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> Could it be that schools aren't teaching their students the right stuff, that despite their fancy credentials, today's grads lack the programming chops or log
by dspeyer 13y ago
> Could it be that schools aren't teaching their students the right stuff, that despite their fancy credentials, today's grads lack the programming chops or logical prowess needed to succeed at a Google or Microsoft? Not so much.
Having done interviews at Google, and given a lot of very low scores to people with impressive degrees, I'm inclined to say yes. The author thinks that this would cause wages to rise, but the argument there looks pretty sketchy.
- dpritchett 13y agoGiven that there's not an actual college major titled "Google SWE II", I'm not sure what sort of standards you're expecting out of people. (What I understand to be) Google's favorite tools - C++, Java, algo/data structure theory - don't exactly describe a holistic CS/SE/MIS curriculum. I'm sure a specifically designed trade school curriculum could train intelligent people up to ace valley hiring tests in two years or less.
- nickbarnwell 13y agoAnyone who's gone through a holistic CS curriculum should be able to fairly easily pass the Google/Facebook/MS/Palantir-esque interview process (for new grad positions) with flying colours. The typical algorithmic questions they give are things likely seen verbatim in second year maths and algorithm/data-structure courses, while the system design stuff is fairly pedestrian. Specific knowledge of any language was unnecessary, and they really honed in on CS fundamentals. I do think they probably miss out on some smart people who scraped by in classes to pursue personal interests and could easily learn the material, but given the state of most new graduates it's probably a fair trade-off. (Disclaimer: I interned at Google after my Freshman year. I'm an English Lit. major and completely self-taught; I did not think the interviews were particularly difficult)
- dpritchett 13y agoI think we agree with each other. I did a master's in CS from a school not known for CS and I'm pretty sure I'd fail Google's interviews unless I could put in a few weeks of focused preparation. Meanwhile I'm happily employed in Memphis and Google seems to have a recruiting pipeline in place that works for them.
- charleslmunger 13y agoYou're right, the only challenge from the interviews is stress and the unfamiliarity of coding on a whiteboard.