SAQ: Google Interview Advice
Although I have not succeeded with the getting-hired-at-Google thing I have had my crack at it a few times and have survived to write about it. I occasionally hear from others about to try it, and they want to know if I have any advice. Here’s my modest wisdom on the subject of interviewing well at Google.
Question: I have an interview for an ops position at Google tomorrow, and I found your web page about interviewing at Google, can you give me any advice?
Answer: Really, just be at your best. Maybe brush up on some fundamentals the night before. They like to see that you know how things work at a low level, so like when they ask “tell me what happens when you type www.google.com into a web browser” and you get on to explaining that DNS operates via UDP, port 53, and so forth …
Take it like you would an exam. Get some sleep the night before, and otherwise do whatever helps clear your head for good questions. The initial screens aren’t all that hard, really, if you’re good. I swear I screwed up my last phone interview because I had a cold, and wasn’t feeling so great, and that made me nervous …
Also, don’t bother cheating. Google employees spend a lot of time interviewing people, and they know that when they hear “uhh …. *clickety clackety clickety clack* … the answer is … uhhh …” and you read something off a web page, that you are a no-hire. If you don’t know something, admit it. They may try to explain it to you, and if you can pick up an understanding pretty quickly, and use that to solve the next problem, then that shows you are honest, and a quick learner.
At any rate, I wish you the best of luck. By all accounts, working at Google is pretty sweet. :)
Responses
rajeev gupta
hi, i have an phone interview with google for software testing , tonight. Plz Plz help me.. let me know what sorta question they might ask for this job profile.
Sales Finance
hi, i will have an onsite interview for analyst position at sales finance. anybody can help what type of questions might come up?
Jshah
Hi All,
I am Database Administrator with 5 years of experience in MySQL and SQL Server. Can anyone give me idea what are more skills needed to be in google as MySQL DBA?
What are interview rounds for Database Administrator and Experience Guy?
Vikram
Hey Danny !
I have a telephonic interview with Google next week for a technical post in testing domain. They’ve asked me to brush up my concepts in Data Structures, Algorithms and coding. Is there anything specific which I should focus on? Any common set of questions which are frequently asked? Any help in this regard will be of great help. Looking forward for ur reply. Thanks in advance :)
Lena
Hi,
I applied for a non-tech position at Goggle on Wednesday. The next day they called me and scheduled a first phone interview for Friday. Do you think it’s a good sign they contacted me so quickly? I can’t really say how the interview went, because it went by so quickly. I think, my grades aren’t good enough (I just finished my Masters major in Information Management). I assume they only want top-grade applicants? Well, on the other hand, I already got some work experience in the field or customer service, market research and localisation.
They’re going to call me next Wednesday and tell me, if I get a second phone interview. Does anybody have experience with interviews for non-tech positions? Any advice or tips?
Interviewee
I just got off the phone for my first Associate Product Manager interview. Nothing that I had prepared was covered, so I thought I’d put my experience out here to help future people.
The first question was what you said, what happens when you go to the web browser and type in an address. I kept going off on the wrong track, but he coached me into what he wanted. He was looking more for the http request and response with the web server I think.
The next question lasted the rest of the interview. He asked me to throw out an idea for a new web service so that we could walk it through design and creation. Had to figure out where we would get data from, what problems there might be, how to one-up the competition, how to market it, and how to get revenue. It was kind of exhausting and intense for a first interview but he was really cool about it. He didn’t want something I had prepared in advance or thought through already, he wanted to hear me work through it from the beginning. Maybe just have a basic idea in mind of a new web site you would like to see out there.
He says they will contact me in a few days to a week. We’ll see what happens…
LFJ
Good luck on your Associate Product Manager interview. You must have an excellent resume.
I applied for it too… But I haven’t heard anything from Google yet…
Interviwee
Okay just had the second APM interview. It was a little more of what I expected but still you have to be creative and be able to think on your feet. I keep trying to study or prepare for them but it never does any good because you have no idea what they will ask. Questions were how to detect fraud in their Google Ads system, how to determine how long to set the timer on a stop light, and how I would go about starting my own Image Search business.
She also told me that there are only 20-30 Google APMs worldwide, and that in the first couple months you might expect to do a presentation for Larry and Sergey – Wow! I really have no idea if I will get a call back on this one or not… I’ll let you know though :)
Simi
Hey APM Interviwee..
Did you get a call back yet? I am into my Processs of APM interviewing as well, today is my second phone interview, I’ll post my experience soon! :)
Simi
Hmmm… done with my second one, and I know I screwed it!! Was a lot more than I expected!! My interviewr himself said, tht Don’t be surprised this one’s gonna be completely different! I had a question regarding, how wud I start a Business if I was given 10,000 computers and 5 people to select for my team, recursion and its examples,and location specific Google search!!
My interviewr was quite calm though, not very enthusiastic, from the very start of the interview, so had all wrong vibes!! Boohoo!
APMer
…does anyone know what happens after the 2nd Phone Interview? I already had the second phone interview and feel like it went well…but still waiting to hear from them.
Also is it true that Google is on a hiring freeze now?
APMer
Hey Simi…
I think those were pretty tough for second phone interview questions. Mine was a bit tough too but the interviewer was very engaging which , I guess , made it easier….so I’m just curious how did you go about the location specific question?
Kedar
Hello guys can i know the google interview where is going on at hyderabad for customer service…………..can i go direct walkin or any refrence……..plzz plzzz respond my response guys……… please send it to my e-mail id kedar_4you@yahoo.com
Thanks & Regards,
Kedar.
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