Intern interview with Google

By Chris Hinds
in Introduce Yourself

 Share

Recommended Posts

Neowinian

Chris Hinds

Posted
Posted

Hi Guys.

I'm new here and have been browsing the forms. And wondered if anyone can offer any help/advice.

I have a phone interview with Google on Friday in the UK. The Internship is for: 2013 Corporate Operations Engineer

I have just received an email outlineing the next steps, with regards to the phone interview and what may be asked.

I have also been provided with a Google DOC for me to do some coding exercises on if asked too. This is where i am scared Sh***ess, I am not a coder/programmer and really not sure what to do from here.

Here is the email I received:

One of our engineers, will call you on your number ***********.

Please confirm that this date and time will work for you and the phone number is correct. The call will be conducted in English and last approximately 45 minutes. Please be aware that this is a full interview for this role. Progression to the next stage of interviews is dependent on how well you perform.

For the interview, we need you to have a computer with broadband Internet access and a current web browser. This is because we might be using Google Docs to carry out some coding exercises. This blank document allows the interviewer to see any code you write, in real time.

Please click on the link below to access the shared document Chris Hinds, PS, November 30th, 2012: (link here). You will be tested on the following (amongst others): * Any system administration experience (incl knowledge level of all operating systems) * Communication * Logic, analysis & creative problem solving.

Again, here is more information about the internship program:

To be eligible for an internship, you must be returning to university afterwards, or the internship should be a formal part of completing your studies. We accept interns at all levels of education: Bachelors, Masters and PhD.

Any help/advice anyone can offer would be great.

Chris.

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1122204-intern-interview-with-google/
Share on other sites
Grand Master

Charisma Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted

Not sure of specifics, but overall for phone interviews: definitely make sure you have some water nearby in case your mouth gets dry. You will be a bit nervous, but take a deep breath, and don't speak too quickly or anything. Sound confident, smile at times (sounds weird but people can sort of pick up on if you are smiling/relaxed, even over the phone) and if you have a sense of humour, it always helps if you can make them laugh, they will remember you better.

Overall just try to feel secure in your abilities and enjoy showing off what you can do.

Best of luck, and hopefully others in here will have some more specific advice for that scenario :)

Neowinian

Chris Hinds

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Not sure of specifics, but overall for phone interviews: definitely make sure you have some water nearby in case your mouth gets dry. You will be a bit nervous, but take a deep breath, and don't speak too quickly or anything. Sound confident, smile at times (sounds weird but people can sort of pick up on if you are smiling/relaxed, even over the phone) and if you have a sense of humour, it always helps if you can make them laugh, they will remember you better.

Overall just try to feel secure in your abilities and enjoy showing off what you can do.

Best of luck, and hopefully others in here will have some more specific advice for that scenario :)

Thanks very much for the advice :)

Grand Master

still1

Posted
Posted

This is because we might be using Google Docs to carry out some coding exercises.

the email says they might but I would say relax. They might not ask you to do it

Usually for interns they wont ask for complex programming but will look for analytic and problem solving skills.

They will look for the approach you take to solve a problem (Some don't even want to know if you solve it or not).

Try concentrating on these mentioned.

*Any system administration experience (incl knowledge level of all operating systems) * Communication * Logic, analysis & creative problem solving.

Neowinian

Chris Hinds

Posted
  • Author
Posted

This is because we might be using Google Docs to carry out some coding exercises.

the email says they might but I would say relax. They might not ask you to do it

Usually for interns they wont ask for complex programming but will look for analytic and problem solving skills.

They will look for the approach you take to solve a problem (Some don't even want to know if you solve it or not).

Try concentrating on these mentioned.

*Any system administration experience (incl knowledge level of all operating systems) * Communication * Logic, analysis & creative problem solving.

Thanks for the advice, i will be sure to focus on those topics that they mentioned.
Grand Master

John S. Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted

My brother-in-law interviewed to manage one of their data warehouses but didn't want to relocate. The interview was anything but standard. One of the questions I recall him mentioning was If you had a school bus full of ping pong balls, what method would you use to best estimate how many there are?

Grand Master

tiagosilva29

Posted
Posted
One of the questions I recall him mentioning was If you had a school bus full of ping pong balls, what method would you use to best estimate how many there are?
Depends: old or new ping-pong balls, what type of school bus and is it empty (no seats or gear).

In short, the answer he wanted to hear would be: Well, I'd google it!

Grand Master

neufuse Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted

My brother-in-law interviewed to manage one of their data warehouses but didn't want to relocate. The interview was anything but standard. One of the questions I recall him mentioning was If you had a school bus full of ping pong balls, what method would you use to best estimate how many there are?

gawd that's almost as bad as this interview question....

If you had a baskball court of standard size, how many people would fit in the stands.... yeah that was the entire question.... well what is standard size? how are the stands configured, how may rows are there? etc etc.... but no you HAD to answer the question from what they gave you... and somehow the answer was 5,000?

This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Posts

    • Microsoft's new Xbox Shutdown change promises massive power efficiency gains

      By PWazzle · Posted

      We need a game update frequency setting. * Right now your recent games will be auto updated overnight, and your unrecent games won't be updated. The bifurcation of recent and unrecent is fine, but we should be able to control the update frequency for both, with any of the following options: 1. Don't auto update 2. Auto update weekly 3. Auto update overnight 3. Auto update immediately (push) i.e. When I'm playing a lot, I want my recently played games to have push updates, so if a dev releases an update at 4pm, it's already downloaded on my Xbox by the time I get home. The current overnight cadence leaves a lot of wasted time waiting for updates on slow connections. My infrequently played games in ok with deferring to overnight, or maybe weekly, but let the users control their frequency. Basing it on data and last played sounds smart but ignores the human reality that often when I'm busiest and have the least time for games is when it sucks the most to come home and find a huge update list waiting for you.
    • U.S. delegation throws away all burner phones and gifts from China before takeoff

      By AsherGZ · Posted

      Genocide is intent to exterminate and both the Israeli government AND its people openly declare, even boast about their intent to exterminate Arabs. This society of sick psychopaths has even made songs about it. Zionist means believing Israel should exist as an religious ethno-state where only Jews have rights and everyone else is second class citizen. As for the blood libel thing, we already know zionists get off on killing children. We also know Israel is a safe heaven for all the pedophiles and rapists of the world. Honestly, after what we saw in the Epstein files, I wouldn't put anything past this depraved death cult. Of course all atrocities committed by tHe wOrLds mOsT mOrAl aRmY are always "unproven or taken out of context". Unfortunately for them, their soldiers are dumb enough to leave a trail of their war crimes all over social media. Then again, when you live in a society that's obsessed with death and destruction, posting videos of yourself in the act of ransacking homes and desecrating religious monuments earns you brownie points I guess. Israel is the only society in the world where people come out on the roads for the right to **** prisoners. Also claiming that the BBC said this and AP said that without so much as a link has gotten me curious. Are all zionists this dumb? I really hope you aren't getting paid for this because this is some low effort propaganda.
    • Should Microsoft be forced to stop promoting Edge over other browsers?

      By Som · Posted

      Why not just disable it?
    • Microsoft is bringing big performance improvements to OneDrive on Mac

      By TarasBuria · Posted

      Microsoft is bringing big performance improvements to OneDrive on Mac by Taras Buria Microsoft has announced a major update for the OneDrive client on macOS. Today, the company released version 26.098, promising significantly faster sync, optimized CPU usage, a smaller memory footprint, and better energy efficiency. In a newly published blog post, Microsoft acknowledged that changes implemented in OneDrive for Mac in 2022 brought some unwanted side effects. Due to architectural changes and the need to keep the OneDrive sync engine unchanged, Microsoft created a hidden cache folder. With time, it would cause reliability and performance issues for customers. Now, Microsoft is ditching the old engine for native sync, delivering a faster, more reliable experience. As a result of this change, OneDrive for Mac now integrates more deeply into the operating system, offers about two times faster sync performance, and uses fewer system resources. While the hidden folder still exists, the app only uses it to store files that have not been uploaded yet, link file types, and macOS-related packages. In total, even when holding hundreds of files, the temporary folder does not take more than a couple of megabytes on the drive. Besides optimizations, the new sync engine enables external drive support, allowing you to keep your OneDrive folder on a removable drive (it should meet all the requirements). Microsoft is now rolling out the updated OneDrive client for Microsoft 365 Insiders. To check if your Mac has the new sync engine, go to the About tab and check the app version. If it ends with something like 26H, you are on the new engine. If not, you are on the old one. Microsoft says it will take a few weeks to complete the rollout to Insiders, but it won't say when to expect the update in the stable channel. Big performance updates for OneDrive on Mac came right after Microsoft confirmed it would soon kill document editing in Office 2019 for Mac due to expiring certificates. This change will force users to look for alternatives or switch to Microsoft 365.
    • Hi my name is Olivia and I am from Australia

      By +Good Bot, Bad Bot · Posted

      Sorry but that makes no sense. What does using the same laptop have to do with anything? 

  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      StaticMatrix earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Rookie
      lamborghiniv10 went up a rank
      Rookie
    • One Month Later
      pinnclepd earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • First Post
      X-No-file earned a badge
      First Post
    • One Month Later
      johnjacobb40 earned a badge
      One Month Later

  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      516
    2. 2
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      211
    3. 3
      +Edouard
      147
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      92
    5. 5
      ATLien_0
      82
    Show More

  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!