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Poll: Have you ever applied to work at Google?

• jimdesu 16y ago
  Need a conjunction option: with my 3.0 & go from a state school I'd never be hired there, but conversely, until they start putting all that brainpower to work doing something besides freeloading on their search/advertising guys, I'll pass. Every time I see an announcement from them, it's yet another project masquerading as a product....
• netmau5 16y ago
  I'd loved to apply and to work there, but somehow I just don't feel "special" enough. I know their languages, I know their infrastructure (well, from GAE xp), I code at work and at home, I meet most of what they say they want in an applicant. There's just something about their persona that makes me think that there is too little of a chance to be picked, too little to even be worth the opportunity cost. It's irrational, I know.
  • GrooveStomp 16y ago
    You're not alone. In all the circles I know (minus one pal who's worked at Yahoo and now at Facebook - who actually rejected Google) applying to Google is a big deal, and most people are afraid to do it because it's such a big deal. I have one friend who got flown down to one of their California locations but didn't get hired. She said the process wasn't anything special, except for being asked the complexity of doing long division.
• byoung2 16y ago
  I used to go to a bar in Santa Monica (Warszawa) where the Google folks go every Friday for happy hour. The recruiters kept trying to get me to apply, but I never did. I get the impression that they want people with Engineering/CS backgrounds and here I am a programmer with an English degree. I bet I'd have a better chance of building a startup and selling it to Google so that I could work there than going through the application and interview process. I could be wrong though...
  • thetrumanshow 16y ago
    I tend to think that Google really suffers when smart people like you don't even try to apply. I think the typical awesome engineer is just a shade too self-deprecating to even think it possible to get hired there.
    • rhizome 16y ago
      I don't think Google (or really any large company) is a good place to work for autodidacts.
      • byoung2 16y ago
        For the record, I now work for ClearChannel (a pretty big company), and it is by far the best place I've ever worked. You do feel the size of the company when it takes 5 separate IT guys to set up your workstation (hardware, software, email, phone, VPN), but as far as the actual day to day operations, I couldn't ask for a better environment. I am the only non-CS dev on the team, but I can hold my own.
        • jmathai 16y ago
          I worked in CCRI (Interactive) like 7 years ago. What group are you in?
          • byoung2 16y ago
            PRN Interactive...where else can you work with Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Ryan Seacrest in the same week!
        • rhizome 16y ago
          Sure, all generalization break down upon examination, but I think any company that uses five people to set up a basic cubicle is pretty much a direct opposite of Google in corporate structure and culture. There are indeed companies, and large ones, where the autodidact can find a home, but it requires the kind of organizational looseness that an overwrought bureaucracy brings. In Google terms, this would be a lowering of the bar.
• guyzero 16y ago
  Extra option: I never applied and was hired. Believe it or not we have recruiters out there sourcing candidates. I have personally interviewed people who were asked to apply by recruiters but who did not apply on their own.
  • dpezely 16y ago
    Related: solicited by internal Google recruiter but declined. Google sucked-up nearly all the Python people from Seattle mid-decade this way, just as I was migrating back to Common Lisp, so it wasn't that appealing to me anyway. It was months before the IPO was announced, no bus from SF yet, no SF office then, and I couldn't bear a reverse-commute. (Wife doesn't drive, so living outside the city not an option)
• thetrumanshow 16y ago
  So, at least one person said they were hired by Google. I have a question for those folks... When you applied, did you have any reasonable expectation that you would actually be hired to work there, or was it just on a whim... like a lottery ticket?
  • silvajoao 16y ago
    I'll mention a related question I've been pondering on lately: how does one assess his own skill level? When one has people around who are clearly more able programmers, one can take the chance to learn from them and try to achieve their skill. But when you believe you might be the top programmer around your office, how do you determine whether you're really good, or you're just in a not-so-great environment? A lot of entrepreneurial advice mentions trying harder: if you aren't failing, you aren't trying hard enough. Applying at a very competitive company like Google, Facebook or Apple is, IMO, a good way to assess how you "rank" next to very talented peers. Failure there is failing at a very competitive level, and the interviews will give you a sense of how far you might be from them, and perhaps energize you to try harder. I guess a method to determine your current "level" could be to keep trying to be hired by harder- and harder- to get-into companies, until you fail; that's the level you should strive to get to in the future. If you were never rejected, how do you know whether your current "level" is your highest? Another common advice for entrepreneurs: "you only fail if you fail to learn the lesson." The reason for failing to be hired is invaluable feedback on your shortcomings, which are much harder to self-assess. In short: don't self-reject yourself. (note: I don't have any startup experience, and just 4 years of professional experience as an employee. I guess the more entrepreneurial people around here would propose shipping something and see what happens to make your self-assessment :-) (2nd note: I was recently hired by Google in Munich, and can't wait to start! :-) EDIT: this was longer than expected. I totally forgot to address your question: I was afraid of rejection, but I also thought I could do it. I never thought of it as trying my luck in a lottery, and wouldn't apply if I didn't believe I could deliver once on the job.
    • dadkins 16y ago
      "The reason for failing to be hired is invaluable feedback on your shortcomings, which are much harder to self-assess." Good luck trying to get any useful feedback from a Google or Facebook rejection. Often it's just random.
• gjm11 16y ago
  I can't accurately use any of the options. I got an email from Google suggesting that I apply -- I think they found my name on a mailing list somewhere; at the time I had a job I didn't want to leave, but later on I got in touch, only to decide after getting through the initial phone screen that I didn't actually want to work there. (It would have meant either moving house or a lengthy commute; I'd just moved house and had a new baby.) I don't know how common a story that is. There are probably quite a lot of people who've been contacted by Google recruiters but decided not to apply at all.
  • GrooveStomp 16y ago
    I'm in that boat. I had a phone interview with a recruiter (not an interview-interview) and then decided not to apply. I've taken the last few months to really brush up on some CS theory, but I'm finding that I don't really want to do that stuff all the time either. I'm looking at starting up a small business, then if that fails (which it damn well won't), I can always look at working for Google (or whatever the next Google is) at that time.
• lopatamd 16y ago
  it makes no sense applying since i wont get hired anyway xDD its a dream job anyways for all
• kennethn 16y ago
  -- (Rare?) I never applied, but was hired anyway! Me. I came in 4+ years ago by way of an acquisition. Note that "never applied" doesn't equate with "never interviewed" - we all had to go through the same interview process as regular candidates.
• Apreche 16y ago
  I applied, and was rejected. However, I had already taken another job before they rejected me. The application process made me not want to work there. More recently I have toured their offices, and I really really don't want to work there.
  • jim_h 16y ago
    What didn't you like about their offices?
  • ardit33 16y ago
    me too. I remember going to their campus, and getting a ewww... this place has a too corporate vibe. Three of the people that interviewed me seemed burned-out, no enthusiasm whatsoever. Also from my conversations it seemed that Google is a pretty political place (even though it tries hard not to be one). Only two of the guys, I clicked with. One had done mobile dev since early 2000, and we had worked a lot on similar problems. The other guy I thought was cool had come from an acquisition. I didn't even get to meet the recruiter who was supposed to handle my case, and I was greeted by somebody else. The whole interview experience felt like cattle processing. For some reason I came out with the opinion that Google is a very unhappy place, and competitive (cut-throat perhaps), as it attracts people that are smart, and have tough time being average. Perhaps it is subconscious sour grapes, or not, but my thinking is that while Google it is chock full of smart people, it seems not to be a fun place. Ps. I know two googlers in person, and I think they are really smart people, and I respect them as engineers, but I just don't think them as entrepreneurial types though. So as individual place, it has a lot of smart people, but as a collective and as environment google is not a fun or attractive place to be at least when viewed on a superficial level from the outside. Maybe that's why they have to pay really well to retain their engineers.
• PhrosTT 16y ago
  I was recruited and then rejected : ) To be fair the recruiter said it was a generic interview - I spent the week studying data structures & algorithms. And then I get on the phone and the entire interview was on JavaScript and how to hack around the same origin policy.
  • notJim 16y ago
    Man, really? I would do great in that interview. Data structures & algorithms are the main reason I don't apply.
• dminor 16y ago
  I never applied because they don't have a Portland office.
  • rumwrks 16y ago
    applied and got hired. Not quite Portland, but if you're willing to move to Hood River or The Dalles... http://www.google.com/intl/en/jobs/uslocations/the-dalles/swe/software-engineer-google-com-the-dalles/index.html http://www.google.com/intl/en/jobs/uslocations/the-dalles/sw...
  • GrooveStomp 16y ago
    If they had a Vancouver office, I'd apply.
• dstein 16y ago
  I applied and then rejected them.
• ramidarigaz 16y ago
  For one, I'm a student. I could go the internship route (I'd actually like to at some point), but also, I have a pretty sweet job right now :)
• erik_p 16y ago
  Don't we also need: I applied and heard nothing back I applied, had a phone interview and was rejected I applied, interviewed in person and then was rejected I applied, was offered the position and turned it down. PS I fall in the applied and heard nothing but crickets back column -- i feel so ashamed, HN hold me and tell me it will all be okay :(
  • thetrumanshow 16y ago
    A great story of persistence, until the last bit. Were you just playing a game of tit-for-tat hard-to-get against Google hiring managers? Joking, but I am actually curious why you finally said no.
    • cd34 16y ago
      I think he was suggesting extra poll options, but the markup in the comments collapsed his line endings.
      • erik_p 16y ago
        cd34 is correct. No wonder I didn't get a call back :P
        • thetrumanshow 16y ago
          Ah, and I too would have been rejected, if nothing else than for poor reading comprehension. :{
• 5TonsOfFlax 16y ago
  I never applied, but they approached me. I went to interview, and they said "we'd like to hire you". Then about a month of waiting later, they said "nevermind". Now I can't apply for 6 months to a year from November because of their policy, so I guess I miss out on 2011 being their biggest hiring year ever. Oh well.
• elliottcarlson 16y ago
  Solicited by Google recruiters but never applied: a) I don't think Google is a place for me in terms of age and society. b) I don't come from a CS background, am self taught but have over 12 years of professional experience behind me - I know what I am doing but can't rant of algorithms off the top of my head.
  • byoung2 16y ago
    I don't come from a CS background, am self taught but have over 12 years of professional experience behind me - I know what I am doing but can't rant of algorithms off the top of my head. During an interview when I couldn't answer a question about CS theory I drew on something I learned as an English major: the analogy. I said: "Imagine that you aren't a tech company hiring a developer. You are a band hiring a lead guitarist. Do you want someone who studied music theory who can wax poetic about diminished arpeggios and phrygian scales? Or do you want Jimi Hendrix, who is self-taught and doesn't read music, but who can rock out with a Stratocaster and a Marshall Stack?" I've used that one twice, and I've gotten the job both times. It also helps when you can pass all of the written tests. At my last job I outscored all of the CS majors on all of the tests they gave me!
    • elliottcarlson 16y ago
      That's a great analogy - but when the actual test relies on CS theory it becomes a problem - otherwise I haven't had any issues with jobs in the past (not that I haven't been rejected before, I just haven't had any issues landing a job in a reasonable amount of time).
      • rhizome 16y ago
        You're describing the difference between theory and practice. It's one thing to ask an interviewee to write a bubble sort on the spot, quite another to explore the purpose of implementing a bubble sort in a given scenario. In other words, why would a test rely on CS theory rather than an ability to derive a solution regardless of orthodoxy?
    • 16y ago
• cmars232 16y ago
  Reject here. Pretty discouraging at the time, but in retrospect, best thing that could have happened to me. A year later, I landed a great job at a local startup, and the Google branch closed up shop. All in all, it was decent self-learning experience. I say apply anyway. Even if you don't get it, it might sharpen you up enough for somewhere else.
• unit3 16y ago
  Never applied because I didn't want to live in the US. I'm sure Google is very nice and all, but I like decent health care. ;)
  • hugh3 16y ago
    Do you understand how the health care system works in the US? If you have insurance (as all Google employees presumably do) you'll get extremely good health care. The US system is only a problem if you happen to be uninsured.
  • sp332 16y ago
    How about one of these? http://www.google.com/intl/en/jobs/locations/ http://www.google.com/intl/en/jobs/locations/
  • andrewmunn 16y ago
    I imagine as a Googler you'd have access to some of the best healthcare in the world for a very modest price.
• ilikejam 16y ago
  I was approached on LinkedIn for an SRE position (Unix admin). Got through 3 phone interviews and did 5 on-site interviews, but I managed to make a complete arse of the scripting one so no Google job for me. No hard feelings, though; the interview process is fun. And if anyone interviews in Dublin, have the pizza for lunch. It's really good.
• jtregunna 16y ago
  No, I haven't applied to work at google, but I have been contacted by two google recruiters in the past, told both of them politely to go to hell, and they left me alone after the second time. :)
• megamark16 16y ago
  I live about as far from a Google location (Missouri) as it's possible to live inside the united states. I'm not interested in moving, and I don't think they'd let me work remotely. That's pretty much it. I'd rather just build something awesome and get into Google through acquisitional osmosis. Maybe at that point I'd be ready to move, but for a bottom of the totem pole position (which I may not even be qualified for), I'll stay where I'm at.
• jhferris3 16y ago
  How about "I applied, was given an offer, but rejected it"?
  • thetrumanshow 16y ago
    ok, added.
• mansr 16y ago
  I'm regularly approached by Google recruiters, but they never have anything interesting to offer me.
• purephase 16y ago
  I was recruited, but didn't make it past the second interview. It's unfortunate. I was excited at the prospect and they did try to encourage me to continue through the process. I had lost my initiative though.
• thetrumanshow 16y ago
  Adding more choices. Thanks!
• siddhant 16y ago
  Interestingly, most of the people voted for "I never applied because there is no way I'd get hired". And I thought I was the only one who thinks this way.
• deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
• rglullis 16y ago
  Hum, I didn't apply and was rejected, sort of. I was contacted some three years ago by a recruiter on LinkedIn, talked a couple of times via email, then the phone interview. The interviewer asked me questions about networking ("describe what happens during a HTTP request at the various levels of TCP/IP") and Linux internals ("what to do if your open a shell and any command you type results in 'Not enough memory'?"), and we chatted a little bit after that. By talking with him, I learned that it was more of a sysadmin-y position (dealing more with infrastructure and supporting application developers) then actually working on their products. My interested waned quite a bit after that. Combined with the fact that my Linux internals answer was far from stellar (I learned a thing or two about /proc afterwards), it didn't surprise me when I got the "we are sorry to inform you..." letter a couple of weeks later. I don't know if I was being overconfident or if it was the effect of the "web 2.0" bubble, but I though then that I could be hired. I would apply today if I heard of some interesting position in Cambridge or NY to work on Android. Alas, it seems that the Android team is all in the West Coast.
• siculars 16y ago
  Dropped out of college. I think that disqualifies me. (Probably not but close enough.)
• newman314 16y ago
  Was recruited (for a non-dev position, technical program manager). First strike was the recruiter trying to lowball me that VPs at other companies come in at this level.
• Locke1689 16y ago
  Full time only or internship?
• gaganbiyani 16y ago
  I applied to Google and got rejected. Its a pretty interesting story so I thought I'd share: I applied through the traditional on-campus recruiting at UC Berkeley. Got past the first round of interviews on Berkeley's campus and then was taken to the Mountain View campus for 4 interviews and a bunch of events. That night, I got a call saying that the interviewers really liked me and recommended that I be hired. At most companies, that would mean that I was made an offer. Instead, they have these "hiring panels" where executives from various departments take a look at your resume, the notes from interviewers, and your transcript / other related documents. 3 weeks later I got an e-mail saying I was rejected during one of these panels. These people never met me; in fact, the 6 people who had met me all recommended that Google hire me. It was kind of weird, since no other company I had applied for had a process where people who hadn't interviewed you made the final decision on whether you should be hired. Obviously, I am a little frustrated by it - so take this with a grain of salt. However, I think that my experience was emblematic of a few specific issues with the hiring processes there (though they have some amazing processes as well): 1) People who've never met you should not be pontificating in large panels about whether you would be a good fit. That just doesn't make sense. 2) Google has a very strong academic focus on hiring. It is clear when you interview with them that they care a lot about top-brand schools and top GPA's. They seem to believe that the best students will make the best employees. I am not sure, but I think the reason I got rejected may have to do with two C's on my college transcript (which is not indicative of my inability to Ace calculus but rather my lack of interest in attending class). Personally, I think the academic focus is much to their detriment - and a major part of the reason they've struggled at social. That said, Google has some brilliant people who I'm sure I would've loved to work with :). Take this answer for what it is but hopefully you'll find it valuable.
  • lionhearted 16y ago
    > I applied to Google and got rejected. Consider re-applying? Maybe follow up specifically with each of the people who recommended you, asking for what you could do to bolster your chances? It sounds like you've got a real legit shot, so if you want it and you're willing to do the massive persistence thing, maybe it'd work out?
• mindcrime 16y ago
  Never applied. They've never come calling and I don't feel any particular inclination to work there, so I haven't sought them out either. I probably wouldn't be a good fit anyway. At 37, and more of the college dropout / autodidact type (although, strangely enough I do have 3 college degrees. Weird.) I don't think I fit their culture of "youth from Ivy League schools." Anyway, I'd prefer to work on doing my own thing, and build an awesome startup, than go to work for any big company, Google or otherwise. Hell, even Lulu felt big and bureaucratic to me when I was there, and they were only about 100 employees at the time.
• reinhardt 16y ago
  Does Youtube count ? I managed to get past the phone screens, they flew over from east coast but didn't make the final cut. Oh well.
• jarek 16y ago
  Never applied because I'm not an algorithm machine. I'm not the kind of programmer they're looking for, or at least their recruitment process looks for. No big deal.
• mtklein 16y ago
  I marked myself as both applied and rejected, and applied an hired. When I was an undergrad I was rejected for a summer internship. Bummer. Then in grad school I was trying to go for a specific internship along with a professor I knew, and it didn't work out for silly reasons, but my recruiter asked if I wanted to apply for a full-time job. On a whim I did, then went through months of interviews. I got an offer and quit school to take it.
• anywho 16y ago
  I applied and they suspended the hiring for the position indefinitely (after calling my references). That's after I spent 8 hours of my time interviewing there. This was pre-IPO
• deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
• there 16y ago
  i don't have a college degree, so i just assumed i'd never even make it past the resume filter.
• ammmir 16y ago
  someone at google referred me (but never told me), so i got to the onsite interview. on the application, i didn't put down the name of the googler who referred me. that definitely didn't help my chances :( i haven't applied again because consulting and startupping have been more exciting than working for medium-large companies. but then again, i wouldn't know :)
• dustineichler 16y ago
  Does Google do Rails? I'd apply but never have.
• sfriedrich 16y ago
  I looked at the google facilities and met the google people. They are great people. Not the place for me tho; no privacy and too much groupthink.
• akkartik 16y ago
  I checked 3 boxes (hired, rejected, rejected offer). Can anyone do better? :)
• commandante 16y ago
  I applied to YouTube and got past the phone screen but decided to focus on my own entrepreneurial efforts instead.
• EvanK 16y ago
  1) I'm not ready to make a move to California yet, and 2) I really do prefer small companies more than mega corporations with millions of employees. And 3) I don't know that they'd hire me anyway.
• eneveu 16y ago
  I haven't yet applied, but might apply once I feel I'm good enough, if I haven't launched a startup by the time. I went to one of the top French engineering schools, which, like most of these schools, is "generalist" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandes_%C3%A9coles http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandes_%C3%A9coles). This means I got to learn a lot about mechanic, electronic, chemistry, thermodynamic, entrepreneurship (and I am glad I did), but only started to learn about computer engineering during my last year (with a CS specialization). I'm a passionate web developer since almost 3 years, but I never got around to really dig into algorithms / data structures / OS internals... Hell, I've never written a line of C! I plan to teach myself by reading books / watching the MIT online lectures, but keep postponing it, because it doesn't seem that useful to me in my day to day web programming job, where knowing the basics is enough for the (relatively) small datasets I have to manipulate. Plus, Java abstracts away the OS internals and most of the data structures: while I don't know how to write a linked list / tree / hash map, I know when it is appropriate to use each one of them. Instead, I find myself focusing on best practices for my current language (Java), learning new languages (Scala, Ruby, Clojure), web programming, cryptography, user experience, and learning more about Linux tricks / sysadmin tasks. I think these skills are a lot more useful in today's programming environment, but my lack in more "classical" computer engineering skills has stopped me from applying to Google.