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It's interesting how the process seems... completely backwards. A group of engineers studying the CV/portfolio of the candidate followed by a culture fit inter

by luord 7y ago

It's interesting how the process seems... completely backwards. A group of engineers studying the CV/portfolio of the candidate followed by a culture fit interview should be the first and second thing to happen, IMO, yet for Google they're the last and second to last, respectively. Afterwards, there should be an interview discussing the developer's portfolio with the candidate. And then, and only then, (and if and only if the candidate's portfolio isn't extensive or clear enough) there should be a technical interview. And even that shouldn't be a stupid hackerrank/leetcode type challenge or a generic take home test, but a pair programming session resolving a recent bug that the company/team faced, in a simulated environment. Obligatory IMO, of course.

Retric 7y ago
Abstractly, assuming equivalent costs the highest efficiency comes from whatever step rejects the most candidates first. However, the costs at each stage are not equal so whatever is cheapest for the company while also filtering effectively tends to happen first. Thus generally you get something like recruiter resume review, phone interview, face to face interview, and then background checks in that order. In that context Google’s remote coding tests must seem reasonable for them. These tests are cheap and as long as Google is getting enough talented people out the end of the process, cost savings are a significant goal. PS: It’s not uncommon for companies to put most resumes in a holding pattern randomly. As long as they find someone good enough they don’t need to look at thousands of candidates, and if they don’t find someone they can just keep going down the list.
- luord 7y ago
  I completely see your point and I understand why they do it that way; I was trying to highlight how their doing it that way is a complete nightmare and it's the reason I've declined every time a FAANG has contacted me (which, admittedly, hasn't been that many times).

by luord 7y ago

Retric 7y ago

Abstractly, assuming equivalent costs the highest efficiency comes from whatever step rejects the most candidates first. However, the costs at each stage are not equal so whatever is cheapest for the company while also filtering effectively tends to happen first. Thus generally you get something like recruiter resume review, phone interview, face to face interview, and then background checks in that order. In that context Google’s remote coding tests must seem reasonable for them. These tests are cheap and as long as Google is getting enough talented people out the end of the process, cost savings are a significant goal. PS: It’s not uncommon for companies to put most resumes in a holding pattern randomly. As long as they find someone good enough they don’t need to look at thousands of candidates, and if they don’t find someone they can just keep going down the list.

luord 7y ago
I completely see your point and I understand why they do it that way; I was trying to highlight how their doing it that way is a complete nightmare and it's the reason I've declined every time a FAANG has contacted me (which, admittedly, hasn't been that many times).