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My Job Interview at Google (2008)

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Re: My Job Interview at Google (2008)

#41
post #7
post #4

So how much of that stuff do you actually do day-to-day?

Yeah seriously, it seems like a lot of the questions revolve around the TCP stack. Maybe it was a more networking type job?

It doesn’t seem unreasonable for an SRE position. Presumably the focus of the interview would be quite different if you were applying to work on, say, V8 or the Go compiler.

Re: My Job Interview at Google (2008)

#42

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...

Re: My Job Interview at Google (2008)

#43

I recently had an interview at a taxi firm that followed this format. One two three pre-interviews followed by a day of 5 grueling 1 hour interviews. I didn't get the role. Apparently the frontend guy I had the first interview of the days five was concerned about my technical skills. I mean, I find it insulting, having worked for the last 12+ years as a developer to be told that there were "concerns about your techni…

I find that the interviewing style of a company is often very telling of its' general work culture. You've missed our on opportunities and had to settle in less prestigious jobs, but are you sure they would've fulfilled you any better.

Re: My Job Interview at Google (2008)

#44

I recently had an interview at a taxi firm that followed this format. One two three pre-interviews followed by a day of 5 grueling 1 hour interviews. I didn't get the role. Apparently the frontend guy I had the first interview of the days five was concerned about my technical skills. I mean, I find it insulting, having worked for the last 12+ years as a developer to be told that there were "concerns about your techni…

[deleted]

Re: My Job Interview at Google (2008)

#45

Reading that stuff always makes me feel incredibly stupid (or rather clueless). I wouldn't be able to answer most of those questions off the top of my head. Including this weird clock hand question (which is probably some trivial math that might or might not have been taught to me more than a decade ago and which I never ever actually applied since). Then I probably have to remind myself that I'm (halfway successfull…

> Maybe Google scale isn't for me. Google employs the very elite of the elite. If you're working there you're probably at the very top of your field. Obviously not every can meet that standard and there's no shame in not being the absolute best.

> Google employs the very elite of the elite

Do all people with a @google.com email address keep telling themselves that?

Re: My Job Interview at Google (2008)

#46
post #15

Reading that stuff always makes me feel incredibly stupid (or rather clueless). I wouldn't be able to answer most of those questions off the top of my head. Including this weird clock hand question (which is probably some trivial math that might or might not have been taught to me more than a decade ago and which I never ever actually applied since). Then I probably have to remind myself that I'm (halfway successfull…

Using google products has made me certain that being able to solve math/algorithmic problems and being able to make good software really aren't connected in most cases.

It's funny, because I seem to remember the original Google homepage, Google Maps, and Gmail all being pretty good.

Then, somehow, little annoyances crept in and accumulated over time.

And now everything they make is like treacle.

Re: My Job Interview at Google (2008)

#47

Reading that stuff always makes me feel incredibly stupid (or rather clueless). I wouldn't be able to answer most of those questions off the top of my head. Including this weird clock hand question (which is probably some trivial math that might or might not have been taught to me more than a decade ago and which I never ever actually applied since). Then I probably have to remind myself that I'm (halfway successfull…

> Maybe Google scale isn't for me. Google employs the very elite of the elite. If you're working there you're probably at the very top of your field. Obviously not every can meet that standard and there's no shame in not being the absolute best.

> Google employs the very elite of the elite

I needed that laugh, thank you!

Re: My Job Interview at Google (2008)

#48

Reading that stuff always makes me feel incredibly stupid (or rather clueless). I wouldn't be able to answer most of those questions off the top of my head. Including this weird clock hand question (which is probably some trivial math that might or might not have been taught to me more than a decade ago and which I never ever actually applied since). Then I probably have to remind myself that I'm (halfway successfull…

Actually I (never took an algorithms class, so I would definitely have to brush up on execution of the basics there) thought this questions were not that bad, the newer reports seem much harder (or are plain exaggeration by the "leet"code community).

I'm also a bit puzzled about the trick question being mentioned at that. That's just primitibe (maybe I'm a little bit burned by that as in 5th grade or so, our teacher did a test, writing times on a sheet and making us calculate the angle between clock hands (and it was a lot of numbers on that sheet))

Re: My Job Interview at Google (2008)

#49
post #15

Reading that stuff always makes me feel incredibly stupid (or rather clueless). I wouldn't be able to answer most of those questions off the top of my head. Including this weird clock hand question (which is probably some trivial math that might or might not have been taught to me more than a decade ago and which I never ever actually applied since). Then I probably have to remind myself that I'm (halfway successfull…

Using google products has made me certain that being able to solve math/algorithmic problems and being able to make good software really aren't connected in most cases.

Yep! To be fair, Google software is usually technically very good (e.g. their security is second to none), but they have no product vision, and often very bad UX/DX.

Re: My Job Interview at Google (2008)

#50

I recently had an interview at a taxi firm that followed this format. One two three pre-interviews followed by a day of 5 grueling 1 hour interviews. I didn't get the role. Apparently the frontend guy I had the first interview of the days five was concerned about my technical skills. I mean, I find it insulting, having worked for the last 12+ years as a developer to be told that there were "concerns about your techni…

I understand your frustration, but it seems clear to me that there is difference in what you consider high level technical skills, and what others might perceive as such.

In a highly paid position, both selling yourself and your ideas, and smoothing out differences such as this one, are expected from the employee.

While I believe that with your experience, you have accomplished a high degree of strong delivery... You still need to be able to manage this whole dealing with people thing. Because that’s why you get paid a high salary, to get any issues out of the way in a skilled manner.

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