Google's “Director of Engineering” Hiring Test • Hacker News Board

Re: Google's “Director of Engineering” Hiring Test

#341

Post by rayiner » Thu, Oct 13, 2016, 5:37 PM UTC

tptacek wrote: post #314

rayiner wrote: post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think these questions are unreasonable as a spam filter. Yeah, they're trivia, but if you had actually worked in that space, I'd be surprised if you didn't know a lot of that trivia just by virtue of exposure. The rejoinder, of course, is that it's probably misguided to structure your recruiting around a spam filter.

The length of an ethernet address is a trivia question. It's a good way to score a board game. Filtering out candidates based on it is lunacy.

I agree with the first and second sentence. As to the third: what would be your thought process as to someone who claimed to be a network programmer on the phone but couldn't answer most of those questions?

Re: Google's “Director of Engineering” Hiring Test

#342

Post by ivanhoe » Thu, Oct 13, 2016, 5:37 PM UTC

segmondy wrote: post #56

lordnacho wrote: post #13

I'm amazed he knew things in such detail. I mean who would know just how long a MAC address is? Or what the actual SYN/ACK etc tcp flags are? You just need to know what they're used for, and if you need the specifics, you'll find out with a single search. He seemed to know that as well though. Kernighan for bit twiddling algos, that kind of thing. It's a bit strange to have someone non-technical interviewing a techie…

People that have been around know such things. At one point, Richard Stevens (RIP) was god. Every programmer had a copy of TCP/IP illustrated, Advanced Unix Programming and Unix Network Programming. If you wanted to do anything network, you had to write your own servers, you had to understand the details. The breath of knowledge was wide and the depth was just as deep. Ask around on HN, and you will probably be shock…

The amazing part here is that so many people still remembers all those little details. I still know how it works, but honestly I forgot all the details long time ago.

Re: Google's “Director of Engineering” Hiring Test

#343

Post by deadmik3 » Thu, Oct 13, 2016, 5:37 PM UTC

philjr wrote: post #78

Without actually hearing the transcript verbatim, it's hard to give much enlightened perspective here, but there's a lot of "hur hur, dumb recruiter" responses here. What I will say, in general, is that figuring out what the "right" answers are here for what is obviously a technical phone screen by a non-technical person with answers on a piece of paper is also part of the challenge. This is a Director of Engineering…

I agree with you on this, the job description said it was just as much management as engineering. Management means being able to tolerate irritating situations without becoming an ass.

Re: Google's “Director of Engineering” Hiring Test

#344

Post by throwaway2016a » Thu, Oct 13, 2016, 5:37 PM UTC

wpietri wrote: post #319

throwaway2016a wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm a student (not someone with 10 years of experience) but I knew that. 3 bytes for the vendor block, 3 bytes for the device. That is why you know the answer. Come back in 10 years and let us know if you still know it. What you think might be mainstream in a computer science class are rarely used in application. And if they are they can be easily looked up. I used to know the exact effective distance of a CATV cab…

> Come back in 10 years and let us know if you still know it. I've never taken a CS class, and I still know it. I've just stared at enough packet dumps and debugged enough issues that it happens to stick. I think it's a stupid question to ask as a screener, as it tests familiarity with trivia. It's the kind of thing I'd be happy to see that somebody knew, but it's never something I'd downcheck them for not knowing. I…

> I've never taken a CS class, and I still know it. I've just stared at enough packet dumps and debugged enough issues that it happens to stick.

We are all a product of our environment. And there is certainly a chance in 10 years the OP will still know how many bytes are in a MAC address. I only mentioned computer science based on the "student" part of the quote.

Personally I've been spoiled by working on higher level stuff so if I do look at a packet dump I usually filter the packet headers out. But again, we're a product of our environment and asking questions that a reasonable skilled engineer might go their entire career without knowing the answer to except in that interview is a bit suspect and will likely disqualify people that would be otherwise great for the job.

Re: Google's “Director of Engineering” Hiring Test

#345

Post by Klockan » Thu, Oct 13, 2016, 5:38 PM UTC

> Google pagerank: the ultra-secret mathematical formula demonstrating that sponsored search results rank higher than reality can.

I am not sure why he was rejected, but this sentence makes it clear that he isn't mature enough to be a directory so I doubt that Google misses him.

Re: Google's “Director of Engineering” Hiring Test

#346

Post by dordoka » Thu, Oct 13, 2016, 5:38 PM UTC

DannyBee wrote: post #152

FWIW: As a director of engineering for Google, who interviews other directors of engineering for Google, none of these are on or related to the "director of engineering" interview guidelines or sheets. These are bog standard SWE-SRE questions (particularly, SRE) at some companies, so my guess is he was really being evaluated for a normal SWE-SRE position. IE maybe he applied to a position labeled director of engineer…

I was interviewed by Google for an SRE management position and I got asked 6 of the OP's questions.

Re: Google's “Director of Engineering” Hiring Test

#347

Post by outworlder » Thu, Oct 13, 2016, 5:39 PM UTC

Well, assuming the transcript is even remotely correct, they should start doing phone screens using algorithms. I'd guess they would outperform this recruiter.

Re: Google's “Director of Engineering” Hiring Test

#348

Post by dreamdu5t » Thu, Oct 13, 2016, 5:39 PM UTC

It seems easier to get Google to fund and then acquire your startup then get hired there.

Re: Google's “Director of Engineering” Hiring Test

#349

Post by matchagaucho » Thu, Oct 13, 2016, 5:40 PM UTC

The irony of "Director" roles is that they're supposed to provide "Direction".

This requires gently pushing Engineers out of their comfort zones and into new territory.

Often a Director's specialized knowledge comes at the expense of defying conventional norms.

Filtering for candidates that can answer CS trivia will just get you Directors that know trivia.

Re: Google's “Director of Engineering” Hiring Test

#350

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Oct 13, 2016, 5:40 PM UTC

Diederich wrote: post #249

maverick_iceman wrote: post #32

This is very hard to believe. In most big tech companies technical interviews are conducted by technical people, not recruiters. Especially for a senior role like Director of Eng. the experience described here stretches credulity. Also most of these companies have policies which don't allow any feedback to be given on interview performance. In light of that the recruiter saying "you don't have necessary skills" is ex…

As stated elsewhere, these questions have been very typical for what I'd call 'first level phone screen' for SRE positions at Google. I interview with Google every couple of years for fun; I always learn a lot and have a lot of fun with the on-site interviews. The recruiter does indeed ask these kinds of questions. I've been asked most of the ones mentioned here, some of the multiple times. I find it extremely hard t…

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