DZone
Thanks for visiting DZone today,
Edit Profile
  • Manage Email Subscriptions
  • How to Post to DZone
  • Article Submission Guidelines
Sign Out View Profile
  • Post an Article
  • Manage My Drafts
Over 2 million developers have joined DZone.
Log In / Join
Refcards Trend Reports Events Over 2 million developers have joined DZone. Join Today! Thanks for visiting DZone today,
Edit Profile Manage Email Subscriptions Moderation Admin Console How to Post to DZone Article Submission Guidelines
View Profile
Sign Out
Refcards
Trend Reports
Events
Zones
Culture and Methodologies Agile Career Development Methodologies Team Management
Data Engineering AI/ML Big Data Data Databases IoT
Software Design and Architecture Cloud Architecture Containers Integration Microservices Performance Security
Coding Frameworks Java JavaScript Languages Tools
Testing, Deployment, and Maintenance Deployment DevOps and CI/CD Maintenance Monitoring and Observability Testing, Tools, and Frameworks
Culture and Methodologies
Agile Career Development Methodologies Team Management
Data Engineering
AI/ML Big Data Data Databases IoT
Software Design and Architecture
Cloud Architecture Containers Integration Microservices Performance Security
Coding
Frameworks Java JavaScript Languages Tools
Testing, Deployment, and Maintenance
Deployment DevOps and CI/CD Maintenance Monitoring and Observability Testing, Tools, and Frameworks

Thoughts on Google Worship

As much as I admire someone for setting and reaching for a goal, I'm torn about a developer who's taking seven months off to reach his goal of becoming a Google engineer.

Dave Fecak user avatar by
Dave Fecak
·
Oct. 16, 16 · Opinion
Like (2)
Save
Tweet
Share
2.54K Views

Join the DZone community and get the full member experience.

Join For Free

This week, a GitHub repo called google-interview-university popped up on the radar when it hit Reddit and Hacker News. Go ahead and check it out.

The tl;dr is that an early-forties self-taught developer named John with an Econ degree and about fifteen years of varied startup experience has compiled a lengthy and thorough study guide of sorts that he is using to try to get a job at Google. It contains hundreds of links that run the gamut — tips from Google recruiters, books to read, articles on data structures, questions to ask in the interview, and even a link to a PDF file that says "future Googler" with the colorful Google logo suitable for printing (you know...because you should print a sign) — all courtesy of a man who uses the domain googleyasheck.com.

According to his LinkedIn, John has been studying full-time since April of this year to reach his goal of becoming a Google engineer.

Insert sound of brakes screeching. 

A guy that has been programming since the TRS-80 days and doing stuff with the web since 2000 and runs his own startup is taking off seven months to try to get a job at Google?

I'm not sure exactly what is wrong with this picture, but something feels wrong.

It could be that someone is investing an awful lot of time into a goal that, when they reach it, might be entirely unfulfilling. This isn't meant as a knock on Google at all - but clearly, Google isn't going to be a great fit for everybody.

Maybe it's that an experienced person already in the industry who is probably qualified for a substantial number of programming jobs and even less technical roles (Product Manager jumps out at me) at hundreds of other companies still may need (or felt the need) to spend over one thousand hours studying just to get past a few hours of interviews with Google.

And what if it doesn't work out? I'm absolutely rooting for John no matter what (I can't imagine his enthusiasm and newfound fame won't help), and I guess if he has a bad day on the phone screen and fails, he could still take his knowledge to some other elite companies that could hire him.  

Reaction from the web has ranged from laments on the effect of Google's "CS trivia" interviewing style on the industry to cringeworthy Google fanboyism to admiration for a guy who is working hard to achieve a goal. All have some level of validity.

I see Google worship on a fairly regular basis on Reddit, and I've previously written about this fixation many new college grads have on the "Big 4" (or Big 5) companies. It's rare to hear of senior level candidates having the same enthusiasm, and rarer to see someone taking months off of work to try and qualify for a new job.

As much as I admire someone for setting a goal and working towards it, I'm torn.

Google (verb)

Opinions expressed by DZone contributors are their own.

Popular on DZone

  • Quick Pattern-Matching Queries in PostgreSQL and YugabyteDB
  • Java Development Trends 2023
  • Core Machine Learning Metrics
  • The Importance of Delegation in Management Teams

Comments

Partner Resources

X

ABOUT US

  • About DZone
  • Send feedback
  • Careers
  • Sitemap

ADVERTISE

  • Advertise with DZone

CONTRIBUTE ON DZONE

  • Article Submission Guidelines
  • Become a Contributor
  • Visit the Writers' Zone

LEGAL

  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy

CONTACT US

  • 600 Park Offices Drive
  • Suite 300
  • Durham, NC 27709
  • support@dzone.com
  • +1 (919) 678-0300

Let's be friends: