Writing 02

What is your overall impression of the hiring process in your chosen industry? Is it efficient? Is it effective? Is it ethical?

I’ve had a somewhat limited experience with the general hiring process in the tech industry. My first (and so far only) real experience really going through it all was at the beginning of my sophomore year. I applied to Google’s Engineering Practicum program, designed specifically for freshmen and sophomores. The hiring committee was made aware of my current course work (at that point it was basically a month and a half of FundComp) and tailored my two technical interviews accordingly. I was asked pretty basic questions, all of which I was able to answer fairly well. I ended up getting an offer and interned at Google in New York that following summer. After that internship ended, I was given a return offer without having to interview again, and accepted without hesitation.

After another summer at Google as a full SWE intern, I was able to bypass interviews for full time conversion. Google is notoriously slow with their full time conversion offers, so I am still waiting to hear back. Hopefully I will receive news in the next week. I am expecting it to be good, but in case that isn’t what happens (and even if it does) I have been seeking out other opportunities.

I have an interview on campus with Microsoft next week that I am eagerly and slightly anxiously anticipating. It will be my first real interview since that first round at the start of my sophomore year. I’ve learned so much since then, and expect it to be a lot more challenging.

While at Google last summer, I took advantage of the generosity of several full time employees and did some mock interviews to prepare. I was terribly rusty, but it was great practice.

Not having gone through the whole ringer of hiring multiple times, I can’t speak very deeply about how I feel about the general hiring process, but I do have a few thoughts.

I feel incredibly lucky to have been able to showcase my skills and work in a real office setting, allowing those in charge of making decisions to see what I’m really capable of. I simply do not see how a 45 minute whiteboard coding interview is enough to decide whether or not a candidate is right for the job.

That being said, I don’t have a suggestion for a great alternative. The best way to evaluate a candidate is to see them working in a real setting, but that obviously isn’t feasible for most scenarios.

If I hadn’t had such fortunate circumstances, I’m sure I would have used Notre Dame resources much more heavily. With everything that’s happened with Google, though, I haven’t done much. Never been to the Career Fair or Career Center, but I do know that many find these resources extremely valuable.

Everything has worked out pretty well for me and I don’t think I’d change anything if I had a chance to go back. That being said, I would probably encourage my past self to spend a little more time on side projects. Even though I didn’t necessarily need them to get where I am now, I feel like if I’d developed some specialized skills through extracurricular project work, it would have set me up very well for exploring other options.

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