5 ms·

>Within Google we've noticed that the people who complain about the process are most often the ones who don't get in. Well, yeah. New employees aren't going t

by endtime 17y ago

>Within Google we've noticed that the people who complain about the process are most often the ones who don't get in. Well, yeah. New employees aren't going to want to start off on a bad foot, so they won't say anything. But I have several friends who've been hired by Google and they all told me they found the recruiting process to be extremely frustrating and, at times, insulting. Their experiences are really no different than mine (I applied for an APM internship a couple years ago, and passed two rounds of interviews and submitted an essay before being turned down, so you guys must have been at least a little interested in me).

prospero 17y ago
I've just gone through the process (succesfully), and while it dragged on longer than seemed necessary, I didn't find it insulting. What exactly happened?
- timr 17y ago
  Part of what I found insulting when I went through it: I could have been interviewing for kitchen staff, for all the information I was given. I was being screened intensely on relatively arbitrary criteria by relatively unpleasant people (as far as I could tell!), but I could get no assurance from anyone that I was interviewing for a position that I would find interesting, or even that I would be working with people whom I liked. When you interview with Google, you're operating on faith that the interminable, silly process will result in a position that makes you happy. But there's rarely any assurance that you'll get a job that you enjoy, or even that you'll work with people that you don't find extremely annoying. This sort of interview process works better for inexperienced people than it does for more senior employees, who tend to want luxuries like career growth and cultural fit.
  - illumin8 17y ago
    Exactly. I found that they couldn't even give me a job description. They just told me some hand waving statement like "we have a number of open positions in several engineering departments and we look at your qualifications and match you to one." In addition you interview with a bunch of sometimes friendly, yet sometimes extremely condescending engineers. Some of the engineers I interviewed with were very respectful and corteous, while others acted as if I were wasting their time. In general, I got the impression that Google is full of huge egos and that I should feel lucky if I had the opportunity to work there. No other company would act like this toward potential employees. In any case, another disadvantage to working at Google is that they are getting involved in so many businesses, almost any side project is likely to become their property. The company I work at now is great because as long as I don't compete with their vertical, I can start any business I want on the side.
- endtime 17y ago
  I wasn't insulted by the CS questions. In fact, they were the most challenging and nontrivial questions I'd had in any interview (one of the first round engineering* ones included writing up an inductive proof of my solution and emailing it in later). * I applied for both APM and dev, and chose the APM route after passing first round for both. What I found insulting was the lack of communication, complete disregard for my time, and general attitude of the HR people. It shouldn't take three weeks to let me know if I passed an interview, for an internship, when I tell you I'm under time pressure. I had an exploding offer from Microsoft, which they graciously extended so I could keep interviewing with their rival, and Google still took their sweet time. I was told I couldn't write the essay until they'd decided I'd passed the second round interview, even though it would have cost them nothing to let me write it and then throw it out if they decided I hadn't passed the interview. And when I turned it in, I was told it had to be "reviewed by the hiring committee, which meets every Friday, but they're not going to look at it this Friday, you'll have to wait a week and a half." When I basically told them that I wasn't going to let my other offer expire, they begrudgingly looked at it that week, but they made it very clear they weren't happy about doing me the "favor". As someone else said, Google gives the impression of being full of huge egos who think that everyone is just dying to work for them, and that working anywhere else is a distant second choice. It's arrogant and egotistical. Think that if you want (even though it's not true, at least among Stanford CS students), but it shouldn't come off so blatantly to potential recruits. Edit: timr just reminded me of something else - the interviewers seem trained to emanate disinterest. They were the least friendly interviewers I've ever had. And like I said, Google seemed at least a bit interested in me, since I got through both rounds of interviews, so I doubt it was personal.
btilly 17y ago
The process is long and slow, hence frustrating. Particularly if (like me) you're approved by the hiring committee and then a hiring freeze puts your application in limbo for the better part of a year. However I didn't see the insulting bit of it. I really didn't. When I think hard about it I do note that they ask some basic CS questions that many people forget the answers to. And people tend to avoid cognitive dissonance by finding excuses for their failings. So certainly some people walk away (as the grandparent poster did) upset that they are asked questions which are "below" them. Someone who has done this may become insulted at being asked questions. But focus on the critical facts. The questions are asked because they are relevant to Google. When you operate at Google's scale, having people with good gut instincts about scalability matters. Most software developers don't develop that. Therefore is it really an insult to try to find out whether someone has that knowledge?
- endtime 17y ago
  >And people tend to avoid cognitive dissonance by finding excuses for their failings. I wondered this of myself. It's a reasonable question. But like I said, I spoke to people who've been hired by Google and their experiences matched mine. >So certainly some people walk away (as the grandparent poster did) upset that they are asked questions which are "below" them. That wasn't my problem. I thought the questions were fine. See here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1205593 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1205593

by endtime 17y ago

prospero 17y ago

I've just gone through the process (succesfully), and while it dragged on longer than seemed necessary, I didn't find it insulting. What exactly happened?

timr 17y ago
Part of what I found insulting when I went through it: I could have been interviewing for kitchen staff, for all the information I was given. I was being screened intensely on relatively arbitrary criteria by relatively unpleasant people (as far as I could tell!), but I could get no assurance from anyone that I was interviewing for a position that I would find interesting, or even that I would be working with people whom I liked. When you interview with Google, you're operating on faith that the interminable, silly process will result in a position that makes you happy. But there's rarely any assurance that you'll get a job that you enjoy, or even that you'll work with people that you don't find extremely annoying. This sort of interview process works better for inexperienced people than it does for more senior employees, who tend to want luxuries like career growth and cultural fit.
- illumin8 17y ago
  Exactly. I found that they couldn't even give me a job description. They just told me some hand waving statement like "we have a number of open positions in several engineering departments and we look at your qualifications and match you to one." In addition you interview with a bunch of sometimes friendly, yet sometimes extremely condescending engineers. Some of the engineers I interviewed with were very respectful and corteous, while others acted as if I were wasting their time. In general, I got the impression that Google is full of huge egos and that I should feel lucky if I had the opportunity to work there. No other company would act like this toward potential employees. In any case, another disadvantage to working at Google is that they are getting involved in so many businesses, almost any side project is likely to become their property. The company I work at now is great because as long as I don't compete with their vertical, I can start any business I want on the side.
endtime 17y ago
I wasn't insulted by the CS questions. In fact, they were the most challenging and nontrivial questions I'd had in any interview (one of the first round engineering* ones included writing up an inductive proof of my solution and emailing it in later). * I applied for both APM and dev, and chose the APM route after passing first round for both. What I found insulting was the lack of communication, complete disregard for my time, and general attitude of the HR people. It shouldn't take three weeks to let me know if I passed an interview, for an internship, when I tell you I'm under time pressure. I had an exploding offer from Microsoft, which they graciously extended so I could keep interviewing with their rival, and Google still took their sweet time. I was told I couldn't write the essay until they'd decided I'd passed the second round interview, even though it would have cost them nothing to let me write it and then throw it out if they decided I hadn't passed the interview. And when I turned it in, I was told it had to be "reviewed by the hiring committee, which meets every Friday, but they're not going to look at it this Friday, you'll have to wait a week and a half." When I basically told them that I wasn't going to let my other offer expire, they begrudgingly looked at it that week, but they made it very clear they weren't happy about doing me the "favor". As someone else said, Google gives the impression of being full of huge egos who think that everyone is just dying to work for them, and that working anywhere else is a distant second choice. It's arrogant and egotistical. Think that if you want (even though it's not true, at least among Stanford CS students), but it shouldn't come off so blatantly to potential recruits. Edit: timr just reminded me of something else - the interviewers seem trained to emanate disinterest. They were the least friendly interviewers I've ever had. And like I said, Google seemed at least a bit interested in me, since I got through both rounds of interviews, so I doubt it was personal.

btilly 17y ago

The process is long and slow, hence frustrating. Particularly if (like me) you're approved by the hiring committee and then a hiring freeze puts your application in limbo for the better part of a year. However I didn't see the insulting bit of it. I really didn't. When I think hard about it I do note that they ask some basic CS questions that many people forget the answers to. And people tend to avoid cognitive dissonance by finding excuses for their failings. So certainly some people walk away (as the grandparent poster did) upset that they are asked questions which are "below" them. Someone who has done this may become insulted at being asked questions. But focus on the critical facts. The questions are asked because they are relevant to Google. When you operate at Google's scale, having people with good gut instincts about scalability matters. Most software developers don't develop that. Therefore is it really an insult to try to find out whether someone has that knowledge?

endtime 17y ago
>And people tend to avoid cognitive dissonance by finding excuses for their failings. I wondered this of myself. It's a reasonable question. But like I said, I spoke to people who've been hired by Google and their experiences matched mine. >So certainly some people walk away (as the grandparent poster did) upset that they are asked questions which are "below" them. That wasn't my problem. I thought the questions were fine. See here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1205593 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1205593