Google interviewing process for software developer role in 2020

Post by 5cott0 » Mon, Feb 24, 2020, 6:00 PM UTC

_throwawayyyyyy wrote: post #78

5cott0 wrote: post #69

I wonder if the trend of not respecting swe candidates time is actually big tech testing our tolerance for frustratingly incompetent, opaque bureaucracy?

they can put you on 'salary' to get you to work unlimited unpaid overtime, not give you specific days off so that you can have 'unlimited' (no) vacation, fire you at will any day for any reason, and make you go through a vicious gauntlet of dystopian interviewing for the privilege. i think it's obvious that we're already pretty tolerant

Post by mav3rick » Mon, Feb 24, 2020, 6:02 PM UTC

ssully wrote: post #37

I guess my question is to people who have passed these interview successfully, do you feel the interviews were actually representative, even broadly, of the kind of work/skills you would need for your day to day job?

Post by JDiculous » Mon, Feb 24, 2020, 6:05 PM UTC

izacus wrote: post #73

untog wrote: post #3

I'd be curious to know if this is typical. As someone that's never interviewed at Google but idly wondered at moments if I'd ever work there this sounds hellish. Not necessarily the exercises themselves (although they seem to have nothing to do with what any developer does day-to-day), but the sheer number of them and the amount of preparation required. I already have a full time job, I don't want to take on another…

Let's look at it from another perspective (and this holds true for most FAANGs): A month of serious work and preparation can land you one of the most paying jobs on the world which will make you a millionare in a few years if you play it right. Most people (especially if they didn't win the birth lottery by being born in CA, USA) go to schools and colleges for YEARS and YEARS to come even a few steps towards what you…

Post by PretzelFisch » Mon, Feb 24, 2020, 6:06 PM UTC

falcolas wrote: post #44

The biggest WTF I got out of this was: Writing code and tests in a Google Doc. I can't think of a much less friendly environment to write code in, except perhaps Notepad. I did it once (for an intra-company interview), and it was nasty to deal with. The WTF in second place was a blind requirement to know the mechanics behind a somewhat niche game that was big two years ago.

Post by username90 » Mon, Feb 24, 2020, 6:13 PM UTC

dijit wrote: post #56

bowmessage wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They were probably looking for something non-relational, not suggesting you write your own.

The exact message I got back was "Attempted to use magic software solution", so I believe they intended for me to say "some kind of relational" or "some kind of non-relational" database and maybe some key criterion about what kind of access pattern instead of me internalising the problem and pulling out a ready-made solution.