[asuffield]

I am not allowed to share our data with you about how well the process is performing.

But I would like to point out that of the two of us, only the one who doesn't know is suggesting that we have "terrible hiring figures" or a "terrible interview process".

[ludable]

Disclaimer (or, using less of a humblebrag, "my claim"): I'm a former Google engineering manager.

I was hired when getting into Google was arguably more difficult than it is now (2007). During my years at Google, I conducted hundreds of interviews and managed dozens of engineers at Google. I left of my own accord, in case there's any temptation to question that.

In my personal experience, the high false-negative rate in exchange for hiring only the best people is a myth that perdures from the early times. It's also a great morale booster for those who need to feel part of a select elite.

I had the pleasure to work with many exceptional people at Google and I learned more from them that I could have ever dreamt. As the organization grew to tens of thousands of engineers, I've also worked with many who are definitely not the cream of the crop. Same for management (proof: they hired me). And sadly saw very talented people rejected for stupid reasons because they just couldn't, or didn't want to fit into a mold.

Of course, you'll point out, this is just anecdotal data, and you have internal, non-shareable data that proves you right and we just have to believe you because you're currently an SRE at Google.

My point is that bringing a tired, cold argument about false negatives sounds elitist and inconsiderate. It's obvious that discrimination has taken place that has affected a fellow engineer and human being. I would be amazed to be helped at an Apple Store by such a talented individual. I would love to chat with him about his past work and share war stories of he had some time.

Your comment and posterior response smack me of elitism and lack of sympathy and tact.

It's a ruthless industry but we need not be.

[asuffield]

Since you're posting from a throwaway account (149 days old with no prior comments): please email me your old @google.com username. Mine is the obvious one. I'll happily add a confirmation to this thread when I get it, it only takes a moment to check.

Yes, there are many things I just can't share, and the only data point you can get in that area is my own opinion. How much value you place on that is up to you; I'm giving you the only thing I can. If that is of no value to you, you're free to discount it. I freely acknowledge that I can't prove you wrong. The only alternative I have is to say nothing at all, which is what I usually do. If you would prefer to have no input from people like me at all, by all means say so.

> It's obvious that discrimination has taken place that has affected a fellow engineer and human being.

I would like to make it clear that I am responding only to the comment I responded to, which raised a very specific question that I could answer. I do not feel that I have any basis to comment on the original article; please do not associate what I am saying with that.

[asuffield]

Hi, downvoters who aren't commenting.

What exactly is your objection to this post?

[PhantomGremlin]

I didn't downvote, but I'll take a shot at answering. Your post had a touch of condescension, sort of: "well I work at Google and you don't, so I obviously know better than you ...".

Kind of reminds me of this HN comment and rejoinder: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079

   Did you win the Putnam?

   Yes, I did.

You generally don't know the history of the people you're interacting with here on HN, so it's not always appropriate to act so smug about where you work.

[throwaway36912]

I am also a googler, and the attitude you had definitely felt weird to me. Since you asked for a proof before from another googler / xgoogler, here is mine:

echo "Your Manager Name Here" > file; shasum file b8de53741d9e64711d4f47dd3a409230fc242fac

I made 30+ interviews before i got bored, for the reasons explained by ludable@. That's a personal choice, but i didn't buy much into asking useless and weird data structure questions. The attitude interviewers had wrt the "false negative" was also really artificial, and also felt elitist. You could really feel that when interviewers were thinking of/discussing new questions, and you could feel how "proud" they were when they found something not even remotely relevant to their day to day job.

I have been at google more than you have, that might be a factor in my thoughts, too.

[ocdtrekkie]

Basically "just take my word for it, I'm at Google".