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How To Get On To Google My Way Design?

What is the best way to get working as an Engineer at Google, if I am currently a final year undergraduate and not a great programmer?

  • Positives: 1. I really want to work at Google. 2. I really mean it. 3. Not for money, or glory, or security - I want to work on vast interesting problems nowhere seen, with brilliant people (much more brilliant than me). 4. I have a semester left to prepare, and I can learn *really* fast. 5. I don't want to take "time is insufficient" for an answer. Negatives: 1. As of now, I am not a "great" programmer - not even a mediocre one by interview standards. 2. I don't even have any Open Source projects to list on my CV, all I have are some of my course projects to list. I am from India, if that helps in answering the question. My question is what I mentioned above. More elaborated version: How can I get an Engineering position at one of the Google offices? How can I get my CV noticed? How can I ace the interview, given I get a chance to get interviewed later? P.S.: Google is NOT coming to our campus. I guess I have to apply offline.

  • Answer:

    To me, your question sounds similar to a question like: I want to become the opening batsmen for the Indian cricket team but i cant even hold the bat properly. - i want to play alongside the likes of sachin tendulkar etc against the best teams of cricket and break all sorts of records - right now i dont know how to hold a bat properly but i have about 4-5 months in hand, how can i just get selected. The problem i feel in your approach is, you are thinking of the end result but not giving any thought on how to get there. Trust me, its more about the journey than the destination that would really define your future! Think from the company's ( google in this case ) point of view. Why should they hire you? What defines you, what makes you stand out of the millions an millions of engineering graduates? Instead, focus your primary attention towards building your skill set. The other answer primarily lists all what you need to do to build your skill set and crack the interview. Focus more on the logic, algorithms, Data strctures. As far as i know, at Google, you mainly work on C++, Java and python. Also take part in SPOJ, CodeChef, TopCoder competitions. Best of luck :)

Varun Joshi at Quora Visit the source

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Let us take your case one by one: 1. I really want to work at Google. 2. I really mean it. 3. Not for money, or glory, or security - I want to work on vast interesting problems nowhere seen, with brilliant people (much more brilliant than me). Nothing new. No offence, but there are lots of people who would want to work with Google. If you, really want to and mean it, then prove it by making yourself worth it. If you are looking for joining as developer work on your Data structure, algorithm and coding skills. 4. I have a semester left to prepare, and I can learn *really* fast. Thats good. I have worked in Amazon and couple of startups, and had an opportunity to work with really amazing people, and what I found all of them were fast learner. But anyways I got your point, you are talking in context with time left in your last semester. But still wanted to highlight, if you are comparing with your friends and college batch mates you are still talking about small circle for comparison. 5. I don't want to take "time is insufficient" for an answer. Not sure why did you list this in Positives. People can guide you what needs to be done, rest is up to you to figure out whether you can do it in 6 months or not. 2. I don't even have any Open Source projects to list on my CV, all I have are some of my course projects to list. Given you still have a semester, that is good enough time to contribute to an open source project. How can I get an Engineering position at one of the Google offices? How can I get my CV noticed? How can I ace the interview, given I get a chance to get interviewed later? Well there is already good amount if material on net. This is what I will recommend: Get you Data structure, algorithm and coding skills really strong. For easy visibility participate, in online coding competitions and code-jams. Practice Google interview questions from internet. There are lot many sites. And don't keep yourself confined to Google interview questions, you should solve lot of coding problems, no matter from where they come. Read http://www.amazon.com/Google-Resume-Prepare-Microsoft-Company/dp/0470927623 . FYI author of the book is in Quora, and she answers lot many questions related to interviews and hiring. You might as well follow her on Quora. Read http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/GuerrillaInterviewing3.html, including the hyperlinks in the doc. For now, this should be suffice. I had tried to keep my answer as precise as possible, however out of curiosity: What made you suddenly so interested in Google? What were you doing all of your 5 semesters? And why suddenly you want to get in there just immediately after graduation?

Ashish Gupta

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