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How to Ace the Google Interview: Ultimate Guide

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Re: How to Ace the Google Interview: Ultimate Guide

#41

Post by seanmcdirmid »

ChrisCinelli wrote: post #37
matmann2001 wrote: post #21

This is getting ridiculous. These guides to interviewing at specific companies are starting to sound like the video game cheat code books of old. If the process is so nuanced that there's an entire industry around these types of guides (and Google even highly recommends you buy them!), then the process is fundamentally flawed. But we already knew that, and as long as others are still playing the game, we are forced t…

I completely agree. Even Google suggest to "practice writing syntactically correct code on a whiteboard". This is clearly a useless skill as a software engineers except in getting a job at companies that do whiteboard interviews. Did you try to refactor code on a whiteboard? How are they able to find people that are able to efficiently debug problems? When I interview people I tell them, "Bring your own laptop set up…

I’ve heard that Google allows you to type code into a computer now during an interview. A welcome improvement in the state of the art.

Still no access to a compiler or debugger, but baby steps.

Re: How to Ace the Google Interview: Ultimate Guide

#42

Post by 0x8BADF00D »

Gracana wrote: post #38
emmelaich wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the contrary; the fact that Google recommends them indicates the process is not flawed. That is too say, their interviewing process explores things at sufficient depth and breadth to make knowing "the" solution not a deciding factor.

Maybe the sort of person who has the time/desire/interest to study a guide to figure out how to fit in at google is exactly the sort of person they want to hire.

The bikeshedding engineer is exactly what Google or Amazon is looking for. Nothing wrong with that either, I just take issue with the entire industry standardizing around that type of engineer.

Re: How to Ace the Google Interview: Ultimate Guide

#43

Post by tehsauce »

Gracana wrote: post #38
emmelaich wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the contrary; the fact that Google recommends them indicates the process is not flawed. That is too say, their interviewing process explores things at sufficient depth and breadth to make knowing "the" solution not a deciding factor.

Maybe the sort of person who has the time/desire/interest to study a guide to figure out how to fit in at google is exactly the sort of person they want to hire.

Sounds pretty accurate

Re: How to Ace the Google Interview: Ultimate Guide

#44

Post by bitL »

ChrisCinelli wrote: post #37
matmann2001 wrote: post #21

This is getting ridiculous. These guides to interviewing at specific companies are starting to sound like the video game cheat code books of old. If the process is so nuanced that there's an entire industry around these types of guides (and Google even highly recommends you buy them!), then the process is fundamentally flawed. But we already knew that, and as long as others are still playing the game, we are forced t…

I completely agree. Even Google suggest to "practice writing syntactically correct code on a whiteboard". This is clearly a useless skill as a software engineers except in getting a job at companies that do whiteboard interviews. Did you try to refactor code on a whiteboard? How are they able to find people that are able to efficiently debug problems? When I interview people I tell them, "Bring your own laptop set up…

Elite schools do that in undergrad; e.g. as an initial scored lab exercise, write this recursive fractal shape using Logo, parallel Delaunay triangulation with prefix sums , dynamic programming solving oligopoly problem or single-value Paxos pseudocode on a piece of paper in 10 minutes (I am being serious). If you can cope with it, it immediately shows up in the interview and you are considered a member of the club, a person worthy of having conversations with.

Re: How to Ace the Google Interview: Ultimate Guide

#46

Post by seanmcdirmid »

fjp wrote: post #24
CodeMage wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But I've had candidates that try to make up language features, and that doesn't fly with me. This piqued my curiosity. Can you give an example?

I once passed a whiteboard interview just calling random made-up operations on generic java arrays, like Array.flatten(). I was relatively new to programming and had been practicing in Java but didn't know how to execute a lot of map/filter/reduce operations off the top of my head like that. I did, however, know that my interviewer was a Python programmer that probably didn't know much about Java language features.

I thought you were allowed to assume functions you needed in the interest of a modular solution. Array.flatten is an obvious “assume I have this, I would write it anyways.”

I think most decent interviews will give you a pass on an enhanced standard library.

Re: How to Ace the Google Interview: Ultimate Guide

#47

Post by HALtheWise »

ssambros wrote: post #3

> For the phone interview, it will be on a Google document, and for the onsite interview, it will be writing code on a whiteboard. That part is not completely correct. At onsite can choose to write code in a Chromebook which will have a lightweight editor with syntax highlighting.

I interviewed at Google in January, and they offered to let me use a computer if I had accessibility concerns with a whiteboard or really really wanted to, but discouraged it because they found it often made candidates too focused on the syntax of their code and less likely to have a meaningful high-level discussion with the interviewer.

Re: How to Ace the Google Interview: Ultimate Guide

#48

Post by simmanian »

6cd6beb wrote: post #34
simmanian wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't work at Google (and I don't agree with some of the things the company's decided to do) but have many friends who enjoy working there. From what I hear, Google has an organizational structure that is very favorable for regular engineers. Once you're hired and you put in around a year of work in a team, it's almost trivial to find another team. Engineers also directly evaluate managers and I've heard stories of…

>I've heard stories of mid to high level managers crying in bathrooms because of poor reviews from their reports. These factors combine to create an environment where teams are actively working to make engineers happy and content. Honestly this sounds like a thought experiment. Do you have any ethical hangups about entering an environment where falling out of your favor can leave someone stress-crying in their place…

Perhaps using the crying manager example was a bad idea on my part. What I can stand behind is having an org structure that encourages managers and execs to treat their employees well. It sounds like Google has done a better job than most. I'm sure there are managers and engineers crying in private in every big company out there. What I'm trying to say is even though a lot of people like to assume that people work for Google and stay there just for the money, Google probably does some things very well to keep all the talent despite the negative press it gets. And I think a major factor is how empowered a "regular" engineer feels in the company. It sounds like a step up from many other companies in that regard.

Re: How to Ace the Google Interview: Ultimate Guide

#49

Post by tricolon »

6cd6beb wrote: post #34
simmanian wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't work at Google (and I don't agree with some of the things the company's decided to do) but have many friends who enjoy working there. From what I hear, Google has an organizational structure that is very favorable for regular engineers. Once you're hired and you put in around a year of work in a team, it's almost trivial to find another team. Engineers also directly evaluate managers and I've heard stories of…

>I've heard stories of mid to high level managers crying in bathrooms because of poor reviews from their reports. These factors combine to create an environment where teams are actively working to make engineers happy and content. Honestly this sounds like a thought experiment. Do you have any ethical hangups about entering an environment where falling out of your favor can leave someone stress-crying in their place…

That there are even stories about such things makes me want to stay far, far away from there.

Re: How to Ace the Google Interview: Ultimate Guide

#50

Post by ebg13 »

6cd6beb wrote: post #35
ebg13 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Apart from maybe the money or a nice resume entry Return question: Do you have a firm grasp on quite how much money it is?

Unsolicited question: Does every man have his price?

I think so, but it will be hard for us to prove.
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