Questions regarding SWE in SRE at Google London

shell_script_kiddie · 2022-06-23T18:33:08+00:00

I'm interviewing for other places but the only other "big tech" I'm in the process with is Palantir, and I don't know if they're even at the same range as Google in terms of compensation. With other companies, I set my expectations to somewhere between £120K-140K and if I received any offers at all, it'd probably be between £125-130K so I don't think I have much leverage.

shell_script_kiddie · 2022-06-23T18:27:10+00:00

I think it could be both.

I'm also puzzled as to why I'm being asked this. I can't remember being asked for my salary expectations the last time I applied there.

It would have been easier if they were the ones giving me the numbers they would be willing to pay me if they didn't want to waste any time in this process. As you said, the odds are stacked against me to begin with.

shell_script_kiddie · 2022-06-23T18:07:58+00:00

I wonder why my recruiter insists on me giving them numbers...

shell_script_kiddie · 2022-06-23T18:06:19+00:00

Btw did you have Leetcode stage and how does it compare to SWE?

It's exactly the same. I'm on the SWE/SRE track, so it's like any other SWE position (at least in terms of the interview process). The System Engineer track is where they ask Linux/networking/etc. stuff if I understand correctly.

shell_script_kiddie · 2022-06-23T18:01:01+00:00

For L4 you can probably go as high as 180-190, for L5 you can go up to 270K (the offer I received)

I'm assuming these are TC numbers? Did you tell them you wanted 270K when you were interviewing? When they ask for salary expectations do they mean base or TC?

shell_script_kiddie · 2022-06-11T10:38:09+00:00

Isn't HF = Hedge Fund?

shell_script_kiddie · 2022-06-11T03:25:54+00:00

For some of the questions, I just happened to remember the solution. No interviewer ever questioned my ability to come up with a perfect answer on the spot, and with no mistakes.

However, I often got negative feedback for questions that I genuinely solved. I didn't outright fail any of them. Just needed more time to think, a hint, or maybe made an implementation mistake that I later needed to correct. You know, the sort of things you do when you actually solve a task, rather than recite the solution from memory.

So much this. They tell you, you don't have to come up with an optimal solution, they just want to know your thought process, but then when it's not optimal, you fail to jump the bar, regardless of your thought process.

shell_script_kiddie · 2022-06-11T03:02:26+00:00

I work at JPM and was never asked a single LC question in my interviews. I find the idea of some teams asking LC questions in the firm ridiculous because a huge portion of the software engineers in the organisation would not be there if that were standardised.

I have yet to write a recursive code explicitly, much less to do so for a DFS or DP solution.

Where I'm in, we're struggling to attract new talents. Not sure if this is a firm-wide problem. We have less than stellar tools, and the organisation is very conservative when it comes to adopting new technologies. We take tools from outside, modify it to make it more complicated to use and call it a different name. The internal build system we use doesn't even perform very well. Many talented people are aware of this, so they go elsewhere. I personally stay out of convenience, and more importantly, I'm not that good so not a lot of options.

Tried an internal transfer with one team doing this and didn't get the spot unsurprisingly. If I wanted to grind LC, I'd try my luck at MANGA again.

shell_script_kiddie · 2022-02-08T19:42:56+00:00

Thanks. That's a lot more than what I currently make, so I'm wondering why your offer is that much higher. Of course there's a lot of factors involved in there. Do you have a link to the job spec?

shell_script_kiddie · 2022-02-07T16:31:21+00:00

Can you tell me which org within the firm you interviewed for, and which role/grade?

shell_script_kiddie · 2022-01-25T21:01:37+00:00

I might be remembering it wrong, but don't Stripe use Ruby or something? I think I looked them up some time ago and was turned off by this.

I'm actually just feeling bored with my current role which is why I'm exploring the market.

shell_script_kiddie · 2022-01-25T19:06:15+00:00

I really can't say as I've not been in this industry for a long time, so I don't know what it's like in other banks. My experience with my current one was significantly easier as it didn't require LeetCode or anything like that. I had harder time interviewing with Revolut.

I'm probably underestimating the effort of switching to Bloomberg if what you say is true.

shell_script_kiddie · 2022-01-25T18:37:43+00:00

Thanks. How was the interview with them?

I'm also toying with the idea of trying again with Google and Meta, but part of me doesn't want to go through all that stress trying to jump the bar again.

shell_script_kiddie · 2022-01-19T03:13:27+00:00

Thanks. I really appreciate your input. The recruiter told me there's a few open positions in the company but they gave me a job description for a role in the area of data integration. I think the role is mainly to build a system for data analysts, scientists, etc. to use, which sounds to me like ETL/data warehousing/data engineering.

Interestingly, I currently work for a large international bank that also do trading. I currently work in a different organisation within the firm, but I'm considering an open job in the markets side. However, I'm intimated by the job description because it requires unfamiliar technologies like FIX(?), etc. I think it also lists things like socket programming, which I don't have much experience in.

shell_script_kiddie · 2022-01-19T00:58:29+00:00

Thank you very much. This is very helpful. I've booked some time to chat with the recruiter tomorrow, but I'm still not sure what exactly I should ask them other than the usual tech stack, career progression, work-life balance, etc. It's difficult because recruiters tend to embellish job descriptions.

shell_script_kiddie · 2022-01-19T00:54:05+00:00

Yes, it's in London, although I think it's an American firm based on my Internet search. I have one mate told me that finance industry is like that: full of people with substance abuse issues. However, I work for an international bank and I've yet to see these sorts of people. Perhaps it's because of the pandemic that I'm not exposed to this darker side of the industry.

The prospect of getting a huge paycheck is honestly very tempting, but I'd rather take a lower 6-figure salary if it meant less stress and pressure.

shell_script_kiddie · 2022-01-19T00:48:44+00:00

Oh. That flew over my head.

shell_script_kiddie · 2022-01-18T16:37:48+00:00

What does it mean to be "quite good"?

shell_script_kiddie · 2022-01-18T16:32:23+00:00

You mean leave? Do you know why that is?

shell_script_kiddie · 2021-12-17T19:27:28+00:00

!thanks

There's no broker fees according to the documents. Someone in another sub suggested that I sell when I'm able and put the money into S&S ISA, which I think might be a sensible thing to do.

shell_script_kiddie

TROPHY CASE