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There are two separate tracks for SRE, SRE-SWE (same bar as SRE) and SRE-SE (Systems Engineering). While SE has a lower coding bar, it's arguably the harder of

There are two separate tracks for SRE, SRE-SWE (same bar as SRE) and SRE-SE (Systems Engineering). While SE has a lower coding bar, it's arguably the harder of the two since they make up for it with Linux internals etc.

aeyes 4y ago
Any good resources to see how they interview for SRE-SE? For SWE you can find a lot of material on Leetcode and similar sites (and of course books) but "Linux internals" has a near infinite depth.
- yegle 4y ago
  NALSD question is a required part of the interview. https://sre.google/workbook/non-abstract-design/ https://sre.google/workbook/non-abstract-design/ I did a quick search and it looks like there are youtube videos explaining it so that might be helpful. Other than that I was asked to implement a 'tail' command using my familiar language, and explain why deleting a file from disk doesn't free up the space.
  - mandeepj 4y ago
    > explain why deleting a file from disk doesn't free up the space. Because System deletes only the “pointer” to the file and not the actual file. For the exact same reason, cut+paste is faster than copy+paste
    - moreice 4y ago
      It does delete the file, as long as no other processes are accessing it and there are no other hard links to it.
      - mandeepj 4y ago
        Please check this one (I know you can edit Recycle Bin settings on Windows to directly deleted the file, instead of sending it in there) - https://www.lacie.com/support/kb/available-disk-space-does-not-increase-after-deleting-files-006369en/#:~:text=Available%20disk%20spaces%20does%20not,located%20in%20each%20hard%20drive https://www.lacie.com/support/kb/available-disk-space-does-n....
        nixgeek 4y ago
        I’m pretty sure Google is going to ask in the context of Linux, and isn’t referring to Windows or the Recycle Bin.
        mandeepj 4y ago
        Why you said so? Google has teams supporting .net, sql server, Microsoft VMs as part of Google cloud offerings
      - deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
- dilyevsky 4y ago
  https://overthewire.org/wargames/bandit/ https://overthewire.org/wargames/bandit/ I did a bunch of those panels in my time. Imo if you read 2-3 books on unix/linux/networking and can complete this wargame in a couple evenings you’ll stand out quite a bit.
- antoncohen 4y ago
  In my experience the recruiters are great about helping you prep. They have a PDF called "Google Interview Prep Guide Site Reliability Engineer" that talks about SRE-SE vs. SRE-SWE vs. SWE, and links to books and topics to study. Kirk McKusick's "FreeBSD Kernel Internals" course[1] was recommended to me, and it was excellent. But not cheap at $1495. [1] https://www.mckusick.com/courses/introdescrip.html https://www.mckusick.com/courses/introdescrip.html

aeyes 4y ago

Any good resources to see how they interview for SRE-SE? For SWE you can find a lot of material on Leetcode and similar sites (and of course books) but "Linux internals" has a near infinite depth.

yegle 4y ago
NALSD question is a required part of the interview. https://sre.google/workbook/non-abstract-design/ https://sre.google/workbook/non-abstract-design/ I did a quick search and it looks like there are youtube videos explaining it so that might be helpful. Other than that I was asked to implement a 'tail' command using my familiar language, and explain why deleting a file from disk doesn't free up the space.
- mandeepj 4y ago
  > explain why deleting a file from disk doesn't free up the space. Because System deletes only the “pointer” to the file and not the actual file. For the exact same reason, cut+paste is faster than copy+paste
  - moreice 4y ago
    It does delete the file, as long as no other processes are accessing it and there are no other hard links to it.
    - mandeepj 4y ago
      Please check this one (I know you can edit Recycle Bin settings on Windows to directly deleted the file, instead of sending it in there) - https://www.lacie.com/support/kb/available-disk-space-does-not-increase-after-deleting-files-006369en/#:~:text=Available%20disk%20spaces%20does%20not,located%20in%20each%20hard%20drive https://www.lacie.com/support/kb/available-disk-space-does-n....
      - nixgeek 4y ago
        I’m pretty sure Google is going to ask in the context of Linux, and isn’t referring to Windows or the Recycle Bin.
        mandeepj 4y ago
        Why you said so? Google has teams supporting .net, sql server, Microsoft VMs as part of Google cloud offerings
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
dilyevsky 4y ago
https://overthewire.org/wargames/bandit/ https://overthewire.org/wargames/bandit/ I did a bunch of those panels in my time. Imo if you read 2-3 books on unix/linux/networking and can complete this wargame in a couple evenings you’ll stand out quite a bit.
antoncohen 4y ago
In my experience the recruiters are great about helping you prep. They have a PDF called "Google Interview Prep Guide Site Reliability Engineer" that talks about SRE-SE vs. SRE-SWE vs. SWE, and links to books and topics to study. Kirk McKusick's "FreeBSD Kernel Internals" course[1] was recommended to me, and it was excellent. But not cheap at $1495. [1] https://www.mckusick.com/courses/introdescrip.html https://www.mckusick.com/courses/introdescrip.html