Did the process put me off? Absolutely. So much so that I don't want to apply again.
Before even starting the interview process, I took weeks to reviews algorithms, chopped through interviewcake/hackerrank/leetcode challenges, did numerous test-interviews on pramp and made sure Google was the last of my interviews to get as much experience in as possible. In the end, it didn't matter.
The phone call was almost not understandable. My interviewer had a horrible accent and extreme background noise, almost like he was in a public space with a really bad microphone. I had to ask 5 times to repeat his question or clarify what he meant which definitely irritated him as well.
When asked before the interview in what language I would like to do it, I said python. My interviewer gave me a C++ question (+ C++ class) with streams (I think that's what it was? I'm not a C++ guy). When mentioning that I said I want to do it in python he said "oh uhm... well, just implement your solution in python then", which was a little weird because python doesn't support streams.
I asked numerous times during the interview if I understood his question correctly, he said yes. I went ahead with implementing it that way and then later he asked me why I did it this way and that he wanted something else.
It was a disaster. I didn't pass the interview (they were 50:50 on me) and do not plan to apply again. I am at a great startup now and probably forgot most of that algorithm and data structure knowledge again.
Same experience. Lots of noise making it hard to ask questions. The guy sounded like he was blackmailed to do that kind of job. He asked me to "sum the contiguous number in the array". So I start writing the code looping through the array, finding the boundaries and adding the elements. After 15min the guy is like "why did you add the elements? I asked you to summarize them."
I read your comment a few times and still don't quite understand the difference between "summarize" and "sum" in this context (non-native english speaker here). Care to explain what exactly he wanted?
If someone asks you to "sum an array" then it's quite reasonable to think they mean calculate the sum of an array. Some languages (PHP springs to mind) have native "array_sum" functions. Wondering if someone from Google, who is interviewing a developer means "sum or summarize" would be weird.
Yep I guessed. And that's a good thing. But they should make sure the call environment is optimal (good reception, no background noise, ...) and the interviewer sounds eager to receive questions.
They need to pay a lot because of terrible highering practices. It's a perverse incentive at highly profitable companies where people inside benefit from rejecting talent thus creating artificial scarcity.
You see the same at big banks where even low skilled jobs have huge barriers to entry. It's also a reason many private companies don't go for Ivy League applicants as it can corrupt a functional company.
to add another anecdote, my phone screen was quite good but at the in-person interview I was told to give a presentation on past work. One person didn't show up and another left in the middle to take a phone call and never came back.
All in all it was a positive experience but it definitely felt like hiring isn't a big priority to them, compared to other companies I've interviewed at.
Before even starting the interview process, I took weeks to reviews algorithms, chopped through interviewcake/hackerrank/leetcode challenges, did numerous test-interviews on pramp and made sure Google was the last of my interviews to get as much experience in as possible. In the end, it didn't matter.
The phone call was almost not understandable. My interviewer had a horrible accent and extreme background noise, almost like he was in a public space with a really bad microphone. I had to ask 5 times to repeat his question or clarify what he meant which definitely irritated him as well.
When asked before the interview in what language I would like to do it, I said python. My interviewer gave me a C++ question (+ C++ class) with streams (I think that's what it was? I'm not a C++ guy). When mentioning that I said I want to do it in python he said "oh uhm... well, just implement your solution in python then", which was a little weird because python doesn't support streams.
I asked numerous times during the interview if I understood his question correctly, he said yes. I went ahead with implementing it that way and then later he asked me why I did it this way and that he wanted something else.
It was a disaster. I didn't pass the interview (they were 50:50 on me) and do not plan to apply again. I am at a great startup now and probably forgot most of that algorithm and data structure knowledge again.