If
you're like me, you really want to work for Google. In an attempt to
try figuring out what I would have to do to get the internship from the company Google I asked the engineering Googler Jake
Hambly for some advice, and I decided to share much
of the chat
with the public. Below is a Hangout we've had on the social network
Google Plus. There
will be commentary and useful links by me to help break the
conversation into smaller, easier to read segments.
Getting
the job
 |
| Google employees teaching each other |
Me:
“Seeing
you work at Google, I think it would be a good idea to ask you. How
do I work there? I'm a web developer and I study psychology and user
experience design to complete the web creation package. Right now I'm
trying to build a social network from scratch. I think it will give
me some experience. I want to mostly get an internship with them next
summer.”
Jake:
“Sounds
like a plan (everything you just wrote). I actually interview a lot
of people myself, for the engineering positions. And I can say that
besides having the technical skills on your resume and being
able to demonstrate them...”
As
a break from the conversation, I'd like to say Demonstration
seemed to be one of the key parts of the getting employed by
Google. Just like how a venture capitalist want to see if you can
build a company in real life (not just on paper), Google wants to
know if you can use your skills for the real world. A good set of
projects to show off your skills usually shows everybody looking how
good you are. Back to the conversation:
Me:
“I
can hardly wait. I've wanted to work with Google for the last 3
years, It's good to know that I'm at least on the right path.”
He
went on to explain what a “culture fit” really is.
Jake:
“Yeah
I was at Microsoft for a year because my company got acquired by them
and it was awful. Google is like the exact opposite of a
dysfunctional corporate bureaucracy (this made me happy).
So
they like people who are good at working independently and
don't need someone to hold their hand and say exactly what to
do. So you have a lot of freedom as far as work hours, relatively few
meetings, but you gotta make sure you are getting your work done.
They
set goals for each division from the top (called OKRs) but you have a
lot of freedom and input into how you accomplish them. I'd recommend
a book "Inside The Plex" by Steven Levy. He had a lot of
inside access & tells a great story of the history and how it is
like today.”
Before
you even apply, you need to make sure you meet these requirement at
the very least.
Me:
“That
settles it, already thought it was, but now I know. Google is my kind
of place.”
Jake:
“:-)
Yeah I was fortunate to get a job myself. I always like to encourage
people who recognize just how special it is.
So
by make your own social network, what exactly do you mean? Like
designing your own site? I'm curious what your plans are because I'm
actually kind of terrible at website design and UX stuff. I'm better
at writing the plumbing code inside the phone. I'm fascinated by how LinkedIn, G+, Twitter, FB etc. all have their
own take on it, so
I'm curious what yours might be.”
I
felt no pain explaining
my social network project. I was able to see what kind of response I
would get.
Me:
“Right
Now I'm building up the back end, but I'm still in between a few
ideas for what the site will actually accomplish. So my main idea is
to get a bunch of university students from around the country to find
others in others for help in making a startup.
It
would be like linkedIn
but for people (mostly
students)
that don't have a complicated hiring structure just
want to accomplish a project,
and are willing to find people to work with them on projects for
free.”
Getting the interview (and doing well)
I
went ahead and asked how I would first get the interview. Because we
all know that getting the interview is the first step to getting your
dream job.
Me:
“So
how would I be able to get an interview with the company?”
Jake:
“As
for interviewing, basically it sounds like you're on the right track
to have some interesting projects to put on your resume (same
demonstration). It doesn't matter if they make any money or not. :-)
And
then after you submit your resume, generally you'll be contacted by a
recruiter who will schedule you for a 45
minute phone interview with
someone at Google with similar areas of expertise to what you put
down as skills (UX, psychology, site design, etc)”
Me:
What
would the interview be like for programmers?
Jake:
“Two
good examples would be the type of questions they ask at the ACM
International Collegiate Programming Contest (I think you can
find examples from previous years) and the questions in the TopCoder
Arena (which has thousands of practice rooms containing each
problem set used in all the previous rated competitions).
Though
we
don't ask questions like how many marbles could fit in an airplane or
what you'd do if you were shrunk to the size of a nickel and put at
the bottom of a blender or the other wacky brainteasers that people
think are asked at Google interviews. maybe they did 10 years ago,
but now it tends to be more directly relevant engineering-related
questions.
If
you find a stack overflow question or something like that where
someone says they were asked a particular question at a Google
interview and is soliciting answers on how to do it, that question
will most likely be banned from the internal database of questions
that people submit for other interviewers to look at.”
For
any interview you should properly prepare so
worry not. Here and here are links on the best tips for a phone interview. So
with further conversation, Jake gave some extra advice that I think
is important for almost anything. I
have found the TopCoder to be the most diverse. It
holds examinations for programmers, engineers, UI designer, design
and Development.
Jake:
“Anyway,
my only other advice would be to take your time and wait to put in an
application for an internship until you're 110% confident you'll
do great (or at least as good as you're gonna get) because Google
will be around when you're ready, but if you apply too soon and don't
get a position, that's not as good.”
Doing
a good job
Much
further down the conversation, the topic about doing a good job while
on the job came up. It's an Important aspect of getting a job in
general. I was talking about how I like the javascript programming
language and he stated something to not be: “It's a good sign
you're excited by the power of a good programming language. Just one
piece of advice on that is nobody likes an insufferable
functional language snob. (I'm sure there's some comical
yet educational piece to this)”
I
didn't know what this meant at first, but luckily he went on to
explain by using a real life example:
Jake:
 |
| Don't be the guy on the left. |
If
you've been at any
school, you've probably met somebody like the guy in the previous
paragraph. Having
been immersed in both the arts and technological world, and I can say
that if you say
that you hate Helvetian font --still no clue what's up with that--
and that a certain group of colors are perfect and shouldn't be
broken out of in design, or if you're the type that states all things
should be programmed in a “perfect” programming language and
nothing else, then you're the type. If you are, recognize it, and
kick the habit. As
he said: “Another
big part of Google's “culture
fit”
is not being a braggart or arrogant / condescending / etc. Yeah:-)”
Me:
“So
what would make a good employee?”
Jake:
“What's
interesting is how completely rare that case was. Normally everyone
at Google is nice and friendly and laid back but also scarily smart
and competent. So if you can act the part, you'll do just fine as an
employee, even if you secretly think that all your coworkers are way
smarter than you (which is a common feeling for Googlers). The
environment is intentionally very much like your college experience
now, most likely. Read "Inside the Plex" for a pretty good
description. It hasn't changed since the book was written other than
the # of employees is much bigger.”
 |
| It's good if this is you |
Conclusion
So
there you have it. Thanks to
the Hangout with Jake Hambly, we
were able to get an accurate understanding as
for how we could get a position with Google. I
created a checklist for getting a position with them.
How
to get an internship/Job with Google:
- Prove your skills with projects
- Be a Independent and highly competent worker
- Make sure your happy, open and well rounded people who aren't condescending to fit Google's culture.
- Be well-prepared
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