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Ask HN: Dealing with Failed Interview at Google and AWS?

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Re: Ask HN: Dealing with Failed Interview at Google and AWS?

#61

Post by annythesillicat »

austinz wrote: post #28

Not sure CS-interview related advice is warranted here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8181380 To OP: I'm really sorry that you didn't get the job you wanted. My path is not the same as yours, but I ran into rejection applying to college, applying to grad school, and applying to jobs after grad school. In each case I felt terrible. I didn't know how to move forwards or what I was going to do, I felt like the re…

:) Thank you so much for your advice. Helps me have a clearer sense of how to approach whatever this is. This is new to me though, ''don't feel like you need to have everything figured out right away'' Ill try to remind myself.

Re: Ask HN: Dealing with Failed Interview at Google and AWS?

#62

Post by darkmarmot »

I went to an interview a while back that I was ridiculously well qualified for; it was as if the job posting was a veritable transcription of my resume. And I got absolutely thrashed.

The interviewer was kind of combative and played the 'trick' question whiteboard game. I just fell apart. By the end of it, I wasn't able to respond to basic English. I stared blankly when asked what a 'heuristic' was...

I felt absolutely terrible -- and this was a job I hadn't really even wanted.

I found out that I don't do well with that kind of interview. A lot of people, especially introverts, wither in the confrontation.

And it's ok. Those companies miss out on a lot of amazing developers. And there are a lot of places that will hire people without forcing them to do an awkward dog and pony show.

I no longer bother with it at this point in my career. I have several friends that work at Google, but I'd never even think about interviewing there.

You can make great connections at things like user groups and personal projects. And there are TONS of wonderful places to work outside the Google/Amazon microcosms.

Re: Ask HN: Dealing with Failed Interview at Google and AWS?

#63

Post by annythesillicat »

tmuir wrote: post #44

I've recently gone through similar rejection myself. I found a company through a Who's Hiring post. I breezed through three phone interviews, and it felt like the company had hired the NSA to find me, as what they seemed to be looking for was me exactly. I had an all day in person interview, felt like I had a great rapport with everyone, had no problems with any of the coding sections, had great answers for their que…

Funny to me too. After the recruiter called me and said I was rejected, I said thanks and hung up the phone and cried very hard as if it was the first time I cry in a whole year. But then I feel very very good about myself. It's like damn I am quite damn kick ass!, especially after this experience, I feel like being a better person and I have learned a lot!

Re: Ask HN: Dealing with Failed Interview at Google and AWS?

#64

Post by annythesillicat »

jmspring wrote: post #47

Not to be harsh, but I don't know if English is your second language or not, but reading the above statement, I wonder about how you came across verbally in the interview. Can you present your arguments coherently? Did you understand and answer the questions correctly? Not knowing details, I would recommend taking time to practice interviewing. That being said, both Amazon and Google have interesting interview patter…

yes, actually I always have very low confident about my English as it is my 3rd language. (1.Thai, 2. Japanese) I understood the conversation perfectly though. But the role I interviewed for was totally not match with my experience so I didn't know what to answer to their questions. And yes, I will keep practicing interview.

Re: Ask HN: Dealing with Failed Interview at Google and AWS?

#65

Post by lemiffe »

I went through the same, was interviewed at Google and for AWS. This was after a short 2-year sprint running my own start-up. I wrote my story here (including how I am dealing with the side-effects, some of which you mention). Part 4 is still in the pipeline, but I should be ready to release it soon. http://www.lemiffe.com/truncated-dreams-1/

Re: Ask HN: Dealing with Failed Interview at Google and AWS?

#66

Post by Delmania »

Big question: why did you pin your hopes, dreams, and identity on working for a XXXX major tech firm? It's not fully within your control, and at the end of the day, it's just a job. I can't really offer you much help other than this. Ask yourself, at your funeral, what do you want people to remember you for. Will it be your character, or the fact you worked at Google?

Re: Ask HN: Dealing with Failed Interview at Google and AWS?

#67

Post by turnip1979 »

cyberpanther wrote: post #3

I wouldn't take it too hard. I had the same thing happen to me for both Google and Amazon. With both they called me back later several times for other positions to interview for. I thought I did well on the interviews and still couldn't make it in. On one Google interview where I had the most expertise and thought I could get the job no problem, I didn't make it past the first interview. I really couldn't figure out…

I've gotten to the final round twice with no offers from Google. They called me a few time since then and I've said no. I'm not sure how many older engineers are in the same boat but I too am "tired of trying to get in". I know they have plenty of candidates to choose from so it is my loss by not interviewing. But the whole "high false negative rate" crap annoys me. This isn't limited to Google but all the companies that don't look at my resume (what I've done to date), and use the interview as the sole criteria to decide if I work there ... at this point, I don't think I want to work at those places. Maybe I'm just old .... and tired :)

Re: Ask HN: Dealing with Failed Interview at Google and AWS?

#68

Post by codva »

I had three phone interviews with AWS, then they flew me to Seattle for 7 more interviews in one day.

I didn't get an offer.

There is a large randomness factor in interviews. You could have come in second to somebody who is basically your equal, but happens to have the same undergrad school as the hiring manager. You just don't know, and you never will.

Re: Ask HN: Dealing with Failed Interview at Google and AWS?

#69

Post by 1nothired »

turnip1979 wrote: post #67
cyberpanther wrote: post #3

I wouldn't take it too hard. I had the same thing happen to me for both Google and Amazon. With both they called me back later several times for other positions to interview for. I thought I did well on the interviews and still couldn't make it in. On one Google interview where I had the most expertise and thought I could get the job no problem, I didn't make it past the first interview. I really couldn't figure out…

I've gotten to the final round twice with no offers from Google. They called me a few time since then and I've said no. I'm not sure how many older engineers are in the same boat but I too am "tired of trying to get in". I know they have plenty of candidates to choose from so it is my loss by not interviewing. But the whole "high false negative rate" crap annoys me. This isn't limited to Google but all the companies…

I too am annoyed with the "high false-negative rate". I have some impressive professional achievements as an engineer, and I also am a graduate of a top CS program. I recently did a set of onsite interviews at least competently: It's hard to judge how they saw it but I definitely didn't bomb out. In the end, I got rejected. I guess the reality of my excellence as an engineer doesn't matter, what matters is that I didn't appear like an algo-puzzle genius that day in front of a whiteboard. Based on this and other experiences, I conclude that:

1. The whole "developer shortage" talk from top companies is self-inflicted at best. I know it can be hard to find the right hire, but the top tech companies have loads of solid applicants and turn away great people every day. If they were truly desperate, there are so many great people they could snap up.

2. Making the interviews entirely about algorithmic questions biases towards new graduates and academics. To be honest, working as an engineer does not develop the "algo" part of my brain much. They might as well challenge me to a chess match to "prove my intelligence". (I don't play chess)

Personally I'd rather see interviews focus more on real things related to professional practice, at least for experienced hires. If they really are interested in testing my ability on the spot, would it be so hard to set up a computer and have me perform tasks that developers actually do? Like write code that is challenging in some way, but doesn't hinge on a level of on-the-spot cleverness that is almost never exercised in real professional work?

Re: Ask HN: Dealing with Failed Interview at Google and AWS?

#70

Post by EnderMB »

jpatokal wrote: post #12

You've doubtless seen this already, but I'm going to quote Steve Yegge anyway: You: But what if I get a mistrial? I might be smart and qualified, but for some random reason I may do poorly in the interviews and not get an offer! That would be a huge blow to my ego! I would rather pass up the opportunity altogether than have a chance of failure! Me: Yeah, that's at least partly true. Heck, I kinda didn't make it in on…

I hear this mentioned a lot, but I'd be interested in hearing how many opportunities a company like Google would give someone. If you fail twice, would you be given a third opportunity in a few years? How about if you fail again?

I think a lot of people would be turned off from applying a second time, in case they blow what might be their last chance. They'd rather wait until they feel they are ready, and for many people that may be never.

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