Google Systems Engineer Interview Questions & Reviews
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Interview questions and reviews posted anonymously by interview candidates.
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Difficulty Rating [?] Based on 4 ratings 
“Difficult” Interview
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Interview Experience [?] Based on 4 ratings
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| 1–4 of 4 Google Interviews | Sort by |
Systems Engineer at Google
Posted May 16, 2011 — 2 of 3 people found this helpful
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4.0
Difficult Interview
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Overall Negative Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Mar 2010 in Mountain View, CA (took 6 days)
I am a seasoned software engineer with 15 years of excellent experience in developing highly performant software systems, and am well-rounded enough to have participated in everything from design of hardware, operating systems components, all the way to GUI widgets and interface systems.
A friend of mine who works at Google worked hard to convince me to interview there, and submitted my name to his manager, who arranged for the recruiter to contact me.
The recruiter was extremely arrogant from the start. He never really understood my core capabilities and seemed to discredit much of my prior work experience. I cannot easily handle personal calls during my work house, but I agreed to be able to take some phone interviews when he explained they set them up a day in advance. In actuality, both phone interviews I had a maximum of 45 minutes to leave work and make it home to take the phone call. The recruiter was very unprofessional in many aspects of communicating important details like this to me. (Details matter, unless you work at Google!)
Both phone interviews went poorly, primarily because the interviewers were being exceptionally obtuse. I couldn't get a straight answer out of either of them. One interviewer tried to ask me things in non-sensical language and when I tried to ask for clarification, he got mad at me. I guess his impression of engineers are that they can read minds, or perhaps can learn his special short-hand speaking style in a 30 minute call.
The worst part was the final call from the recruiter, and he said to me "At least you got to interview with Google... not everybody can say that". What an arrogant and classless attitude. I responded by saying that they should be thankful that at least they got to interview with me, because not every company can say that.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I got the interview through an Employee Referral and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Systems Engineer at Google
Posted Apr 19, 2010
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5.0
Very Difficult Interview
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Overall Negative Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Nov 2009 (took 2 days)
This was my second interview experience with Google, and it has definitively put them on my "never again" list. A couple of years back I applied for a job through their jobs site. After waiting a couple of months (!) I went through the phonescreen - phone interview - in person interview - offer process. The actual offer was laughable: pay way below market, 1-week contracts, ...
This all led me to become very hesitant when a recruiter contacted me a while ago. (With the familiar "Hello from Google" mail.) He told me they were looking for a job in the engineering department. On paper, this sounded like a dream job: architecting and developing it systems, ...
An appointment for a first call was made very quickly. (The recruiters are very pushy and very communicative in this phase.) The first call went great. The guy I spoke with did the same things I did at my current job, but in a more interesting environment. (Hey, it's Google, you know?)
A second call followed a few days later. Not only did the location of the job the other party was talking about suddenly change from Switzerland to Ireland, he also asked questions that were in no way relevant to my experience or the job. Needless to say, this interview went very badly. In fact, I ended it myself because this was clearly a mistake.
The next morning I received an e-mail from the recruiter who initially contacted me: "Hi, I heard the interview last night did not go too well. If you're interested in future opportunities with us, be sure to check out google.com/jobs".
And just like that, the interviewing process was over. Further e-mails from my part went unanswered (even though previously he always responded instantaneously).
Apparently, if you don't hold four patents and they actually know you interviewing at Google - especially outside of the US - is destined to fail. Either it takes months and they offer you a job with insultingly low pay, or they screw up their own recruiting process. This is not a company I want to work for.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I got the interview through a Recruiter and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Systems Engineer at Google
Posted Nov 3, 2009
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Dec 2007 (took a day)
Extremely polite and reserved process. Privacy is a concern. I was contacted from a headhunter, indicated by someone from inside the company. I was presented to the company in their office, I was interviewed in several stages by developers from the company. The whole process took about one day.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I applied In-Person and the interview consisted of a 1:1 Interview, a Skills Test and a Background Check.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Systems Engineer at Google
Posted Mar 5, 2009 — 1 of 1 people found this helpful
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4.0
Difficult Interview
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Overall Negative Experience
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Received and Declined Offer
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Interviewed Dec 2008 in Santa Clara, CA (took 2 weeks)
Google has the most obtuse hiring process of any company I've spoken with in my 12-year career. Interview questions have little to no relevance to the job being applied for, and seem to be little more than a means by which the academics working there can massage their enormous egos.
Interview Questions
Reason for Declining
After meeting with several people at the company and in the group I would have been working for I found that, while the company wants to harbor a collaborative academic type of environment, the job I was applying for and the required number of hours equated to this being no better than a high-paid sweat shop. The interview process was highly misleading and deceptive, and without substantial bonuses that were promised but likely would not have been delivered upon in this economy the salary was mediocre.
Other Details
The interview consisted of a Phone Interview and a 1:1 Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
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