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Google Has the Dumbest Interview Process for Hiring Engineers

aburan28 12y ago
I recently had the almost the exact same experience with Google recently. First phone interview they called the wrong number and I clarified that they had the wrong number and I was told that it was fixed. Second phone interview the exact same issue happened again. Both interviews were shorter than they were supposed to be. But after going on to the rest of the interviews I cannot say that Google has the dumbest interview process. Going into it I knew that there would be no feedback. In the end I was rejected too but I feel like in a year I will be much more prepared to get that job if desired because preparing for a Google interview forced me to go back to the fundamentals of computer science algorithms/data structures. The materials given to candidates should be mostly review and I will admit I had to learn most of the materials given to me
- starlineventure 12y ago
  There are much more efficient ways to find engineers that build high quality applications. I wish you good luck my friend. I hope you do get the job honestly and I'm sure they are a great company to work for. I think it's easier to get hired on through an acqui-hire. My suggestion is don't waste your time trying to impress thrm. Build an application. Get some users. Monetize it. Or move out to Silicon Valley to get a taste of being an engineer at fast paced startup. If you spend the next 12 months solving problem sets versus building applications I think you will havd fallen into a trap. Hopefully not. The title of the article does provide some shock value...I'm sure there are dumber interview processes.
iEchoic 12y ago
I have a feeling the "no feedback" policy is there because providing feedback can be a liability. The second someone says something that can be misconstrued as sexist, homophobic, racist, ageist, or a variety of other things related to protected status, it opens Google up to a lawsuit. This seems to be pretty standard with large corporations (both w.r.t. providing interview feedback as well as performance feedback after employment) and I don't blame them for it.
- starlineventure 12y ago
  That's not true. They could have easily told me I need to work on my Javascript, understanding of System Design, etc. There are many ways to deliver agnostic feedback. I don't blame them either. My mother is a lawyer...I have a pretty good understanding of liability. Were talking about engineering reviews. You can easily say..Douglas your code would have run way too slow.
  - iEchoic 12y ago
    I work at a major tech company and we have that policy, so it's funny to me that you think you can so easily categorically deny the possibility. Does Google have this policy? Don't know, but the fact that other tech companies do, and they didn't give you feedback, makes it a possibility. There are lots of ways to provide agnostic feedback but there are also lots of ways for aloof or disgruntled devs to mess it up and cause a world of hurt for the company. You'll find that a lot of companies in the industry have a policy not to comment on an employee or interviewee's performance.
    - starlineventure 12y ago
      I was not denying the possibility that the policy exists. Im 100% sure it exists @ Google. I wrote the article because I think they need to change their process and their policy. I do not expect them to. There are standard agnostic responses that you can give. For example, if there 5 predetermined responses that you could expect finishing the interview. Your feedback would fall into 1 of 5 of those choices. I was denying that just because you have a process to give feedback automatically opens you to a lawsuit. Lawyers could create the responses in advance that would prevent liability. I agree open ended feedback would open Google up to lawsuits. Right now, they have a binary feedback system. Yes/No. I'm saying adding there's a way to add 2 or 3 more options to their current feedback system without being liable. It is possible.
a3n 12y ago
> We really just want to see how you think > Zero feedback. So, they never let you know how you think?
- starlineventure 12y ago
  Haha of course not because then I would have to human instead of Interviewee #23564

I recently had the almost the exact same experience with Google recently. First phone interview they called the wrong number and I clarified that they had the wrong number and I was told that it was fixed. Second phone interview the exact same issue happened again. Both interviews were shorter than they were supposed to be. But after going on to the rest of the interviews I cannot say that Google has the dumbest interview process. Going into it I knew that there would be no feedback. In the end I was rejected too but I feel like in a year I will be much more prepared to get that job if desired because preparing for a Google interview forced me to go back to the fundamentals of computer science algorithms/data structures. The materials given to candidates should be mostly review and I will admit I had to learn most of the materials given to me

starlineventure 12y ago
There are much more efficient ways to find engineers that build high quality applications. I wish you good luck my friend. I hope you do get the job honestly and I'm sure they are a great company to work for. I think it's easier to get hired on through an acqui-hire. My suggestion is don't waste your time trying to impress thrm. Build an application. Get some users. Monetize it. Or move out to Silicon Valley to get a taste of being an engineer at fast paced startup. If you spend the next 12 months solving problem sets versus building applications I think you will havd fallen into a trap. Hopefully not. The title of the article does provide some shock value...I'm sure there are dumber interview processes.

iEchoic 12y ago

I have a feeling the "no feedback" policy is there because providing feedback can be a liability. The second someone says something that can be misconstrued as sexist, homophobic, racist, ageist, or a variety of other things related to protected status, it opens Google up to a lawsuit. This seems to be pretty standard with large corporations (both w.r.t. providing interview feedback as well as performance feedback after employment) and I don't blame them for it.

starlineventure 12y ago
That's not true. They could have easily told me I need to work on my Javascript, understanding of System Design, etc. There are many ways to deliver agnostic feedback. I don't blame them either. My mother is a lawyer...I have a pretty good understanding of liability. Were talking about engineering reviews. You can easily say..Douglas your code would have run way too slow.
- iEchoic 12y ago
  I work at a major tech company and we have that policy, so it's funny to me that you think you can so easily categorically deny the possibility. Does Google have this policy? Don't know, but the fact that other tech companies do, and they didn't give you feedback, makes it a possibility. There are lots of ways to provide agnostic feedback but there are also lots of ways for aloof or disgruntled devs to mess it up and cause a world of hurt for the company. You'll find that a lot of companies in the industry have a policy not to comment on an employee or interviewee's performance.
  - starlineventure 12y ago
    I was not denying the possibility that the policy exists. Im 100% sure it exists @ Google. I wrote the article because I think they need to change their process and their policy. I do not expect them to. There are standard agnostic responses that you can give. For example, if there 5 predetermined responses that you could expect finishing the interview. Your feedback would fall into 1 of 5 of those choices. I was denying that just because you have a process to give feedback automatically opens you to a lawsuit. Lawyers could create the responses in advance that would prevent liability. I agree open ended feedback would open Google up to lawsuits. Right now, they have a binary feedback system. Yes/No. I'm saying adding there's a way to add 2 or 3 more options to their current feedback system without being liable. It is possible.

a3n 12y ago

> We really just want to see how you think > Zero feedback. So, they never let you know how you think?

starlineventure 12y ago
Haha of course not because then I would have to human instead of Interviewee #23564