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I Didn't Get Hired to Google

googleyasheck.com

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Re: I Didn't Get Hired to Google

#51

Post by deong »

mwill wrote: post #17

Two things: He lists himself as an 'Autodidact', I wonder if he has a BSc and if not, if that contributed to not getting a phone screen. If it did, thats pretty rough since he also lists 15 years of experience. Also I'm very curious about this comment on the post: Honest question: who told you to make this blog? Email me john@techcrunch.com Not quite sure what he's implying by 'who told you', anyone know?

I was a bit curious there too, but I chalked it up to ambulance chasing from a techcrunch reporter.

Re: I Didn't Get Hired to Google

#52

Post by misingnoglic »

RealityVoid wrote: post #39

Does anyone know if rejection letters from Google pre-phonecall-phase are normal? I mean, I've applied a couple of times (I might look faded compared to other brilliant people that apply and I had nowhere this guy's drive and level of involvement but thought that it is worth a shot) and every time I didn't hear anything back. I though they just contact you in case of a positive.

He got a referral, and with those you hear back within a week.

Re: I Didn't Get Hired to Google

#53

Post by ohstopitu »

segmondy wrote: post #11

No surprise. You can learn a lot in a year, but you can't level up your computer science knowledge in a year. Some people might be offended or disappointed by this comment, but don't. Just keep your heads down, learn a lot, expose yourself to lots of different things and the experience will come with that. With that said, I'm not surprised that he didn't get a phone interview. Even if Google knew about him, they migh…

Knowledge - yes it can be gained in a year.

Experience - nope nope nope nope nope!

I'm sure everyone here can relate too - What you learnt in university was not as useful as real life experience (even when working on your own side projects).

While he spent his time (a lot of it too) on learning how to game Google's interview process, he didn't seem to consider experience at all :S (I mean, 8 months learning algorithms but not even a month working on some kind of portfolio showing off your work?)

I am not saying EVERY dev out there needs a portfolio, but he said he didn't have CS background/experience and this was his way of getting into Google, but without actual experience (note: NOT work experience, just experience in general), how does Google know he's up for it?

Re: I Didn't Get Hired to Google

#54

Post by jaimebuelta »

RawData wrote: post #28
jaimebuelta wrote: post #19

I wonder if his lack of CV (of any kind), no matter how much he studied was what made recruiters discard him right away. You can learn a lot in a year, but you can't create a CV containing a career that may look attractive. (Google process is pretty much optimised to quickly discard applications)

The guy has an awesome CV and 15+ years experience as a self-employed developer/entrepreneur...

I've checked his CV in LinkedIn and he certainly has an interesting CV, but not necessarily a strong one for a software engineer in a big company.

I have no idea about how recruiters select profiles in Google, but maybe having an strong background as entrepreneur is a red flag ("he'll leave the company for his own project!"); or maybe the lack of bachelor degree... (or maybe pure ageism)

I can't say I agree, clearly spending that much time shows a lot of passion, but Google tends to have pretty harsh and silly selection process, where a silly small thing or mistake gets you rejected.

Re: I Didn't Get Hired to Google

#55

Post by euyyn »

minimaxir wrote: post #30
jasode wrote: post #6

Title says: "I Didn't Get Hired. Here's Why." Body says: "Why didn't I get hired? I don't know why." Real question to HN readers: Do you believe this type of inconsistency also affects writing code ? In other words... if a hiring manager notices this muddled writing in a blog post, is it fair to think the programming output will also be muddled? (e.g. function names, architecture, engineering the organization of micr…

I do wonder what the parallel equivalent of headline clickbait in code is. Functions with very few LOC? :P

I'd say functions and methods with overly generic names, like "process" or "prepare". You won't believe what happens inside!

Re: I Didn't Get Hired to Google

#56

Post by guitarbill »

segmondy wrote: post #11

No surprise. You can learn a lot in a year, but you can't level up your computer science knowledge in a year. Some people might be offended or disappointed by this comment, but don't. Just keep your heads down, learn a lot, expose yourself to lots of different things and the experience will come with that. With that said, I'm not surprised that he didn't get a phone interview. Even if Google knew about him, they migh…

> You can learn a lot in a year, but you can't level up your computer science knowledge in a year.

This makes no sense? Level up to what? CS degree level? Because correct me if I'm wrong, but the majority of interview questions are based on CS 101 (or the equivalent). So literally the first year. Guess it depends what kind of depth of knowledge you want/need. Again, if you're only doing it for interviews and not to go into CS research, don't think you need too much depth.

Re: I Didn't Get Hired to Google

#57

Post by lobut »

guitarbill wrote: post #43
jaimebuelta wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find quite interesting the trend of "preparing for an interview at company X". I think that, ideally, interviewing should be discovering if there's a match, not set up a challenge for someone to achieve. Technical interviews should be more about doing due diligence over someone having the knowledge they say they have... not some sort of game people write books on how to train for it...

> Technical interviews should be more about doing due diligence over someone having the knowledge they say they have... not some sort of game people write books on how to train for it... Yet they aren't, technical interviews are mostly bullshit CS questions which you barely use in day-to-day programming. And it isn't like CS knowledge is all you need to be a good programmer. Technical interviews are exactly what you…

I despise these games and people that pass them get all sorts of confirmation bias when they pass the tests.

I remember going through this process for internships and wondering how I was supposed to figure out all of these weird puzzles on the spot. Then I made a few friends and we all just traded questions with each other. We'd spend weeks on the problem and pretended we just figured it out.

Re: I Didn't Get Hired to Google

#58

Post by gyardley »

tyingq wrote: post #4

He made an extensive repository of information on how to get hired at Google[1], gave talks on the subject[2], and studied full time for 8 months[3]. And it's not that he interviewed and didn't get the job...they didn't even let him interview, not even the phone screen. That's pretty rough. [1] https://github.com/jwasham/google-interview-university [2] https://googleyasheck.com/presenting-at-code-fellows/ [3] https:/…

Perhaps Google doesn't want to encourage this sort of behavior.

The interview's supposed to, in theory, hint at future performance as an employee - too many intensive study guides used by too many candidates, and it'll just end up reflecting how much cramming the candidate did for the interview.

Re: I Didn't Get Hired to Google

#59

Post by tyingq »

mwill wrote: post #17

Two things: He lists himself as an 'Autodidact', I wonder if he has a BSc and if not, if that contributed to not getting a phone screen. If it did, thats pretty rough since he also lists 15 years of experience. Also I'm very curious about this comment on the post: Honest question: who told you to make this blog? Email me john@techcrunch.com Not quite sure what he's implying by 'who told you', anyone know?

"This is my multi-month study plan for going from web developer (self-taught, no CS degree) to Google software engineer."

From: https://github.com/jwasham/google-interview-university

Re: I Didn't Get Hired to Google

#60

Post by misingnoglic »

I don't understand why people get DEAD set on just one company - that's never a good way to do things, especially when the application process is so fickle, and especially if that company is literally the most applied for company (or one of them at least). It's not like university applications, where they're at least obligated to reply back.
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