Saturday, July 30, 2005

Google’s Paul Watson Interviewed

Whitedust interviewed Paul Watson, best known for his discovery of a flaw in TCP/IP. He’s now working at Google.

“How long have you worked at Google? Is it is a cool as everyone thinks it would be?

I came to work at Google late last summer. It gets a lot of media buzz about being geek-sheik and super cool. I have worked at some really cool places before Google, but Google is so much more incredible than any media article or Slashdot post could ever describe. The best phrase I can think of would be nerd-nirvana (or should it be nerdvana?)

How did you get the Google gig? Exactly what is the nature of your gig?

I submitted my resume on a fluke around June of 2004. The interview process consisted of two hour-long phone screens followed by two days on on-site interviews. I’ll never forget the first phone screen. It was schedule while I was in Las Vegas at DefCon, and I had been drinking all morning. I was in the pool with some friends when they asked about where I worked. Suddenly I remembered that Google was going to be calling me for my phone screen at any second, and I bolted from the pool and ran into my room to find my cell phone. The phone rang just as I got to it, and for the next hour I had the toughest phone screen of my life (while mostly intoxicated).

My focus at Google is Network Security, but at any given time I may find myself configuring firewalls and routers, pen-testing new applications, evaluating encryption and hashing methods, or writing code to make my job easier. It’s a very demanding job that really requires a broad knowledge of every possible aspect of the security field. I can honestly say that the Security Engineers that I work with at Google are the most skilled and talented people I have ever worked with.”

[Via Slashdot.]

Google’s Paul Watson Inte ... by Philipp Lenssen | Comments (0)

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