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The Infamous Google Interview Process  (View post)

Seth Finkelstein [PersonRank 10]

Thursday, February 1, 2007
17 years ago6,118 views

There's not a lot of real information in that article. It's very generic.

No key details like:

Good salary? Stock options?

What are the *real* expected hours?

To those who say real geeks don't care about those things, well, it's not an absolute, but there's a limit to how much being underpaid and overworked can be tolerated by anyone.

Hong Xiaowan [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

Hard to Join, Hard to go.
It is way of china party how to find party members. Can find honest members.
So google is not only business company, it is also a kind of party.

pre googler [PersonRank 1]

17 years ago #

paul tyma's blog entry is interesting.

i'm in the initial stages of the Google interview process myself, and i have to admit the thought of working alongside Google uber-geeks is quite terrifying and daunting – i've lost count of the amount of big names in tech that are now working for google – and to work alongside them is mind-blowing.

but so far, the googlers i've spoken too have been really nice , chatty and very very easy to talk to. its been great so far – so great that , yeah, i'm actually looking *forward* to the next interview.

i dont think you'd get that vibe from any other company.

Seth Finkelstein [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

Don't be awed. It's unlikely that you'll even see the big names in tech :-).

Think of a famous university – it might have Nobel Prize winners on the faculty, but you're not going to be spending a lot of time with them, at least at first.

Or course working with smart co-workers is great. But don't let that be used to exploit you.

Adam Lasnik [PersonRank 2]

17 years ago #

One of these days (maybe at my one year Google anniversary? :P) I should write about my experience. :)

Yes, you often do get to work alongside the 'big names.' Yes, a huge number of us do have the opportunity to chat with (sometimes debate with) Larry, Sergey, Marissa, et al. Even the 'giants' (senior management, famous engineers, etc.) share offices just like the rest of us.

It's my understanding that interviewing processes have improved over the last year or two, though I don't have a lot of firsthand experience from the Google side of things. I do, however, see my colleagues deeply involved (practically *everyone* interviews here) and see how seriously they take the process. The hiring processes are hardly perfect; I've had amazing friends get turned down, for instance, and that makes me frustrated and sad. But – despite growth and other challenges – I'm optimistic :)

pre googler [PersonRank 1]

17 years ago #

"Or course working with smart co-workers is great. But don't let that be used to exploit you."

i fully understand your concerns Seth. dont worry – if they dont give me a salary that is more than what i am earning now, then no thanks. i'll regret doing that, but at the end of the day , i have to put food on the table. and no amount of "wow" will make the wife happy. ;-) (having a wife in these situations is always handy...)

just saying that – so far – it sounds like a very cool place to work, and that i was quite fearful of getting into it as Google are just the pinnacle of uber-geekdom to me. maybe thats their problem – they are such geek superstars that normal geeks like me are actually *afraid* to apply for jobs there. in fact i didnt apply – i was approached by them.

I think that their big problem going forward is that they've made themselves off limits to a lot of really good people and now they are having problems recruiting people. its like the bar is so high that most competent tech people just dont bother applying for Google. just my two cents (and i could be entirely wrong.. but thats my impression.. and my own personal opinion)

training is the way to solve this problem – say, if you are a really good Perl or PHP coder, part of the Google package would be – well , ok , we'll train you in Python , which is what we use. not many tech companies actually do training programs nowadays -maybe we'll see that idea come back with Google. Pre Microsoft and pre the dot-com boom a heck of a lot of big companies used to offer that as part of the job package.

If i were a betting man, one thing i would bet on would be the creation of a Google University within the next 5 years. And it wont be virtual – it'll be the real deal. and open to students worldwide. thats my guess as to where these guys are going.

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