Google is not an easy company to get hired into. If you are trying to get hired, you need to take a couple of steps to be prepared. There are also specific things you should know before you even think about interviewing with Google.
It is important to review and become strong in problem identification. You can do this by studying data structures and algorithms. You need to understand how important graph problems are. It is important to understand basic data structures and be able to sort algorithms.
When you are preparing for an interview with Google, it is important to really be prepared. You should have a friend practice interviewing you repeatedly. You should practice explaining interview questions on a board. You need to be good at whiteboard coding. You shouldn’t forget any algorithms; they should be fresh in your mind. You will need them.
If you are looking for short term warm up for your Google interview, the best you can do is get plenty of sleep and be totally alert. You should not go into your interview cold. It is best to solve a few problems so your mind is warmed up. You don’t want your mind to go blank while you are explaining something in your interview.
One of the most important things you need to remember is your attitude needs to be in check. You should be humble during your interview. You should have an open mind and be entirely focused.
You should not question the interviewer or the validity of any questions. Some programmers think they know everything. Even if you really do know everything, if you want to get a job with Google you had better be humble and answer every question the best you can. You should not try to divert a question by telling a story or bluffing the interviewer. Answer questions and be prepared to show your answer on the board.
If you aren’t sure what the interviewer is looking for in your code it is okay to ask. Some interviewers don’t care about syntax while others do. You should ask if you aren’t sure. You won’t lose points for asking. You are encouraged to ask questions for clarification and you should. Be sure you are on the right track. You will look very bad if you go off on a tangent and it is not what they are looking for.
You should also bring your own things for the interview. These things include dry erase markers and erasers. You should consider the thinnest marker you can find because you need all of the whiteboard space you can get. Google will provide thick markers for you that will take up all of the space on the board.
If you want to interview with Google you should also have a computer science degree. A degree is not required but the education and the knowledge is. An advanced degree can help you too. If you don’t have a degree and you want to work for Google before the next two to eight years there are a few things you absolutely must know.
You should know the Big-O algorithm complexity analysis. If you do not know this algorithm you will not be hired. This is a guarantee. You also need to know how to sort with code. You should not do the bubble-sort in your interview if you want to get hired. You should know at least one *nlog(n) algorithm. It would be best to know more than one. A merge sort is a sort you should know.
Hashtables are considered to be the most important data structure known in the universe. You need to know how hashtables work. If you don’t know what a hashtable is or how they work you shouldn’t be in the interview. You should be capable of using only arrays with your favorite programming language also. This needs to take place in the interview. You should know trees, traversal, manipulation, binary trees, n-ary trees, and trie-trees. You should be good at math, know graphs, coding, flash, java, operating systems, and more.
If you really want to work for Google you should be serious about it. You can find out which jobs are open to apply to and the different Google locations. You can apply for work online through Google. It may take a month or several weeks before you hear back from anyone at Google. You should expect to have more than just one interview. Your first interview will be very intense and you should be totally ready for it. If you are accepted past the first interview you will have a second. The second may be more difficult than the first. The interview process may take several weeks or it could take up to a couple of months. You should not expect to get hired at the first interview and begin work right away.
Working for Google is something many programmers would absolutely love to do. Some of the best programmers are turned away every year and it isn’t because they don’t know how to code. It is because they went to the interview unprepared and not brushed up on certain programming topics.
If you are given the opportunity to interview with Google then you need to take it very seriously. You should prepare for your interview weeks in advance. Know your stuff when you get to the interview and be ready to code on a whiteboard in front of your interviewers to show them what you know.
