tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post1690045831024210629..comments2024-03-28T00:36:13.790-07:00Comments on Volatile and Decentralized: Getting a job at Google for PhD StudentsMatt Welshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04255792550910131960noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-86450886828242811392014-02-26T21:31:51.583-08:002014-02-26T21:31:51.583-08:00So-called "Data Science" jobs are pretty...So-called "Data Science" jobs are pretty common at tech companies these days, including at Google, I think.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-46742088675968183142014-02-26T21:29:30.747-08:002014-02-26T21:29:30.747-08:00I don't think "highly selective" is ...I don't think "highly selective" is a valid excuse.<br /><br />One area where the number of high-quality candidates far outnumbers available positions is top-tier management consulting (please don't flame me for having the gall to compare techies with flaky business people). Their interview process is also very challenging (admittedly for different reasons), but their interviewers are specifically trained to be very courteous, professional, even humble. Similar to what has been mentioned above, they use interviews as an opportunity to further their brand, because it is entirely possible that they could be pissing off a future ceo.<br /><br />For instance, I was rejected by BCG, and while it was a huge blow at the time, I feel was treated very nicely, and don't hold that against my interviewers at all. <br /><br />Compare that to a tech interview I had at a major tech company (where I was successful), where the interviewer asked me to square a large number in my head, and I blurted it out immediately, simply because I had memorized it from another context. The guy was so impressed that the rest of the 40 minutes or so were basically moot....now, what did this interview actually accomplish?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-28103523512726144772014-02-17T23:37:22.787-08:002014-02-17T23:37:22.787-08:00Dear Matt and Fernando,
First off, thank you so m...Dear Matt and Fernando,<br /><br />First off, thank you so much for sharing this. Very interesting read.<br /><br />Do you have any suggestion for research scientist candidates at Google? <br /><br />Compared to SDE candidates, could you please sketch out how a typical onsite interview looks like and what aspects will the interview feedback be focused on? <br /><br />Apart from typical coding interviews, how is the research talk evaluated (by whom)? During the talk, which aspect should we emphasize (e.g., practical concerns? sexy demo? research-y novelty?) What is the general structure for an interview on "analytic topics" (as Fernando mentioned) and how would you suggest us to prepare for it?<br /><br />Thanks in advance!<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-38314995691196550312014-02-16T21:53:54.658-08:002014-02-16T21:53:54.658-08:00Its been a good blog and very nice ideas to get in...Its been a good blog and very nice ideas to get in to the google.Johnhttp://www.tutorsindia.com/research-methodology-help.htmlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-77975178102423123292014-02-07T11:42:30.090-08:002014-02-07T11:42:30.090-08:00Hi Matt,
Thank you for sharing your experience at...Hi Matt,<br /><br />Thank you for sharing your experience at google. I used to read your papers when I was doing research in field of sensor network. <br /><br />Just out of curiosity, what was the questions like when you interviewed with Google? I am just wondering how Google interview established researchers like yourself. there are number of well known former professors working at Google.<br /><br />Thanks,<br />H<br /><br />Thanks <br />HAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-87902526839783089282014-02-05T21:27:59.129-08:002014-02-05T21:27:59.129-08:00Hi Matt,
Question --- you have only mentioned C++ ...Hi Matt,<br />Question --- you have only mentioned C++ and Java, but not C; how is a candidate using C viewed? Even though I have used C++, I do not feel comfortable coding at a whiteboard with C++ without having references at hand. For people like me, would you recommend using C during interview, or crank on C++ before hand and use C++? Thanks.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-28363864157014910312014-02-03T21:38:19.972-08:002014-02-03T21:38:19.972-08:00I'm not exactly sure what your point is. Apple...I'm not exactly sure what your point is. Apple, Microsoft, and Google are all highly innovative, though they operate with vastly different business models.Matt Welshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07077674014671176946noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-26915917832608025152014-02-03T21:35:45.990-08:002014-02-03T21:35:45.990-08:00Good question. What style of resume have you been ...Good question. What style of resume have you been using? If you're coming from a PhD background I would think a full CV (which might be 2-3 pages for a PhD student with multiple publications) would be appropriate. Mostly however you want to emphasize your *building* skills, not just research/academic background.Matt Welshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07077674014671176946noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-71146684626925870962014-02-03T21:34:39.403-08:002014-02-03T21:34:39.403-08:00There are several non-coding-oriented roles that a...There are several non-coding-oriented roles that a CS PhD might be interested in. I know several CS PhDs who are Product Managers at Google, which is a very diverse and interesting job - shaping products, working closely with engineering teams on defining requirements and navigating the launch process. UX Researcher also comes to mind, although there are not very many of these. I don't know about the Quantitative Analyst role so much, though given that it deals with data it might involve some coding.<br /><br />I don't know how sales and marketing people are hired but I'd be surprised if there was not some kind of committee process for those roles.Matt Welshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07077674014671176946noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-2191974148748045042014-02-03T19:57:10.384-08:002014-02-03T19:57:10.384-08:00Is there any role suitable for PhD doesn't emp...Is there any role suitable for PhD doesn't emphasize on coding? Quantitative analyst?<br /><br />Are all positions must go through hiring committee? Even sales, marketing?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-46149783274908697802014-02-03T18:15:05.727-08:002014-02-03T18:15:05.727-08:00From an outside view, what makes a company great i...From an outside view, what makes a company great is its ability to produce innovative products. From an inside view, a great company is the one that cultivates and produces great inventors who will create the next innovative products.<br />Microsfot is probably the greatest example of a company struggling to produce its next generation of innovators. A flagship tech company that can attract and hire great minds from any great university in the country is having a hard time to find a replacement for Ballmer. On the other hand, Apple not only has produced great products, but produced great people that have created companies that are at the forefront of innovation. Like the one Google just bought: Nest. <br />Google is making a humongous amount of money selling advertising beside internet search results. What happens if Google goes out of business tomorrow? I would say not much other than a lot of people losing their jobs. I might be wrong but I don’t think hiring that next clever programmer will make much of a difference. <br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-26999928312526245682014-02-03T00:56:54.575-08:002014-02-03T00:56:54.575-08:00Hey Matt, good article there... could you write on...Hey Matt, good article there... could you write one on the structure of the resume required by the recruiters... i have so far gotten two chances, but after the initial phone call, the recruiters seem to lose interest and i suspect it could be with my resume(though i feel it's abit nice). cheers.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18328875543351557632noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-13492340922935132092014-02-01T19:48:43.180-08:002014-02-01T19:48:43.180-08:00You are right that Google's interview process ...You are right that Google's interview process is highly selective and as a result can sometimes come across as arrogant or pretentious. I don't like this, either, but given how many people apply for jobs here there is a very high bar. It will certainly turn some people off. Still, I find it difficult to believe you when you say "Working for Google isn't all it's cracked up to be" when you haven't worked at Google.Matt Welshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07077674014671176946noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-80401322191449581502014-02-01T19:45:37.541-08:002014-02-01T19:45:37.541-08:00I know how you feel. Although I do it every day I ...I know how you feel. Although I do it every day I still feel that I kind of suck at software engineering :-)<br /><br />It is possible to game the interview somewhat by mastering "programming competition" style questions. The Google interview doesn't directly test how you work with a team, but it does test things like communication and design skills. Open source projects are certainly a good way to gain some of these skills, although of course it depends on the project.Matt Welshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07077674014671176946noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-67059727677820248542014-02-01T19:42:48.723-08:002014-02-01T19:42:48.723-08:00I actually agree 100% with this. One of my concern...I actually agree 100% with this. One of my concerns about Google's interview process is that it doesn't give PhD candidates a good idea of what they can work on. I was kind of turned off by my interview at Google. Fortunately I took the job and got to see the other side.Matt Welshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07077674014671176946noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-53548120090585934522014-02-01T19:22:24.586-08:002014-02-01T19:22:24.586-08:00Suck at software engineering*Suck at software engineering*Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11877131059885063751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-13924469052681705952014-02-01T19:15:38.306-08:002014-02-01T19:15:38.306-08:00I've interviewed with Google a number of times...I've interviewed with Google a number of times. Never really felt like they were respectful or even reviewed my resume. The phone screen is easy they asked questions from a database of simple questions to eliminate dummies. They also ask you not to post the questions online. I've specifically done that from my notes every time on glass door.<br /><br />My onsites were interesting but inpersonal lunch 1 hour sessions and I think the random pool of people is a real disservice because its nice to know if you will work with jerks, changing careers is a big deal and its the main reason I rejected my offer from Google other then a big miss on my market value. Didn't even feel like countering.<br /><br />By comparison My company does not stress people out in interviews and the people who are interviewing the candidates are really going to be coworkers. We've got over 100,000 employees and didn't have to resort to testing people like caddle. Brand impression forming discussions are important even if you don't pick someone.<br /><br />I also think all too often companies get caught up in thinking their brand is a form of compensation for working at a company its not. It's only stupid people who make such decisions about employment like that. In my tech career of interviews I've only seen two companies more full of shit then Google employees about their brands: Nike and Amazon.<br /><br />Working for Google isn't all its cracked I up to be. Its just another software company with an early position in its life cycle. Eventually the business will level off and times will be average for employees and investors. Following hype for careers sake gets you a fragmented resume and potentially a few rental houses from lots of moves. <br /><br />I only wish college grads were smarter then falling for employment marketing pitches like those coming out of tech companies rather then a more objective approach.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-43460753039854919182014-02-01T16:53:49.995-08:002014-02-01T16:53:49.995-08:00You said that the important software engineering s...You said that the important software engineering skills can only be developed by working with a professional software development team. In my case, I only did one internship at a web development company where I worked on simple front end code (JavaScript mostly ). I know the basics, and I'm a decent Java programmer. However, I feel that I suck in software engineering. The only real software engineering experience I have is from this software engineering course that I took last year. Aside from internships at companies that have good software development teams, can working on problems on programming competition sites and completing open source projects prepare someone fresh out of undergrad for these types of interviews? Also, can one acquire the important software engineering skills that you mentioned above by working on good open source projects?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11877131059885063751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-89762987733005802722014-02-01T10:04:47.279-08:002014-02-01T10:04:47.279-08:00@anonymous "Many top PhDs I know..." I e...@anonymous "Many top PhDs I know..." I extensively involved in PhD hiring. We do lose a few candidates who would prefer a more pure research-y role than what they perceive Google will provide, but those perceptions are partly the result of an idealized view of "research" vs "engineering." We do interview PhDs for research scientist roles in some areas (such as machine learning, computer vision, natural language, auction algorithms, HCI, data management, ...) and the research scientist interview has different balance of subject matter and algorithms/coding (as I said above), but the central point that Matt is making still stands. I like to state it as "the language of successful communication within Google is good code, not slides, proofs, or research prototypes". There are exceptions (think of the optics, electronics, and bioengineering expertise in the recently announced contact lens) where coding is much less relevant, but even in projects like that, the ability to develop effective measurement, simulation and automation software is a great asset.Fernando Pereirahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05849361902113771573noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-42729413490826543442014-01-31T22:37:17.817-08:002014-01-31T22:37:17.817-08:00Anonymous, it might be problematic if Python was r...Anonymous, it might be problematic if Python was really your only language, because if your software is going to be running on hundreds or thousands of machines, it's very much worth the time to write in a more efficient language. At scale, machine time starts to cost more than engineering time.mahlenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17671536910733729368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-41069197492621540302014-01-31T21:37:19.771-08:002014-01-31T21:37:19.771-08:00No place for non Ph.D.s ?No place for non Ph.D.s ?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-84121153221877108702014-01-31T21:03:48.076-08:002014-01-31T21:03:48.076-08:00Great write-up, Matt. Here were my interview notes...Great write-up, Matt. Here were my interview notes from prepping for Google software engineering interviews at the end of Summer 2011, which touches on similar points:<br />http://pgbovine.net/programming-interview-tips.htm<br /><br />The high-order bit is the same as yours: it's a coding interview, not a research job talk.Philip Guohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05989580992597347789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-60999193489811685522014-01-31T18:34:10.662-08:002014-01-31T18:34:10.662-08:00I don't quite understand why one will get into...I don't quite understand why one will get into trouble if his/her language of choice is Python.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-26034310452973672282014-01-31T16:33:33.281-08:002014-01-31T16:33:33.281-08:00One thing that seems to be missing from this is th...One thing that seems to be missing from this is the understanding that the interview is not just for evaluating a candidate, but also for recruiting them. <br /><br />Many top PhDs I know have gone through the google interview process and ended up getting offers, but because of the way the process is done they decide not to accept the google offer and go elsewhere (and also discourage other smart PhDs from considering applying to google). Designing an interview process for PhDs that focuses on coding puzzles doesn't seem like a smart way to either evaluate the candidates or make them want to work for you.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-65593799555518539572014-01-31T13:12:25.957-08:002014-01-31T13:12:25.957-08:00I am indeed pleased. (Although really, what CS pr...I am indeed pleased. (Although really, what CS professional hasn't used a stack of counting Bloom filters in one of their projects? That's why you shouldn't put down hash tables.)Michael Mitzenmacherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02161161032642563814noreply@blogger.com