Google Job Interview Insights
By Joseph Hunkins at March 24, 2008 2 Comments|
For all their virtues Google is known to be very protective of many of their secrets. The Google interview process, with test questions that can include riddles and rhymes, is almost legendarily unique among job interviews. Thanks to several blog posts from people turned down by Google we have a bit more insight into the process: Corey Trager, perhaps suffering from a bit of sour grapes, writes: I would have felt more at home in a humble Amish household than I did in the pseudo-hip, purchased-cool, energy-profligate, global-warming-contributing lobby of Google’s Chicago office. Trager also lists some other Google interviewees that failed to make the Google grade, but gifted us with some insight on the process of trying to get a job with what many would suggest is clearly the world’s most prestigious technology company: http://weblogs.asp.net/jasonsalas/archive/2005/09/04/424378.aspx http://www.nomachetejuggling.com/2006/12/30/my-interview-with-google/ http://www.philosophicalgeek.com/2007/08/12/my-interview-experience-with-google/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/05/google_interview_tales/ |
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2 Comments
I went through 8 rounds (maximum number of interviews… and the minimum is 7) – was offered a job (i.e., no sour grapes here) – and ultimately turned Google down. Interview process turned me off Google culture. I didn’t find anything clever – just random interviewers and a disorganized recruiting team. One interviewer didn’t show up at all, another was 60 minutes late. I was applying and was offered a pretty senior position. Definitely was not a good showing for Google.
It’s the same old story. IBM, I am told, in the 1960’s and 1970’s was an arrogant employer. Microsoft in the 1990’s thought that there was nothing anyone outside Microsoft could teach them. In the late 1990’s and early days of this decade, Yahoo had it’s own reputation and today the list of the arrogant employers include Google, VMWare, Amazon et. al
Yahoo and Microsoft seem a lot humbler, eh?
Companies that deal a lot with paying customers like Oracle and Cisco even at the height of their arrogance have been better in this process.
If the past is any indication, the google sun is at it’s zenith and it’s got no where to go but down
most recent “greater than expectations” earnigs not withstanding.
As a part of the disclosure have never applied for or interviewed with any of these companies, merely observing trends….