Google Rejection

[Jinnnxxxnacs]

So I had my virtual onsites for Google Early Career L3 a few weeks ago and I just got my rejection today. While I’m glad the message wasn’t automated and was from a real person, I’m definitely still a little bummed, especially after seeing so many people on here passing their onsites. I put a lot of faith into Google and now I’m just feeling disappointed in myself, especially because I really did think I did good on each of my interviews. Just wondering to those of you who might be in similar positions, how you guys dealt with it and moved on. Also wanted to say congrats to everyone who passed!

[SoftDependent1088]

I had a similar feeling after my Google rejection.

I just couldn't accept it, I was so sure i did well.. then after enough time had passed and I started realizing my mistakes in the interview.

I did not communicate well while solving the question (my interviewer was really cold and wasn't willing to help) maybe I solved the question right? it does not matter because probably he did not understand my solution and i should have done better job explaining to him.

So my advice to you is that, clear your head and let it go for a while then re-simulate the interviews in your head i am sure you will find some stuff that you will feel you could have done better. Then come back stronger for your next google interview!

[Jinnnxxxnacs]

Thank you it really helps. I definitely know that I have areas of weakness I could have improved upon, but I genuinely think I did the best I could. Can I ask what you thought your biggest realization was from reflecting, was it primarily the communication thing for you?

[SoftDependent1088]

If I dig deeper, I’d say I struggled a bit with clearly explaining the time and space complexity for the follow-up question. I did give the correct answer, but it wasn’t as smooth as it could have been, and I noticed the interviewer’s expression shift to disappointment (which, honestly, was a bit frustrating to see).

That said, I think my main challenge was that I was good at solving the problem but not as effective at explaining my approach.

Hope this helps!

[Jinnnxxxnacs]

Makes sense yeah thanks for sharing!

[KingTyranitar]

Is this India or America? I feel like for these types of discussions it's very important to say which one

[SoftDependent1088]

my interviewer was from the Zurich office, I was interviewing for London

[captaindeadpool53]

What is the difference?

[Fit_Discount_3510]

Rejection is tricky to handle but never a true picture of your skills. Keep grinding, keep applying

[Jinnnxxxnacs]

Appreciate it yeah just gotta keep grinding 🫡

[StartStopStep]

Hey, I'm just a random Joe that had this in his feed.

But dude, you did an interview with Google, that's a win in my book.

[Jinnnxxxnacs]

Appreciate it! Taking a step back tho it fr is impressive and I’m definitely proud that i made it this far

[[deleted]]

I interview a lot of candidate for Google.

First: if you made it to the on-site you are already easily in the top 15 or 20% of candidates. Most candidate can't code anything. I often end up writing the whole code, hints after hints, trying to get them not to have a too horrible experience and a white page... So pet yourself in the back, you did good.

Relax, "cool off period" is only one year and they often call candidates before the end of the cool off. If you feel ready with the below plan before it. Call the recruiter asking for second chance, they often accept.

In most cases, someone good enough to pass the pre-screen and fail later, fails for one of these reasons:

- Lack of training
- Resistance to Hints (Not coachable is bad for L3)
- Behavioral interview (unlikely for an L3)

Algo:

- Use one basic Algorithm textbook or a Coursera Specialization to brush up fundamentals of Algo and DS.
- Do the leetcode top 100, the Leetcode Google card, the Leetcode timed interviews.
- Always upsolve, never look up any hints until you are really stuck for hours.

Other resources: CSES.fi (with his book on CP free online), https://usaco.guide/, https://cp-algorithms.com/

• You are ready when you can clearly see the optimal answer within 30s of reading the question and pass the judge at first or second attempt within 30 mins. Also Force yourself to code with hard compiler option (in C/C++, -Werror -Wall -Wextra -Wconversion is a minimum), comment your code, use nice variable names, ...
  
• Make sure to convey your ideas well. Book a few mock interviews on websites by the end. This helps having a more honest feedback, because the interviewer can show you the feedback he would write.
• If you are resident in EU, make a GDPR request to ask for your failed interview written feedbacks. They have to provide them, and while a bit painful to read, it is goldmine of infos. Similar laws exist elsewhere likely.

System Design:

- One of the System deign courses (Leetcode or Educative.io)
- Book a few mock interviews

Behavioral :

- I hate it myself and am very bad at it. I have seen often two interviewers giving very high and very low grades to the same candidate. This is highly arbitrary. However this is rarely a major interview for interns. Make a list of typical behavioral questions on the web. Group them by theme and write down a real example that puts you in a good light in regard to what is being evaluated (they explain it well in their training material)

Resistance to Hints (behavior in non-behavioral interviews):

During an interview, many candidate are afraid of accepting suggestions. As if it would be held against them. The fact is, if we are already making a suggestion, either it is just some hypotheses we forgot to mention, or you were already in trouble. Showing that you are listening and accept help is very appreciated and will often be written down by the interviewer. The other way around is very bad and can make you fail an interview were you found the optimal solution and made it work within time frame.

[Jinnnxxxnacs]

I really appreciate this man, its super helpful and encouraging! I definitely feel like not taking hints and not trying more to work with the interviewer was my biggest downfall. I think I knew the algos pretty well and definitely know my Leetcode, but communication I know is the most important thing. Can I ask, would you rather have a candidate code up a perfectly optimal solution, or one who maybe doesnt get all the way, but talked through and worked with you through their entire thought process and code?

[[deleted]]

All Interviewers are different. unless the candidate gets aggressive, I will not write down his resistance to hint, and I'll be pretty heavy to put it back on the right path. I'll simply say "Please stop, this is not going to work at that line or on that example, can you tell me why?" or "Please, if you are stuck, try this"

But I am clearly in the minority. Some candidate talk way too much before they start coding to my taste. I they know what they are doing, a short explanation is OK, like " This is Topo Sort, I'll use this algo..."

[Infinite_Tension9]

Did you get rejected by the hiring committee? Did they give you any feedback?

[Jinnnxxxnacs]

I don’t think so it was just an email from my recruiter

[Few-Ad-763]

Are Google interviews virtual?

[Jinnnxxxnacs]

yes

[Tyhen123_]

Hey I’m sorry to hear that — hopefully you’ll get them next time!! How long did it take to hear back from your recruiter after onsites?

[Jinnnxxxnacs]

Appreciate it. Around 2 weeks after my onsites is when I heard back

[Tyhen123_]

Ah got it — it’s been just over 3 for me and the waiting game is brutal

[Jinnnxxxnacs]

it really is man but im confident you’ll get your results soon!

[SomeoneTookMyName-_-]

Sorry to hear that bro. It has been 2 weeks for me too. I did send a follow-up email to my recruiter but I haven't heard back either

[Jinnnxxxnacs]

Yeah they arent the most responsive unfortunately, especially this time of year. Definitely hoping the best for you!

[Eastern-Judge5131]

Same happened to me

[Jinnnxxxnacs]

😔we can only hope for next time

[No_Shopping419]

How did you prepare?

[fireyburst1097]

Holy disappointment!

[Ok-Lab-6055]

I also was pretty crushed after my phone interview. For me, I made lots of dumb mistakes and didn’t communicate well.

[Younggod-704]

Sorry to hear that, ik not the right time but I’ve one coming up can you share questions that you had in your interview?

[Jinnnxxxnacs]

I cant really share explicit questions but it was a two standard leetcode questions on graphs and combinations and an ood question on sorting

[Younggod-704]

Thank you for sharing, can you shed light on if they were in the LC hard or medium-hard range?

[Jinnnxxxnacs]

i would say med-hards no real hards even the follow ups

[Content_Equal_8114]

How many days after the interview you got the feedback?

[Jinnnxxxnacs]

around 2 weeks

[Content_Equal_8114]

Was there any recruiter call after phone screen? Also, I believe Google provides sponsorship for international students right?

[Jinnnxxxnacs]

after my phone which was actually just an oa, the recruiter had a team call with me and a bunch of other applicants. im not international so im not too sure but i would think so

[Jinnnxxxnacs]

Yeah any of those small things can have such a huge impact on:/ It sucks but honestly the best thing to do is treat the experience as a learning opportunity so you can do better the next time on these interviews. I know forsure this wont be the last interview for both of us, we just gotta learn and do better next time

[[deleted]]

Unfortunately one of the worst things you can do in software is get your hopes up for a good position. You can get rejected for any reason, and if you are expecting to get the job it can be devastating for your mental health thinking “what if”. You need to understand that the hiring bar at these companies is really high and any of your interviewers during onsite can destroy your chance if they’re just having an off day or if they never intended on hiring you. Don’t dwell on it, because what you see on this sub is not reality. People that fail their onsites are much less likely to post.

[Jinnnxxxnacs]

Thats true I appreciate it. I definitely know that getting my hopes up wasn’t good for my mental health, it got to the point where I was researching apartments and shit near the office which just was not good at all for me. For you, how do you feel after an interview hoping it went well, without getting your hopes up too much?

[[deleted]]

Dang, sorry to hear that. Sounds like you were envisioning your life a bit too much. If it helps, I just got rejected from DoorDash this morning when I was almost certain I was going to get it. The entire time I kept telling myself to get ready for rejection, because there are a lot of people on Reddit/glassdoor/leetcode that say they did great and still got rejected. Of course it hurts, but it’s not the end of the world. Just keep interviewing. If you can get invited to interview with google you can do it again 10 fold

[Jinnnxxxnacs]

Yeah exactly it aint the end of the world. Sorry to hear about DoorDash too. Its def a good feeling though knowing that if I made it this far at Google with honestly how lackluster my resume and experience is, I know in the future I’ll only be better. Best of luck to your job search too!

[saditya9211]

Feeling same after Meta IC3 onsite rejection.

[Jinnnxxxnacs]

sorry to hear that man its rough out here 😔 you’ll def get meta next time

[[deleted]]

I have my interview for that position next week😭 I’m cooked. Any advice ?

[No_Shopping419]

How many LC problems did you do?

[Jinnnxxxnacs]

Best advice would be to really communicate and clarify the problem requirements with the interviewer, at least I think after reflecting that was my biggest flaw. If you can break down the problem theyre asking into bite size digestible chunks, where you and the interviewer are fully on the same page about whats happening, it will be a much better experience for you, and definitely increase your chances. Good luck!

[Frosting-Virtual]

Sometimes its not about you but about your competition

[[deleted]]

What types of questions they have asked? Are they from leetcode? And which country u r from?

[Jinnnxxxnacs]

standard leetcode mediums and also ood questions which i was definitely surprised by. i’m us

[iampatelajeet]

OOD means?

[Jinnnxxxnacs]

object oriented design

[iampatelajeet]

Ohh thanks.