has passed)? I think its usually a pretty good sign when interviews go long. I think it might be worth your time. Feel free to email me if you'd like.

I have actually been contacted twice since then by Google for subsequent openings (once in the past couple of weeks!). I am currently working on my startup, but I will certainly keep this option open in the future.

Re: My Nightmare Interviews With Google

#82

Post by roc »

cdibona wrote: post #37
wallflower wrote: post #25

Rigorous interviews will increase the false negative rate, at the expense of false positives. It's part of the culture at Microsoft and Google and other companies.

I don't know why people are downvoting you. I can tell you that I've seen the same thing and having dealt with the fallout of bad hiring, I'd rather miss some good or even great candidates rather than hire someone bad. Edi: To clarify: I work at Google.

You always run the risk of hiring someone bad. Interviewing, particularly rigorous interviewing, is a game that doesn't map very well onto work itself.

That's why the true test of a hiring process is the firing process.

If you can get rid of people that can't hack it, rather than letting them gather as detritus in your system, you'll be far better off than if you simply pretend that you can actually avoid mistakes.

Re: My Nightmare Interviews With Google

#83

Post by dsplittgerber »

kalid wrote: post #29
presidentender wrote: post #6

Her last answer really did her in, I think. She said she was "wishing [the number of graduating seniors] was higher" since she was amid a job search. That would mean more competition for jobs. That indicates a lack of critical thinking skills.

I think the gmail answer would have sunk her too. Google is an advertising company -- 1/4 (25%) clickthrough on Gmail ads (not even search) is just crazy. People click search ads because they're looking for something, Gmail ads probably get an order of magnitude less click through (people aren't in gmail to find new things). For someone applying to an advertising company, she needs to know their basic business model…

Exactly. This was the main point. It's just so off. If you don't care enough about a company to understand the absolutely most basic reasoning behind their cashcow product, why should the company be interested in hiring you?

Re: My Nightmare Interviews With Google

#84

Post by mbrubeck »

ashishbharthi wrote: post #48
tomsaffell wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Totally agree that she was not right for the job, but the process was a bit nightmare-ish : “That’s all. Good luck with your job search.” The phone clicked-- I was stunned. In my previous job I conducted a lot of interviews of an analytical style. Some people bombed so badly that is was clear well before the end that they wouldn't make the next round. In those cases, I used the remaining time to either talk to them a…

Googlers are not that bad at ending interviews either. I think this was just one perticular person (Anna) thing.

Agreed. I was rejected from Google after an on-site interview, but they were quite polite and professional about it.

Re: My Nightmare Interviews With Google

#85

Post by colbyolson »

anigbrowl wrote: post #67
zachware wrote: post #43

This wasn't an interview, it was a test. I had a similar experience with a startup. I was interviewing for a Marketing Communications Manager position. Essentially PR. One of the unofficial interviewers (at 24 year old MIT engineer working as an email marketer) challenged me with the question "How many barbers are in San Francisco?" We proceeded to map it out the analytical process on the whiteboard. He wanted to see…

I don't think this is such a terrible thing, although clearly this adversarial approach to testing ideas isn't for you, or everyone. Enrico Fermi used to challenge grad students with similar questions, the famous example being 'how many piano tuners in Chicago?'. I don't think it's a stupid or impossible question, but one that seeks to establish how you go about estimating tricky things and thus identifying fruitful…

Wow. That was cool. Thanks for walking through the logic/reasoning.

Re: My Nightmare Interviews With Google

#86

Post by cookiecaper »

blinks wrote: post #57
dangrover wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't stand talking to people from companies like Google, they're always so smug and judgmental like that. Part of my decision to drop out of the job market and focus full-time on my company (to pretty reasonable success this year) is because I like being paid based on a judgement of my work/products, rather than some half-assed assessment of me as a person made in an interview.

> rather than some half-assed assessment of me as a person > made in an interview. Any judgement made in a 45-minute (or less!) interview is going to be half-assed. That's the unfortunate way of the world. How do you think people should interview? (Genuinely curious; I do interviews, and I think I do pretty well, but it's difficult to honestly examine one's own methods without feedback.)

If I may interject, I think in most cases it's much, much better to use a network of connections rather than random walk-ins. You're much more likely to get someone that not only performs well, but also fits in well with your company's personalities.

If you have to interview strangers, I think it's good to inquire into their technical background until you have ample confidence in their technical abilities, and take the rest of the time to discuss career and company goals, personalities, hobbies, etc., in a lax and non-rushed manner. I'd invite the candidate back for a follow-up interview and talk more and then invite him to work out of your office for a few days (with pay, of course).

I think it's much better to have a relaxed and friendly decorum and perform a series of informal "interviews" because you'll learn a lot more about the candidate if he feels confident and open than if he's rushed to answer a bunch of silly logic puzzles and give diatribes on his five-year life plan.

Re: My Nightmare Interviews With Google

#87

Post by greyman »

harpastum wrote: post #28
jonknee wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like that's what she was doing... "Associate Product Marketing Manager"

I realize that she was under some pretty severe stress, but a marketing manager that thinks gmail earns ~$70,000 a day? Or that each user will click on seven ads a day? “Google places four ads per e-mail opened in Gmail. Advertisers get to pick their click-through rates, which can be as little as $0.05...Say each G-mail user opens seven new e-mails a day. They would see 28 ads. If they click on ¼ of those ads, then o…

From the Googler: “You lost me at the ‘only clicking on ¼ of the ads’ comment. Let’s move on.”

Yes, indeed. Someone who has a slightest clue about the whole stuff just can't say 1/4 of users will click an ad in Gmail. I am sorry for her, but that is just so off...

Re: My Nightmare Interviews With Google

#88

Post by boredguy8 »

jrockway wrote: post #78
boredguy8 wrote: post #77

I liked the "quiz" question someone posted on the linked "Business Insider" article: You work for a digital age media company who has already achieved superior market dominance in an industry rife with failure and turnover. Your company's stock, though depressed, still sells for multiples above its competition and the option pool is pretty full and limited. The company's single main product continues to grow its reve…

Speculation is for investors. As long as you get your paycheck, who cares? (And "when" they stop giving paychecks, Google will look pretty good on your resume'.) Why are people so upset about the "quiz questions"? Is it unreasonable for an employer to expect you to think? (Is the "right answer" ever the goal of these questions?)

I don't know why people are upset. I don't, however, think there's a category of "thinking" to which these questions provide insight. I use a completely different toolset when answering quiz questions than when I'm answering "real life" questions. "Railroad crossing watch out for cars, can you spell that without any R's" is a typical 'quiz' question that asks you to abandon ways we know people interact. Asking someone, "How many pounds of tonails are cut every year?" is asinine.

Re: My Nightmare Interviews With Google

#89

Post by pyre »

diN0bot wrote: post #68
scscsc wrote: post #51

' “Say an advertiser makes $0.10 every time someone clicks on their ad. Only 20% of people who visit the site click on their ad. How many people need to visit the site for the advertiser to make $20?” I froze. The problem sounded easy but I didn’t want to cause an awkward silence trying to solve it. ' The problem only sounded easy? Isn't this what you learn in 3rd grade? When you can't do this stuff you shouldn't be…

would it have been awkward to write down the equation and then solve it? keeping a legible notebook and writing documentation are even better than doing things in your head and spewing magic numbers. i frequently have reason to do back of the envelope sanity checks...no reason not to use an envelope or a notebook, though.

That might be more obvious to the interviewee if the interview were done in a room with a whiteboard. They could ask to use the whiteboard to sort things out. Over the phone it's possible for people to get the impression that they are supposed to spew and answer right away. It's just a matter of mindset though.

Re: My Nightmare Interviews With Google

#90

Post by Retric »

colbyolson wrote: post #85
anigbrowl wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think this is such a terrible thing, although clearly this adversarial approach to testing ideas isn't for you, or everyone. Enrico Fermi used to challenge grad students with similar questions, the famous example being 'how many piano tuners in Chicago?'. I don't think it's a stupid or impossible question, but one that seeks to establish how you go about estimating tricky things and thus identifying fruitful…

Wow. That was cool. Thanks for walking through the logic/reasoning.

There are a lot of ways to do this type of problem.

Say, 375,000 men and 25% of them men get a hair cut every 2 weeks taking 30 min, most men get far fewer haircuts but they bring the average down to about once a month.

Av workweek = 40 hours * 4 weeks = 160 men per barber sounds low call it 200.

375,000 / 200 is less than 2,000.

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