Rejected at Google! :)
Howdy, Blind folks...I learned today that I was finally rejected at the HC level at G. I wanted to share a couple of pieces of info that I hope will help others as they navigate the hiring process there. These thoughts are in no order, and are based purely on my own experience to create some additional data points. tl; dr: even with a coach, 300+ LC, a positive tone from my recruiter, and a 30-minute session to go over results, I still faced a rejection. Today marks 5 weeks since my onsite that I have finally learned my status. It took about 3.5 weeks for my packet to be submitted and reviewed. I had my onsite on a Wednesday, 2/23, and I heard from my recruiter on Monday, 3/21. My recruiter, for the record, sent me an email filled with exclamation points and enthusiastic language (one snippet: "I have an update for you and would love to hop on the phone today to go over your interview feedback. Let me know when you're free!"). Interestingly, even with this sunny-sounding language, in my case it turned out to be a rejection. On 3/21 my recruiter requested that we chat on 3/21 itself. I immediately got back with my availability but didn't hear from the recruiter until I reminded them on Monday, 3/28. They replied at the end of the business day to set up a time. They reserved a half-hour (30 minutes) slot of time for us to connect today. Again, I interpreted this as a good sign (30 minutes of time), but it turned out to be a rejection (in my case). I inquired with my recruiter for the individual feedback, and was told: "Unfortunately, I am not able to give you specific feedback for each individual interview. I am able to provide a general overview/snippet of your overall feedback". I find this interesting, given the many, many posts on Blind where hopeful candidates claim to have gotten feedback from their recruiters. Either those posters are merely speculating, or possibly, they got lucky with a recruiter who would bend the rules. In any case, for those reading...my advice is don't be intimidated or anxious even if you see a bunch of people saying that they got "H, H, LH......" whatever. In my case, my recruiter would not disclose that info, implying that it is a company policy. My recruiter is also relatively new as a Google recruiter (less than a year of experience there), for whatever that is worth. Perhaps more experienced recruiters bend the rules. I was told that there were "mixed signals" in my coding. I acknowledged this as accurate, based on my experience of the onsite...for me, the interviews 1 and 2 felt like slam dunks, then a break, then two more coding which, whew...it definitely took me a little more time to get the insights, so I can see how the HC reached it's conclusion on coding. Finally, the behavioral was, evidently, quite strong, as my recruiter commented, "you received the highest marks for leadership and Googlyness I have ever personally seen". It felt flattering, but who knows. I was told to come back in a year and try again. Here is everything I did to prepare: Leetcode 332 total questions. 137 easy, 159 medium, 36 hard. interviewing.io 5 practice interviews with random Google-specific engineers plus mentorship/coaching of 5 sessions. This is my 3rd go around with Google (I missed the mark the first two times). Something else that my recruiter claimed is that the HC has NO, ZERO, visibility to previous interviews at G. So, one's "improvement" over time doesn't mean squat, which is intentional (according to my recruiter, this is to reduce bias). There is at least one post related to Google stuff/HC's on Quora which claims that HC's DO, in fact, consider previous performance, but in my experience this does not seem to be the case. Based on my OWN assessments of my individual interviews, I would say I was: H, H, NH, LNH, SH. Interestingly, the feedback I received from my coach through interviewing.io and what I have read, is that a mix of ratings is actually OK, and will often lead to a good outcome. It didn't appear so in my case (again, not saying that this is the way it is in all cases, but just adding my experience to the Blind universe). I think that's about it...if you happen to have any q's, DM me, and I'll do my best to reach back. That's it! Hope it helps, and good luck to everyone out there. TC: 200K YOE: 7 SWE level sought: L4 #google #hc #reject
interviewing.ioNice. Do you have anything to relate on the coding? Do you think you went too slow or that your coding wasn’t smooth enough?
Ah ok yeah, so...while I would love to share all the juicy details, I'll hold back to honor the forms I signed. HOWEVER, I will say that in my interview day there were zero, nada, graph problems (which I found surprising). I think that my coding speed, smoothness, all that stuff was actually fine. I think that more so it was the insight which eluded me on the latter two interviews. My brain felt really sharp for the first two...truly, the feeling of, "man, that was a slam-dunk!" and the next two, after lunch, were kinda sluggish to get to the right insight. So, I kinda get what the HC might have been seeing...here's a guy (me) who is alternately great, and also...terrible? lol. So much of this process is luck. More than that, though, I'd rather not say. I hope that helps a little, though (good q). Just re-read this, and so...yes, I suppose that's true that my coding speed wasn't ideal for the latter two interviews. But, that doesn't mean that overall my speed was poor, you know what I mean? Just wanted to clarify to best help ya.
Sure I wasn’t looking for specifics. Was interested in your sense of the impression you might’ve left on speed, fluency, ability with chosen language, etc.
Are you aiming for any other companies besides G? At 300+ LC and all that prep there are many other companies you could probably get offers from.
I failed G interview 2 years ago as well. The feedback and experience helped me a lot in preparation for the next year. I eventually got an offer but declined due to the low ball. Thank you for sharing your experience and good luck next time!
My pleasure and thank you, my friend!!
With that much leetcode, please tell me you’re interviewing elsewhere. I’m not sure why, but engineers for some reason like to drool over Google. They (Google) don’t even pay that well and I don’t think the problems they work on are all that interesting anymore (lots of the harder problems have been solved). Go to another top tech company and make 30% more TC than you would’ve gotten at Google. Peoples obsession with Google is unhealthy at this point imo
What does all H, HC etc alphabets OP is using mean really?
No prob, good question..."HC" is an abbreviation for "hiring committee", which is a body of about three or so Google SWEs who review the feedback from your interview day. They are there to help ensure an un-biased process. If there's a Google SWE or other person reading this who wants to add more or correct me, I invite you to! :) Oh ok and the alphabet stuff is Google's hiring vernacular. So they have this concept of "strong no hire" to "strong hire" and all the gradients in between, and "H" equals Hire, etc.
Oh okay. I guess OP is thinking too much about this. If one says no hire then obviously that's big disadvantage. Why did one person say NH?
Now you’ll have settle for a company that will pay you more.
lol true! honestly it might be a blessing in disguise, after all I have read about lowballs and downlevels and the like. Thanks for your words!
It might be! I got rejected this time around and ended up getting an offer from Uber which was probably 50-60% higher than googles would have been. You can always try again next year :)
I also heard the same response from recruiter. “Mixed bag” phrase seems to be common across recruiters lol. Level sought: L4 3.5 YoE Level that they offered: L3 I said no thank you. Might try again next year if I am in the mood.
Good for you!! I love this attitude lol. Don't take a downlevel, you are worth more! Thanks for your words!
Good to see a non-bias, noon-bragging and non-complaining post about Google interview process. Just facts, not opinions. I would like to know how hard were the questions you got.
Aww thank you for saying that! Truly, that's what I was going for! :) You got it...so I can say that I was able to find two of the four questions on GeeksForGeeks and/or LC and can confirm that they were Medium level. Those were the two that I solved without any problems (or in other words, the first two of my day which I felt were rock solid). I couldn't find a reference for the other two questions on any site. In my estimation, one was definitely Hard, and the other one was probably a Medium-Hard. Feel free to DM if you have more questions or leave 'em here for the rest of the Blind community. Happy to answer.
Agreed. Really like this post and thanks for sharing, even though I'm non-SWE. My internal contacts at Google said that they do have access to your previous interviews? I made it through HC before (ended up not working there, though) and they said that would be on my "packet" for any future applications. Either way, your recruiter screwed you over with the super positive messaging in the lead up with the exclamation points and the like. Additionally, if they take a while to push you through HC, that's usually not a good sign, although I wouldn't sweat it too much. Google especially has a purposeful bias to no-hire, so it's likely with additional preparation you'll get it next time. Good luck!
My own assessment is SH SH SH SH in coding + design, and a NH for behavior because the Korean interviewer fucking hates me. Your own assessment means nothing.
Don't worry about it. Don't overthink it. Not getting google isn't the end of the world. And If you really want it, work hard, try again, and you'll get it
Amen! haha thanks for your words. I feel in a good headspace :) and this was mainly for info, although I appreciate ya. Always good to remember.