5 ms·

Honestly, I used to think the same way. I am a college dropout that has about 3 years professional experience (thoigh I have been programming since I was a kid)

by 67726e 13y ago

Honestly, I used to think the same way. I am a college dropout that has about 3 years professional experience (thoigh I have been programming since I was a kid) and I suddenly have a Google recruiter coming after me and trying to get me to interview. I have worked with a guy who now works at Google and some people who interviewed at one time or another. They say the same thing as the parent post; Google hires good programmers, and they happen to have some geniuses. Don't quit the race before you even start it.

QuantumChaos 13y ago
Think about the sociology of this: would you really expect a Google employee to say "Yes, we are almost all geniuses"? There is a lot of social pressure to attribute one's success to hard work (except of you're a White male ;-) ), luck, good mentorship, experience, meta-skills etc. rather than intelligence.
recentdarkness 13y ago
made the same experience. they also said they have different interview ways if someone does not have a degree in cs, math or anything what would give a more theoretical background. which is my case. still i am currently happy where i am and i am not really willing to relocate to any of their dev centers in Europe.
smikhanov 13y ago
Did you actually interview with them? I have Computer Science education, 10+ years of industry experience, am very familiar with most of the Cormen book and have been programming since I was a kid. I was interviewing with Google twice (after their recruiters reached out to me) and haven't made the bar. Don't think that the fact of recruiter getting in touch mean anything -- they are playing their own numbers game.
- Selfcommit 13y ago
  Is this the book you reference? http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Algorithms-Thomas-H-Cormen/dp/0262033844 http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Algorithms-Thomas-H-Corme...
  - smikhanov 12y ago
    Yup
- lispylol 13y ago
  > Don't think that the fact of recruiter getting in touch mean anything -- they are playing their own numbers game. Exactly. In some conversations I've had with fellow dev's they seem to equate a message from a recruiter with a job offer. I never understood this. Sure, I get messages from recruiters on LinkedIn but it's prob. the same generic letter blasted to hundreds or even thousands of candidates. The quality of your online profiles (SEO?) as a programmer is directly related to the volume of messages you get from recruiters.
  - brown9-2 13y ago
    It's an easy mistake to make when you aren't very familiar with the modern recruiting process. It is literally the job of the recruiters to keep the pipeline as full as possible.
    - 67726e 12y ago
      I don't make the mistake of thinking a recruiter calling me on several occasions, attempting to get me to interview is a job offer. What I find surprising is that the recruiter still wants me to interview even after I explained who and what I am. Maybe that's just an overzealous recruiter trying to fill numbers. Maybe Google has relaxed standards outside of what people usually think. One of the first things I said to the recruiter was something along the lines of "Are you sure you have the right guy?"[0] followed up with "I'm not quite sure that I am qualified". Between talking to the recruiter and people who work there or passed the interview, it sure doesn't seem like they are only looking for geniuses. I'm just trying to offer a point of data regarding what Google by proxy of their recruiters, looks for. The recruiter himself has been working for Google for quite a while, so either he really knows how to game the system, is currently desperate, or Google doesn't have as extreme standards as one would think. [0] - https://twitter.com/67726e/status/431870786169630720 https://twitter.com/67726e/status/431870786169630720
      - brown9-2 12y ago
        I don't think it really matters to the recruiter if you are qualified, or if they are judged on how many people they source end up getting offers. They are just there to get you in the door.
mgkimsal 13y ago
I had a Google recruiter call me after "finding my resume". They then asked me to send them my resume. I told them to Bing my name to get the latest copy of my resume. Not heard back from them since. :/
- desipenguin 13y ago
  nasty :)
  - mgkimsal 12y ago
    Not just google, though. I routinely use the word 'bing' instead of 'google' when I tell people to search for stuff, mostly just to see the reactions. It's quite odd - some people laugh, some people actually get hostile. Someone asked me if Bing would work their Yahoo. I told them to just keep doing what they were doing and not worry about it.

by 67726e 13y ago

QuantumChaos 13y ago

Think about the sociology of this: would you really expect a Google employee to say "Yes, we are almost all geniuses"? There is a lot of social pressure to attribute one's success to hard work (except of you're a White male ;-) ), luck, good mentorship, experience, meta-skills etc. rather than intelligence.

recentdarkness 13y ago

made the same experience. they also said they have different interview ways if someone does not have a degree in cs, math or anything what would give a more theoretical background. which is my case. still i am currently happy where i am and i am not really willing to relocate to any of their dev centers in Europe.

smikhanov 13y ago

Did you actually interview with them? I have Computer Science education, 10+ years of industry experience, am very familiar with most of the Cormen book and have been programming since I was a kid. I was interviewing with Google twice (after their recruiters reached out to me) and haven't made the bar. Don't think that the fact of recruiter getting in touch mean anything -- they are playing their own numbers game.

Selfcommit 13y ago
Is this the book you reference? http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Algorithms-Thomas-H-Cormen/dp/0262033844 http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Algorithms-Thomas-H-Corme...
- smikhanov 12y ago
  Yup
lispylol 13y ago
> Don't think that the fact of recruiter getting in touch mean anything -- they are playing their own numbers game. Exactly. In some conversations I've had with fellow dev's they seem to equate a message from a recruiter with a job offer. I never understood this. Sure, I get messages from recruiters on LinkedIn but it's prob. the same generic letter blasted to hundreds or even thousands of candidates. The quality of your online profiles (SEO?) as a programmer is directly related to the volume of messages you get from recruiters.
- brown9-2 13y ago
  It's an easy mistake to make when you aren't very familiar with the modern recruiting process. It is literally the job of the recruiters to keep the pipeline as full as possible.
  - 67726e 12y ago
    I don't make the mistake of thinking a recruiter calling me on several occasions, attempting to get me to interview is a job offer. What I find surprising is that the recruiter still wants me to interview even after I explained who and what I am. Maybe that's just an overzealous recruiter trying to fill numbers. Maybe Google has relaxed standards outside of what people usually think. One of the first things I said to the recruiter was something along the lines of "Are you sure you have the right guy?"[0] followed up with "I'm not quite sure that I am qualified". Between talking to the recruiter and people who work there or passed the interview, it sure doesn't seem like they are only looking for geniuses. I'm just trying to offer a point of data regarding what Google by proxy of their recruiters, looks for. The recruiter himself has been working for Google for quite a while, so either he really knows how to game the system, is currently desperate, or Google doesn't have as extreme standards as one would think. [0] - https://twitter.com/67726e/status/431870786169630720 https://twitter.com/67726e/status/431870786169630720
    - brown9-2 12y ago
      I don't think it really matters to the recruiter if you are qualified, or if they are judged on how many people they source end up getting offers. They are just there to get you in the door.

mgkimsal 13y ago

I had a Google recruiter call me after "finding my resume". They then asked me to send them my resume. I told them to Bing my name to get the latest copy of my resume. Not heard back from them since. :/

desipenguin 13y ago
nasty :)
- mgkimsal 12y ago
  Not just google, though. I routinely use the word 'bing' instead of 'google' when I tell people to search for stuff, mostly just to see the reactions. It's quite odd - some people laugh, some people actually get hostile. Someone asked me if Bing would work their Yahoo. I told them to just keep doing what they were doing and not worry about it.