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I think Google is seeing a positive signal on their hiring process because a) they get a high percentage of the best programmers applying there at some point in

I think Google is seeing a positive signal on their hiring process because a) they get a high percentage of the best programmers applying there at some point in their lives, and b) they run de-facto IQ tests on the onsites to pick the cream of the crop from that pool. It might not be the "best" raw programmers (that's impossible to define anyway) but being able to perform well on the algorithm tests means the people in general are highly intelligent.

rafiki6 8y ago
Exactly. In general, if you do well it means you're probably pretty smart (whether you've memorized or figured it out on the spot). If you don't do well, it just means it's not your type of test most likely. I'd say this creates an opportunity for non-Google like companies to moneyball their teams and get some high quality talent at a discount because they suck at passing the Google filter. If these companies were smart, and considering how much luck is involved in the process anyway, they should look for a different set of criteria to evaluate a candidate on.