THE GOOGLE INTERVIEW PROCESS UNCOVEREDA Googler describes Google’s interview process

Date: March 2014

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Source

A software engineer at Google

Has been working there for 6 years

Has interviewed over 120 people at Google

http://www.reddit.com/r/cscareerquestions/comments/1z97rx/from_a_googler_the_google_interview_process

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Step 1: You apply for a job

You apply directly through the website, or

A recruiter contacts you (they found you on LinkedIn), or

Someone refers you

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Step 2: Looking at your resume

Your resume needs to be relevant. Either:

You’ve got a BS in CS / EE / Math / Physics

You’ve got a few years of experience

You’re a contributor to some well-known open-source project

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Step 3: Interviews Round 1

A Google recruiter calls you

They ask a few simple questions

E.g. “What’s faster - Quicksort or Bubblesort?”

If you answer these correctly, you go to the next round of the Google interviews

If you fail, don’t give up: start improving your skills

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Step 4: Interviews Round 2

A Google engineer calls you & interviews you for 45 minutes

Only about 1 in 10 candidates passes this step

Be prepared to talk to an engineer who expects you to fail, and would rather be doing something else

Different people at Google have different interview styles

Two main interview styles

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Google Interview Style 1

“Cover as much ground as possible”

5-10 different questions spread across your areas of expertise

E.g. if you’re interviewing for sysadmin or system engineering, you may be asked questions about networking, unix, coding, security, etc.

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Google Interview Style 2

One hard problem split into two subproblems: easy “warmup” question followed by a “real” question

“Warmup”: “Reverse a string in place” or “Implement atoi()”

A good candidate should be able to solve it in about 5 minutes

If it takes you too long: “no hire”

“Real”: can barely be finished it in 35 minutes

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Interview Style 2

Examples:

“Remove duplicates from a list of strings that doesn’t fit in memory”

“Count the number of disjoint objects in a bitmap”

“Implement a program that plays Tic Tac Toe”

Most candidates can’t finish it in 35 mins, but that is OK.

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Step 5: Interview feedback

The Google interviewer writes an internal report that includes a score

Don’t ask how you did - you won’t be told (due to legal reasons)

The report goes to the recruiter, who will decide what the next step should be

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Step 6: Interviews Round 3

Same as round 2, but with a different Google engineer

Second round candidates are much better than first round candidates

If you pass again: onsite interviews at Google!

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Step 7: Onsite InterviewsGoogle flies you to one of their offices

3 interviews. 45 minutes each

Lunch

Then 2 more interviews

Same as the phone screens, but face to face

If you fail the first 3 interviews, you may be walked out after lunch

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Step 7: Onsite InterviewsThe collected feedback goes to a committee of senior Google engineers

They look at the feedback for 3-5 minutes

In exceptional cases, they may decide there is not enough information, which leads to more interviews

If they decide to hire you, the recruiter will call you to make an offer

Google pays very, very, very well.

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Tips

Make your CV short and sweet. Never more than 2 pages

Put your skills on your CV

DO NOT START WRITING CODE IMMEDIATELY

Ask questions if something is not clear

Do not be shy to call your recruiter if you don’t hear from them for a week in the middle of the interview process

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Free Resources

http://www.hiredintech.com: Free course to prepare you for the interviews. By ex-Google, Microsoft, Nvidia engineers.

http://www.reddit.com/r/cscareerquestions/: The CS Career Questions subreddit.

http://www.reddit.com/r/cscareerquestions/comments/1z97rx/from_a_googler_the_google_interview_process: The original thread on Reddit.

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FREE RESOURCEShttp://www.hiredintech.com

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FREE RESOURCEShttp://www.reddit.com/r/cscareerquestions/

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GOOD LUCK!

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