Google tells you what to prepare for during an interview. I'm sure that if Max Howell spent a few hours reviewing data structures and algorithms like the rest of us, he would have passed with flying colors. His hostility towards his interview experience only reinforces that he likely wouldn't be a good fit in a large corporation like Google.
And that's exactly why I would never apply for Google. Despite me having years of leading product teams and enterprise applications, the fact that I need to "study" for an interview is asinine.
How else can you have a standard benchmark for testing applicants against? The issue with just looking at background experience, in my belief, is that there’s too much noise, not enough data, to properly gauge someone.
It's also absurd when the big companies invite you for a half-day interview with no intention to reimburse you for your time. I went for an Amazon interview and lost a day which for a contractor on a daily rate is quite a lot. Not making this mistake again :)
> Despite me having years of leading product teams and enterprise applications, the fact that I need to "study" for an interview is asinine.
You no longer study? You stopped any form of education? I have an hard time believing that's actually true, but if it is, I guess you aren't a good fit for them either.
I read on new technologies constantly, I learn new languages constantly, I haven't gone to any formation yet (I just finished my software engineering degree) but I will certainly. Continous learning is nothing new.
They need someone able to adapt, which does means learn, and clearly in the case of Google, pretty quickly too. Studying to pass their interview process is no different than studying to apply X new principle.
> You no longer study? You stopped any form of education?
Oh please.
I've always taught myself new concepts and am constantly reading books and learning new languages. Hell, I went from working in "big corporate" to starting my own business building video games, something I knew virtually nothing about because I was driven to do so. I learned Rust on my own, I taught myself 3D programming, I've taken classes on public speaking. These are things I didn't need to prove to anyone, I just felt motivated to because I felt it would benefit my career.
> Studying to pass their interview process is no different than studying to apply X new principle.
The fact there are websites dedicated to helping you study for Google's interview process means something is broken. You should be able to gauge a person's motivation and willingness to learn beyond knowing seven different algorithms from memory. If they want someone who can adapt, look to experience and have questions ready to prove that experience. I shouldn't need to recall information like flash cards. Applying to Google feels like studying for the SATs all over again.
Two cents. Google isn't for me despite feeling I could make a big impact there knowing my motivation levels and work ethic. I highly discourage anyone from adapting a similar interview process.
"You no longer study?" This is a straw man. It is clear from the context of the discussion that 'studying' refers to the study of algorithms/data structures/etc that is typically questioned in CS job interviews.
