7 ms·

I Didn't Get Hired to Google

85 points by dominis 10y ago

voidr 10y ago
> Recruiters look at hundreds of resumes every day, and they are highly tuned to detecting quality candidates and rejecting those who don't match up with their model. For some reason, I just didn't fit the profile. They probably are doing me a favor. They would be doing you a favour if they would tell you why you were rejected and give you advice moving forward. In this case they are just doing themselves a favour by not bothering to give you anything meaningful. > but if you're good enough for Google, you'll eventually get in. If you don't get in the first time, you might want to ask yourself: is Google good enough for you? > Recruiters know what works, and what doesn't. So respect their decision and be polite. A lot of recruiters are incredibly incompetent, they don't always know what works and what doesn't and they can just reject you due to their own incompetence. You should always be polite, because being rude rarely earns you any favours, not because the recruiters are always right, and you should feel sorry for them. > There are a lot of places where I can strive for greatness and have that effort rewarded. This is why you should never be hung up on one person from one big company rejecting you.
vorotato 10y ago
The people who read these books, and the companies who come up with these contrived interviews deserve each other.
fdsfsaa 10y ago
He's not missing much. It's just a big squabbling company.
yakshaving_jgt 10y ago
Titling the piece “I Didn't Get Hired. Here's Why.”, and then after one paragraph clarifying “Why didn't I get hired? I don't know why.” …is confusing, to say the least.
tyingq 10y ago
He made an extensive repository of information on how to get hired at Google[1], gave talks on the subject[2], and studied full time for 8 months[3]. And it's not that he interviewed and didn't get the job...they didn't even let him interview, not even the phone screen. That's pretty rough. [1]https://github.com/jwasham/google-interview-university https://github.com/jwasham/google-interview-university [2]https://googleyasheck.com/presenting-at-code-fellows/ https://googleyasheck.com/presenting-at-code-fellows/ [3]https://googleyasheck.com/why-i-studied-full-time-for-8-months-for-a-google-interview/ https://googleyasheck.com/why-i-studied-full-time-for-8-mont...
- nunez 10y ago
  This seems like so much work for getting a job into one place.
- str33t_punk 10y ago
  pretty depressing
  - enzanki_ars 10y ago
    He instructed people on how to be hired at a company he was never hired at. I don't think I would ever hire someone making claim like that.
    - RawData 10y ago
      That's incorrect. He wrote a blog about what he was personally doing to get hired at Google... he wasn't claiming to teach people how to get hired.
      - enzanki_ars 10y ago
        "You can hear me talk about my journey to become a web developer, how I'm working on a career change, and what you need to know to interview at Google." [1] "This is my multi-month study plan for going from web developer (self-taught, no CS degree) to Google software engineer." [2] The author presents two conflicting pieces of information. In [1], it seems like he has accomplished this goal of being hired. In [2], he is working towards it and has not clue if anything presented will work. [1]: https://googleyasheck.com/presenting-at-code-fellows/ https://googleyasheck.com/presenting-at-code-fellows/ [2]: https://github.com/jwasham/google-interview-university https://github.com/jwasham/google-interview-university
zellyn 10y ago
Apply directly to YouTube. They have super-friendly, involved recruiters that do a fantastic job.
jasode 10y ago
Title says: "I Didn't Get Hired. Here's Why." Body says: "Why didn't I get hired? I don't know why." Real question to HN readers: Do you believe this type of inconsistency also affects writing code? In other words... if a hiring manager notices this muddled writing in a blog post, is it fair to think the programming output will also be muddled? (e.g. function names, architecture, engineering the organization of microservices, code comments etc.?) Or do you believe that the brain compartmentalizes and it's very easy to write disorganized prose simultaneously with organized code?
- jps359 10y ago
  It's just a typical click-baity title. I don't think it has anything to do with ability to write code.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
- GotAnyMegadeth 10y ago
  The current HN title "I Didn't Get Hired to Google" makes it sound like someone quitting a job because it turned out their job was just googling things. Perhaps it should be "I Didn't Get Hired By Google". PS or even better "I didn't get hired by Google".
  - gvb 10y ago
    PPS or even better "I didn't even get a Google phone screen."
- VLM 10y ago
  Its just how journalism / clickbait is today. You want someone who writes docs to contemporary style. I admit I do not look forward to the future when manpages will be titled "Top five sprintf format string length modifiers they don't want you to know; the last will shock you"
- minimaxir 10y ago
zerr 10y ago
Maybe it's because he was trying to openly game the system (as it seems)?
enibundo 10y ago
I bet there are other companies who would be happy to have you in!
lapinrigolo 10y ago
Their loss.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
segmondy 10y ago
No surprise. You can learn a lot in a year, but you can't level up your computer science knowledge in a year. Some people might be offended or disappointed by this comment, but don't. Just keep your heads down, learn a lot, expose yourself to lots of different things and the experience will come with that. With that said, I'm not surprised that he didn't get a phone interview. Even if Google knew about him, they might want to let people know that their interview process can't be gamed. If I was hiring, I might be concerned that someone who put in that much effort, might stall once they get hired. I want someone who has put that kind of effort not leading up to the interview, but over the years due to genuine curiosity due to love of computing and not because they want to get a job.
- maverick_iceman 10y ago
  Why not? I went through half of CLRS in three months, don't see why someone would be unable to ramp up their CS knowledge in a year.
- ohstopitu 10y ago
  Knowledge - yes it can be gained in a year. Experience - nope nope nope nope nope! I'm sure everyone here can relate too - What you learnt in university was not as useful as real life experience (even when working on your own side projects). While he spent his time (a lot of it too) on learning how to game Google's interview process, he didn't seem to consider experience at all :S (I mean, 8 months learning algorithms but not even a month working on some kind of portfolio showing off your work?) I am not saying EVERY dev out there needs a portfolio, but he said he didn't have CS background/experience and this was his way of getting into Google, but without actual experience (note: NOT work experience, just experience in general), how does Google know he's up for it?
  - Spoom 10y ago
    Google optimizes for new grads. To a certain extent, experience can actually make the interview process harder (because they will expect more of an experience candidate than a new grad).
- 10y ago
akjainaj 10y ago
Posts of people crying so much about not getting hired by a company (usually Google) are top cringe. It's like writing on Facebook that you feel miserable because a girl rejected you. Just move on, kid.
- eva1984 10y ago
  I respect a lot of awesome work from Google. But this is just really bad press. Not that Google initiated this kind of cult in the first place, the spontaneous worship is a little overwhelming TBH.
  - akjainaj 10y ago
    I don't even understand this kind of cult, Google is a shady company and most of the software from them I've ever used was of a substandard quality
    - eva1984 10y ago
      Google is HUGE company, to the point, I won't assume people from Google actually sharing anything except the fact they are from Google. There are awesome people doing world changing stuff, also common programmers doing routine work. I think a lot of people just assume they join Google they will automatically be promoted to the first league, which is not true according to my observations.
  - iplaw 10y ago
    This is bad press for the candidate, not Google. They dodged a bullet.
- BigJeffeRonaldo 10y ago
  This is exactly what I thought when I heard about this guy. He's undervaluing himself bigly. If you obsess over one company, or girl, or whatever else, you take all of your own power away and hand it over to chance. An interview or conversation could fall through for any reason at all. Meanwhile if you're intense enough to study algorithms for 8 months you can probably get a pretty good job at any number of places without wrecking your self-worth if you get rid of the tunnel vision.
ipunchghosts 10y ago
This post makes me want to know what John Biggs wants. In the comments, "Honest question: who told you to make this blog? Email me john@techcrunch.com"
- iplaw 10y ago
  Maybe the entire thing is an orchestrated PR stunt by a hiring competitor. Or, maybe this is a guy who isn't lacking: 1) hubris and 2) cash flow, who wanted to give Google a go. Along the way, he compiled a massive amount of information and found another way to be successful - a techco interview consultant.
  - maverick_iceman 10y ago
    A successful interview consultant for Google who failed at Google? Ah, the irony!
ipunchghosts 10y ago
You didnt get hired at google because you have no life, no sense of self. Your entire blog is about how you make yourself hireable by google. Who cares what google wants. What do you want?
- yakshaving_jgt 10y ago
  Surely you can communicate that sentiment without wording it quite so harshly?
  - ipunchghosts 10y ago
    This strikes me quite a bit as stuff mentioned in the "No More Mr Nice Guy" book. Im not sure how to word it softer. What would you have done?
- JosephRedfern 10y ago
  Some people have more than one blog, and this chap appears to be one of them. This blog is about getting hired by Google, so it's natural that it would have posts about getting hired by Google. Not something I'd personally write about, but it doesn't mean he's devoted his whole live to the task. If you look at the about page, you'll see that he considers his main blog to be: https://startupnextdoor.com/ https://startupnextdoor.com/
mwill 10y ago
Two things: He lists himself as an 'Autodidact', I wonder if he has a BSc and if not, if that contributed to not getting a phone screen. If it did, thats pretty rough since he also lists 15 years of experience. Also I'm very curious about this comment on the post: Honest question: who told you to make this blog? Email me john@techcrunch.com Not quite sure what he's implying by 'who told you', anyone know?
- iplaw 10y ago
  I wondered the same. I'm betting that there is more to the story.
- asidiali 10y ago
  That caught me off guard as well. First thought was maybe Google hired him to do the blog for some developer PR, but not sure how much sense that makes.
- deong 10y ago
  I was a bit curious there too, but I chalked it up to ambulance chasing from a techcrunch reporter.
- tyingq 10y ago
  "This is my multi-month study plan for going from web developer (self-taught, no CS degree) to Google software engineer." From: https://github.com/jwasham/google-interview-university https://github.com/jwasham/google-interview-university
- huehehue 10y ago
  I just recently spoke with a former Google recruiter who said they (personally) rejected applicants with no formal education. I've heard the opposite from other recruiters hiring for the same thing at the same company, so there's really no way to tell since there is no strictly followed rubric.
jaimebuelta 10y ago
I wonder if his lack of CV (of any kind), no matter how much he studied was what made recruiters discard him right away. You can learn a lot in a year, but you can't create a CV containing a career that may look attractive. (Google process is pretty much optimised to quickly discard applications)
- RawData 10y ago
  The guy has an awesome CV and 15+ years experience as a self-employed developer/entrepreneur...
  - iplaw 10y ago
    And applying for an entry-level development position. He is not lacking in hubris, so imagine the managerial nightmare he'd likely impose for a collection of non-managers.
  - jaimebuelta 10y ago
    I've checked his CV in LinkedIn and he certainly has an interesting CV, but not necessarily a strong one for a software engineer in a big company. I have no idea about how recruiters select profiles in Google, but maybe having an strong background as entrepreneur is a red flag ("he'll leave the company for his own project!"); or maybe the lack of bachelor degree... (or maybe pure ageism) I can't say I agree, clearly spending that much time shows a lot of passion, but Google tends to have pretty harsh and silly selection process, where a silly small thing or mistake gets you rejected.
paulcole 10y ago
>After all this work and enthusiasm, I didn't even get a chance to prove myself. Is this his first time applying for a job or, you know, interacting with the world in any way?
bbctol 10y ago
This whole journey has been so weird. Why does this guy care so much about Google? Did Google turn him down for prom? Was "Google" the last word of his dying grandfather? He's been on a years-long vision quest to... be an employee of a place.
brikelly 10y ago
Maybe they didn't want the method of "create an interview study guide and write a popular blog about studying for it" seen as being one of the ways to get hired at Google, and having a flood of imitators try to do the same thing.
iplaw 10y ago
I have to assume that they didn't want someone who was so fanatically and excessively eager and ambitious. He broadcasted that he studied full-time for eight months for the interview. They want people who can walk in and own the interview, with minimal interview-specific preparation. The entire blog just reeks of desperation and lack of confidence (or worse, misplaced confidence). I think that they flagged him before he ever applied.
- maverick_iceman 10y ago
  I doubt that is true. The recruiter probably had no idea that he was preparing for eight months.
RealityVoid 10y ago
Does anyone know if rejection letters from Google pre-phonecall-phase are normal? I mean, I've applied a couple of times (I might look faded compared to other brilliant people that apply and I had nowhere this guy's drive and level of involvement but thought that it is worth a shot) and every time I didn't hear anything back. I though they just contact you in case of a positive.
- maverick_iceman 10y ago
  It is more likely if some Googler referred you like this guy. If you just apply by yourself you may not get any reply.
- misingnoglic 10y ago
  He got a referral, and with those you hear back within a week.
cagataygurturk 10y ago
I also would not hire such a freaky. Can you imagine how much headache he could create (in terms of office politics), in case of a situation that would affect his employment at Google? He is even not professional I think.
misingnoglic 10y ago
I don't understand why people get DEAD set on just one company - that's never a good way to do things, especially when the application process is so fickle, and especially if that company is literally the most applied for company (or one of them at least). It's not like university applications, where they're at least obligated to reply back.
fecak 10y ago
Recruiter and resume writer here. I'm at least somewhat surprised, and I assume his resume had references to his PR campaign, and I'd think that in itself (along with the somewhat limited qualifications he seems to have) would at least warrant a phone screen. Even if that phone interview was to feel him out a bit. I am genuinely curious to see his resume (I didn't see it on this site or his other blog). Again, I'd have to assume it was at least somewhat littered with references to his dream of working for Google (the GitHub repo gives that away, and maybe he linked to his blog). His current LinkedIn profile starts with a Projects section (I'd have recommended a summary) and the first project listed is "Google Interview University", so I assume any recruiter vetting him would have immediately seen that, then noticed that his experience section starts with "in training for a software engineer interview, April 2016 - present", and then perhaps into the rabbit hole of all his posts. This might be a case of someone "trying too hard/pandering" to one audience. If we take away the Google-related content on LinkedIn, we've got a guy who has 5 years of experience running what appears to be a light tech startup, ~ 15 years of demonstrated web dev experience, several Coursera courses, and an active GitHub. If you only gave his GitHub 5 seconds (without opening any of the repos themselves), I'd think most recruiters would think he'd be worth at least a quick phone call. Maybe they dove in and didn't like what they saw. More questions than answers on this one.
arcatek 10y ago
The two times I applied at Google after being recommended by friends already in charge went quite badly. The recrutor asked for my CV thrice the first time (rejecting my application between each request, until I stopped answering), and the second time I had to wait three weeks between the first coding interview and the actual results. Apparently, my hiring manager took some vacations, and her replacement had no idea about my file. I applied only once at Facebook, and the whole process was a bliss. Constant flow of communication with my recruiter, very interesting interviews, and a relatively short time between the start of the process and the final result. It was really weird to see such a big difference between two big tech companies.
- iplaw 10y ago
  Applied and hired? I know a few guys who did GSoC a few times, hired full-time, left for a start-up, rehired, left again for a start-up, rehired into Google X, left again for a start-up, and now has Google begging for him to come back again. Google can identify talent, and will bend over backwards to retain that talent over time. This guy wasn't talent.
  - arcatek 10y ago
    No, I didn't pass the Google hiring process. Things went much better with Facebook, tho :)
paulcole 10y ago
White man faces disappointment for first time.
stillsut 10y ago
This rejection is symbolic of a large problem emerging in the tech talent pool, similar to the "not-an-MBA" that we've seen ruin the management culture. Large companies where you can learn a ton, and work with smart and motivated people, are filtering based on not entirely relevant CS trivia. They still have many viable candidates as anyone coming out of a university has four years where their job is explicitly to learn this stuff. The stuff ends up being so esoteric, that rarely will these trainees actually be able to use this knowledge for their own programs (i'm open to counterexamples here). But the reward of going to work for say Google is so immense - both monetarily and in experience and connections, that students accept the cost of learning the wrong stuff for the future benefit, the job where you "actually start learning valuable knowledge" The next level up in a career is looking for engineers with a proven history of being able to scale. Guess who that is: last year's hires, who got brought into an already working system. This is the pattern we see in management of Fortune-500's and prestige banks. This has created a culture where you have to buy your way in the door with years of what a lot of people who actually do it, will admit is largely B.S. Again, this is not irrational though, because there is often a dramatic drop-off in quality of opportunities if you don't buy into the game. So since everyone else is convinced (perhaps rightly so) that the real value doesn't come until you've been in an elite position, the effect is to erode all value in acquiring knowledge, skills and experience, in anything that doesn't neatly fit the filtering game.
- maverick_iceman 10y ago
  Standard algorithms and data structures stuff are not that esoteric. I think companies are absolutely right in insisting that candidates know such basic topics like big O notation or various sorting algorithms. Nobody is asking them to go major in CS, it's perfectly possible to learn these things on one's own.
  - stillsut 10y ago
    As we know in math intense subjects, being familiar with != performs well on a contrived question, for example you'd probably fail your calculusII exam if you took it right now, at least I would. Even though you might have a better intuitive understanding of integration after having worked in the real world and forgotten the exact rules. Same for big-O factoids.
icomefromreddit 10y ago
> "This is my multi-month study plan for going from web developer (self-taught, no CS degree)..." No CS degree and no CS background. I wonder why he wasn't chosen (and why HN dismiss Google interviews as silly games...).

85 points by dominis 10y ago

voidr 10y ago

> Recruiters look at hundreds of resumes every day, and they are highly tuned to detecting quality candidates and rejecting those who don't match up with their model. For some reason, I just didn't fit the profile. They probably are doing me a favor. They would be doing you a favour if they would tell you why you were rejected and give you advice moving forward. In this case they are just doing themselves a favour by not bothering to give you anything meaningful. > but if you're good enough for Google, you'll eventually get in. If you don't get in the first time, you might want to ask yourself: is Google good enough for you? > Recruiters know what works, and what doesn't. So respect their decision and be polite. A lot of recruiters are incredibly incompetent, they don't always know what works and what doesn't and they can just reject you due to their own incompetence. You should always be polite, because being rude rarely earns you any favours, not because the recruiters are always right, and you should feel sorry for them. > There are a lot of places where I can strive for greatness and have that effort rewarded. This is why you should never be hung up on one person from one big company rejecting you.

vorotato 10y ago

The people who read these books, and the companies who come up with these contrived interviews deserve each other.

fdsfsaa 10y ago

He's not missing much. It's just a big squabbling company.

yakshaving_jgt 10y ago

Titling the piece “I Didn't Get Hired. Here's Why.”, and then after one paragraph clarifying “Why didn't I get hired? I don't know why.” …is confusing, to say the least.

tyingq 10y ago

He made an extensive repository of information on how to get hired at Google[1], gave talks on the subject[2], and studied full time for 8 months[3]. And it's not that he interviewed and didn't get the job...they didn't even let him interview, not even the phone screen. That's pretty rough. [1]https://github.com/jwasham/google-interview-university https://github.com/jwasham/google-interview-university [2]https://googleyasheck.com/presenting-at-code-fellows/ https://googleyasheck.com/presenting-at-code-fellows/ [3]https://googleyasheck.com/why-i-studied-full-time-for-8-months-for-a-google-interview/ https://googleyasheck.com/why-i-studied-full-time-for-8-mont...

nunez 10y ago
This seems like so much work for getting a job into one place.
str33t_punk 10y ago
pretty depressing
- enzanki_ars 10y ago
  He instructed people on how to be hired at a company he was never hired at. I don't think I would ever hire someone making claim like that.
  - RawData 10y ago
    That's incorrect. He wrote a blog about what he was personally doing to get hired at Google... he wasn't claiming to teach people how to get hired.
    - enzanki_ars 10y ago
      "You can hear me talk about my journey to become a web developer, how I'm working on a career change, and what you need to know to interview at Google." [1] "This is my multi-month study plan for going from web developer (self-taught, no CS degree) to Google software engineer." [2] The author presents two conflicting pieces of information. In [1], it seems like he has accomplished this goal of being hired. In [2], he is working towards it and has not clue if anything presented will work. [1]: https://googleyasheck.com/presenting-at-code-fellows/ https://googleyasheck.com/presenting-at-code-fellows/ [2]: https://github.com/jwasham/google-interview-university https://github.com/jwasham/google-interview-university

zellyn 10y ago

Apply directly to YouTube. They have super-friendly, involved recruiters that do a fantastic job.

jasode 10y ago

Title says: "I Didn't Get Hired. Here's Why." Body says: "Why didn't I get hired? I don't know why." Real question to HN readers: Do you believe this type of inconsistency also affects writing code? In other words... if a hiring manager notices this muddled writing in a blog post, is it fair to think the programming output will also be muddled? (e.g. function names, architecture, engineering the organization of microservices, code comments etc.?) Or do you believe that the brain compartmentalizes and it's very easy to write disorganized prose simultaneously with organized code?

jps359 10y ago
It's just a typical click-baity title. I don't think it has anything to do with ability to write code.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
GotAnyMegadeth 10y ago
The current HN title "I Didn't Get Hired to Google" makes it sound like someone quitting a job because it turned out their job was just googling things. Perhaps it should be "I Didn't Get Hired By Google". PS or even better "I didn't get hired by Google".
- gvb 10y ago
  PPS or even better "I didn't even get a Google phone screen."
VLM 10y ago
Its just how journalism / clickbait is today. You want someone who writes docs to contemporary style. I admit I do not look forward to the future when manpages will be titled "Top five sprintf format string length modifiers they don't want you to know; the last will shock you"
minimaxir 10y ago

zerr 10y ago

Maybe it's because he was trying to openly game the system (as it seems)?

enibundo 10y ago

I bet there are other companies who would be happy to have you in!

lapinrigolo 10y ago

Their loss.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

segmondy 10y ago

No surprise. You can learn a lot in a year, but you can't level up your computer science knowledge in a year. Some people might be offended or disappointed by this comment, but don't. Just keep your heads down, learn a lot, expose yourself to lots of different things and the experience will come with that. With that said, I'm not surprised that he didn't get a phone interview. Even if Google knew about him, they might want to let people know that their interview process can't be gamed. If I was hiring, I might be concerned that someone who put in that much effort, might stall once they get hired. I want someone who has put that kind of effort not leading up to the interview, but over the years due to genuine curiosity due to love of computing and not because they want to get a job.

maverick_iceman 10y ago
Why not? I went through half of CLRS in three months, don't see why someone would be unable to ramp up their CS knowledge in a year.
ohstopitu 10y ago
Knowledge - yes it can be gained in a year. Experience - nope nope nope nope nope! I'm sure everyone here can relate too - What you learnt in university was not as useful as real life experience (even when working on your own side projects). While he spent his time (a lot of it too) on learning how to game Google's interview process, he didn't seem to consider experience at all :S (I mean, 8 months learning algorithms but not even a month working on some kind of portfolio showing off your work?) I am not saying EVERY dev out there needs a portfolio, but he said he didn't have CS background/experience and this was his way of getting into Google, but without actual experience (note: NOT work experience, just experience in general), how does Google know he's up for it?
- Spoom 10y ago
  Google optimizes for new grads. To a certain extent, experience can actually make the interview process harder (because they will expect more of an experience candidate than a new grad).
10y ago

akjainaj 10y ago

Posts of people crying so much about not getting hired by a company (usually Google) are top cringe. It's like writing on Facebook that you feel miserable because a girl rejected you. Just move on, kid.

eva1984 10y ago
I respect a lot of awesome work from Google. But this is just really bad press. Not that Google initiated this kind of cult in the first place, the spontaneous worship is a little overwhelming TBH.
- akjainaj 10y ago
  I don't even understand this kind of cult, Google is a shady company and most of the software from them I've ever used was of a substandard quality
  - eva1984 10y ago
    Google is HUGE company, to the point, I won't assume people from Google actually sharing anything except the fact they are from Google. There are awesome people doing world changing stuff, also common programmers doing routine work. I think a lot of people just assume they join Google they will automatically be promoted to the first league, which is not true according to my observations.
- iplaw 10y ago
  This is bad press for the candidate, not Google. They dodged a bullet.
BigJeffeRonaldo 10y ago
This is exactly what I thought when I heard about this guy. He's undervaluing himself bigly. If you obsess over one company, or girl, or whatever else, you take all of your own power away and hand it over to chance. An interview or conversation could fall through for any reason at all. Meanwhile if you're intense enough to study algorithms for 8 months you can probably get a pretty good job at any number of places without wrecking your self-worth if you get rid of the tunnel vision.

ipunchghosts 10y ago

This post makes me want to know what John Biggs wants. In the comments, "Honest question: who told you to make this blog? Email me john@techcrunch.com"

iplaw 10y ago
Maybe the entire thing is an orchestrated PR stunt by a hiring competitor. Or, maybe this is a guy who isn't lacking: 1) hubris and 2) cash flow, who wanted to give Google a go. Along the way, he compiled a massive amount of information and found another way to be successful - a techco interview consultant.
- maverick_iceman 10y ago
  A successful interview consultant for Google who failed at Google? Ah, the irony!

ipunchghosts 10y ago

You didnt get hired at google because you have no life, no sense of self. Your entire blog is about how you make yourself hireable by google. Who cares what google wants. What do you want?

yakshaving_jgt 10y ago
Surely you can communicate that sentiment without wording it quite so harshly?
- ipunchghosts 10y ago
  This strikes me quite a bit as stuff mentioned in the "No More Mr Nice Guy" book. Im not sure how to word it softer. What would you have done?
JosephRedfern 10y ago
Some people have more than one blog, and this chap appears to be one of them. This blog is about getting hired by Google, so it's natural that it would have posts about getting hired by Google. Not something I'd personally write about, but it doesn't mean he's devoted his whole live to the task. If you look at the about page, you'll see that he considers his main blog to be: https://startupnextdoor.com/ https://startupnextdoor.com/

mwill 10y ago

Two things: He lists himself as an 'Autodidact', I wonder if he has a BSc and if not, if that contributed to not getting a phone screen. If it did, thats pretty rough since he also lists 15 years of experience. Also I'm very curious about this comment on the post: Honest question: who told you to make this blog? Email me john@techcrunch.com Not quite sure what he's implying by 'who told you', anyone know?

iplaw 10y ago
I wondered the same. I'm betting that there is more to the story.
asidiali 10y ago
That caught me off guard as well. First thought was maybe Google hired him to do the blog for some developer PR, but not sure how much sense that makes.
deong 10y ago
I was a bit curious there too, but I chalked it up to ambulance chasing from a techcrunch reporter.
tyingq 10y ago
"This is my multi-month study plan for going from web developer (self-taught, no CS degree) to Google software engineer." From: https://github.com/jwasham/google-interview-university https://github.com/jwasham/google-interview-university
huehehue 10y ago
I just recently spoke with a former Google recruiter who said they (personally) rejected applicants with no formal education. I've heard the opposite from other recruiters hiring for the same thing at the same company, so there's really no way to tell since there is no strictly followed rubric.

jaimebuelta 10y ago

I wonder if his lack of CV (of any kind), no matter how much he studied was what made recruiters discard him right away. You can learn a lot in a year, but you can't create a CV containing a career that may look attractive. (Google process is pretty much optimised to quickly discard applications)

RawData 10y ago
The guy has an awesome CV and 15+ years experience as a self-employed developer/entrepreneur...
- iplaw 10y ago
  And applying for an entry-level development position. He is not lacking in hubris, so imagine the managerial nightmare he'd likely impose for a collection of non-managers.
- jaimebuelta 10y ago
  I've checked his CV in LinkedIn and he certainly has an interesting CV, but not necessarily a strong one for a software engineer in a big company. I have no idea about how recruiters select profiles in Google, but maybe having an strong background as entrepreneur is a red flag ("he'll leave the company for his own project!"); or maybe the lack of bachelor degree... (or maybe pure ageism) I can't say I agree, clearly spending that much time shows a lot of passion, but Google tends to have pretty harsh and silly selection process, where a silly small thing or mistake gets you rejected.

paulcole 10y ago

>After all this work and enthusiasm, I didn't even get a chance to prove myself. Is this his first time applying for a job or, you know, interacting with the world in any way?

bbctol 10y ago

This whole journey has been so weird. Why does this guy care so much about Google? Did Google turn him down for prom? Was "Google" the last word of his dying grandfather? He's been on a years-long vision quest to... be an employee of a place.

brikelly 10y ago

Maybe they didn't want the method of "create an interview study guide and write a popular blog about studying for it" seen as being one of the ways to get hired at Google, and having a flood of imitators try to do the same thing.

iplaw 10y ago

I have to assume that they didn't want someone who was so fanatically and excessively eager and ambitious. He broadcasted that he studied full-time for eight months for the interview. They want people who can walk in and own the interview, with minimal interview-specific preparation. The entire blog just reeks of desperation and lack of confidence (or worse, misplaced confidence). I think that they flagged him before he ever applied.

maverick_iceman 10y ago
I doubt that is true. The recruiter probably had no idea that he was preparing for eight months.

RealityVoid 10y ago

Does anyone know if rejection letters from Google pre-phonecall-phase are normal? I mean, I've applied a couple of times (I might look faded compared to other brilliant people that apply and I had nowhere this guy's drive and level of involvement but thought that it is worth a shot) and every time I didn't hear anything back. I though they just contact you in case of a positive.

maverick_iceman 10y ago
It is more likely if some Googler referred you like this guy. If you just apply by yourself you may not get any reply.
misingnoglic 10y ago
He got a referral, and with those you hear back within a week.

cagataygurturk 10y ago

I also would not hire such a freaky. Can you imagine how much headache he could create (in terms of office politics), in case of a situation that would affect his employment at Google? He is even not professional I think.

misingnoglic 10y ago

I don't understand why people get DEAD set on just one company - that's never a good way to do things, especially when the application process is so fickle, and especially if that company is literally the most applied for company (or one of them at least). It's not like university applications, where they're at least obligated to reply back.

fecak 10y ago

Recruiter and resume writer here. I'm at least somewhat surprised, and I assume his resume had references to his PR campaign, and I'd think that in itself (along with the somewhat limited qualifications he seems to have) would at least warrant a phone screen. Even if that phone interview was to feel him out a bit. I am genuinely curious to see his resume (I didn't see it on this site or his other blog). Again, I'd have to assume it was at least somewhat littered with references to his dream of working for Google (the GitHub repo gives that away, and maybe he linked to his blog). His current LinkedIn profile starts with a Projects section (I'd have recommended a summary) and the first project listed is "Google Interview University", so I assume any recruiter vetting him would have immediately seen that, then noticed that his experience section starts with "in training for a software engineer interview, April 2016 - present", and then perhaps into the rabbit hole of all his posts. This might be a case of someone "trying too hard/pandering" to one audience. If we take away the Google-related content on LinkedIn, we've got a guy who has 5 years of experience running what appears to be a light tech startup, ~ 15 years of demonstrated web dev experience, several Coursera courses, and an active GitHub. If you only gave his GitHub 5 seconds (without opening any of the repos themselves), I'd think most recruiters would think he'd be worth at least a quick phone call. Maybe they dove in and didn't like what they saw. More questions than answers on this one.

arcatek 10y ago

The two times I applied at Google after being recommended by friends already in charge went quite badly. The recrutor asked for my CV thrice the first time (rejecting my application between each request, until I stopped answering), and the second time I had to wait three weeks between the first coding interview and the actual results. Apparently, my hiring manager took some vacations, and her replacement had no idea about my file. I applied only once at Facebook, and the whole process was a bliss. Constant flow of communication with my recruiter, very interesting interviews, and a relatively short time between the start of the process and the final result. It was really weird to see such a big difference between two big tech companies.

iplaw 10y ago
Applied and hired? I know a few guys who did GSoC a few times, hired full-time, left for a start-up, rehired, left again for a start-up, rehired into Google X, left again for a start-up, and now has Google begging for him to come back again. Google can identify talent, and will bend over backwards to retain that talent over time. This guy wasn't talent.
- arcatek 10y ago
  No, I didn't pass the Google hiring process. Things went much better with Facebook, tho :)

paulcole 10y ago

White man faces disappointment for first time.

stillsut 10y ago

This rejection is symbolic of a large problem emerging in the tech talent pool, similar to the "not-an-MBA" that we've seen ruin the management culture. Large companies where you can learn a ton, and work with smart and motivated people, are filtering based on not entirely relevant CS trivia. They still have many viable candidates as anyone coming out of a university has four years where their job is explicitly to learn this stuff. The stuff ends up being so esoteric, that rarely will these trainees actually be able to use this knowledge for their own programs (i'm open to counterexamples here). But the reward of going to work for say Google is so immense - both monetarily and in experience and connections, that students accept the cost of learning the wrong stuff for the future benefit, the job where you "actually start learning valuable knowledge" The next level up in a career is looking for engineers with a proven history of being able to scale. Guess who that is: last year's hires, who got brought into an already working system. This is the pattern we see in management of Fortune-500's and prestige banks. This has created a culture where you have to buy your way in the door with years of what a lot of people who actually do it, will admit is largely B.S. Again, this is not irrational though, because there is often a dramatic drop-off in quality of opportunities if you don't buy into the game. So since everyone else is convinced (perhaps rightly so) that the real value doesn't come until you've been in an elite position, the effect is to erode all value in acquiring knowledge, skills and experience, in anything that doesn't neatly fit the filtering game.

maverick_iceman 10y ago
Standard algorithms and data structures stuff are not that esoteric. I think companies are absolutely right in insisting that candidates know such basic topics like big O notation or various sorting algorithms. Nobody is asking them to go major in CS, it's perfectly possible to learn these things on one's own.
- stillsut 10y ago
  As we know in math intense subjects, being familiar with != performs well on a contrived question, for example you'd probably fail your calculusII exam if you took it right now, at least I would. Even though you might have a better intuitive understanding of integration after having worked in the real world and forgotten the exact rules. Same for big-O factoids.

icomefromreddit 10y ago

> "This is my multi-month study plan for going from web developer (self-taught, no CS degree)..." No CS degree and no CS background. I wonder why he wasn't chosen (and why HN dismiss Google interviews as silly games...).