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I think you answered it yourself. His skill set (running, managing, community, etc) are not what Google needs (as they see it). They need someone who "will cont

I think you answered it yourself. His skill set (running, managing, community, etc) are not what Google needs (as they see it). They need someone who "will contribute to a small portion of software that will be run by a large fraction of the planet's computers, but owning the architecture, project management, testing, community support, and coding? No."

vonmoltke 8y ago
Your "etc" includes writing the damn thing in the first place, which indicates he is more than qualified for "will contribute to a small portion of software that will be run by a large fraction of the planet's computers". Furthermore, for L5 and up Google is most certainly looking for systems design and engineering leadership skills.
- dwild 8y ago
  > he is more than qualified for "will contribute to a small portion of software that will be run by a large fraction of the planet's computers". Maybe, but for that part he was in competition with people that were simply better to "contribute to a small portion of software that will be run by a large fraction of the planet's computers".
  - vonmoltke 8y ago
    That's where we come to my second point. Additionally, the public perception of the Google hiring process (a perception cultivated by Google themselves) is that candidates are not in competition with anybody. It's just "do you clear the bar or not".
    - saagarjha 8y ago
      Companies rarely hire people in a vacuum; almost always, it's because they are looking for someone to fill a certain role (be it "we need another competent engineer who we can assign arbitrary work to"), and there are always other people that can do the same job.
ghaff 8y ago
If you take the tweet at face value, being dinged for a whiteboard exercise is pretty silly. But people do get hired for specific roles and just having demonstrated you're great at X doesn't mean you should clearly get hired for an only somewhat related Y. I like to think I'm pretty good at certain things but that doesn't mean I'm a good candidate, especially at a senior level, for lots and lots of roles that, while somewhat related to my skills, aren't really in my wheelhouse.
- linkregister 8y ago
  Max Howell was applying for the binary tree reversal team?
jimjansen1 8y ago
Perhaps but he wasn't rejected for bad fit he was rejected for lack of CS trivia knowledge.

vonmoltke 8y ago

Your "etc" includes writing the damn thing in the first place, which indicates he is more than qualified for "will contribute to a small portion of software that will be run by a large fraction of the planet's computers". Furthermore, for L5 and up Google is most certainly looking for systems design and engineering leadership skills.

dwild 8y ago
> he is more than qualified for "will contribute to a small portion of software that will be run by a large fraction of the planet's computers". Maybe, but for that part he was in competition with people that were simply better to "contribute to a small portion of software that will be run by a large fraction of the planet's computers".
- vonmoltke 8y ago
  That's where we come to my second point. Additionally, the public perception of the Google hiring process (a perception cultivated by Google themselves) is that candidates are not in competition with anybody. It's just "do you clear the bar or not".
  - saagarjha 8y ago
    Companies rarely hire people in a vacuum; almost always, it's because they are looking for someone to fill a certain role (be it "we need another competent engineer who we can assign arbitrary work to"), and there are always other people that can do the same job.

ghaff 8y ago

If you take the tweet at face value, being dinged for a whiteboard exercise is pretty silly. But people do get hired for specific roles and just having demonstrated you're great at X doesn't mean you should clearly get hired for an only somewhat related Y. I like to think I'm pretty good at certain things but that doesn't mean I'm a good candidate, especially at a senior level, for lots and lots of roles that, while somewhat related to my skills, aren't really in my wheelhouse.

linkregister 8y ago
Max Howell was applying for the binary tree reversal team?

jimjansen1 8y ago

Perhaps but he wasn't rejected for bad fit he was rejected for lack of CS trivia knowledge.