
Ask HN: How do I make myself employable at Google as a programmer? - sina
I love programming. I have been working at a couple of startups in the last 5 years. I want to move my career forward and improve my chances of being hired at a big company that is relatively more stable. I am in my early 30s and I am feeling insecure about the future. I have sent my CV a few times to Google and I didn&#x27;t get a single response back.<p>Outside work, I write little programs for fun and to solve my own problems. I contributed to a couple of famous open source projects and blogged about it. I have put most of my personal projects on Github (link in bio). I am willing to put as much hours as required to make myself more employable. But I feel stuck. I don&#x27;t know what to focus on, what projects to start, or what books to read to get them to notice me.<p>I would appreciate any advice or suggestions. Thanks.
======
arkro
Read this blog : [http://haseebq.com/](http://haseebq.com/)

This guy majored in English, was a world class poker player before he made his
move into tech. In 1 year he learned enough to crush every single interview in
top tech companies ( Google, Uber. Airbnb, etc. to name a few ). His blog
posts provides information in extreme details. It might be of help. Cheers!

~~~
samfisher83
So I guess its more about learning to play the interview game than anything
else?

~~~
atmosx
Yes. As Einstein said:

 _You have to learn the rules of the game. Then you have to play the game
better than anyone else_

It's not as easy as it sounds.

~~~
dang
Not Einstein but Feinstein:

[https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein#Misattributed](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein#Misattributed)

~~~
atmosx
Good catch! I am a little pedantic about quotes, but still get attributions
wrong :-)

------
nickjj
Google reached out to me for a software development position about 9 months
ago and the recruiter told me the main contributing factor was GitHub but he
ended up making the initial contact through LinkedIn.

I never bothered applying because I didn't want to invest a lot of time
preparing for the interview.

I would say keep doing what you're doing, just more of it. It wouldn't hurt to
learn languages they use internally too.

------
aphextron
> I have sent my CV a few times to Google and I didn't get a single response
> back.

This is not how you get a job in tech. Big companies like Google receive
thousands of resumes from all over the world on a daily basis. Linkedin and
Github are all you need to worry about. Build cool things, network with
interesting people, and eventually they will start knocking on your door.

------
umbs
Over time I collected many tips, blog posts and links to prepare for
interviews at companies like Google, FB etc. But I didn't prepare for them
yet, but I hope you'll use them.

Granddaddy of all collections:

===

[https://github.com/andreis/interview](https://github.com/andreis/interview)

Blogs

===

[https://medium.com/always-be-coding/abc-always-be-
coding-d5f...](https://medium.com/always-be-coding/abc-always-be-
coding-d5f8051afce2#.7x1rs0cik)

[https://medium.com/always-be-coding/four-steps-to-google-
wit...](https://medium.com/always-be-coding/four-steps-to-google-without-a-
degree-8f381aa6bd5e#.a3wq9jdkk)

[https://medium.com/@dpup/whiteboarding-4df873dbba2e#.z3ya1rp...](https://medium.com/@dpup/whiteboarding-4df873dbba2e#.z3ya1rpsp)

[http://www.restlessprogrammer.com/2013/09/hacking-coding-
int...](http://www.restlessprogrammer.com/2013/09/hacking-coding-
interview.html)

[https://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-engineering/get-
that...](https://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-engineering/get-that-job-at-
facebook/10150964382448920)

[http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/GuerrillaInterviewing...](http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/GuerrillaInterviewing3.html)

[http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000073.html](http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000073.html)

[http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2008/06/done-and-gets-
things...](http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2008/06/done-and-gets-things-
smart.html)

[http://haseebq.com/](http://haseebq.com/) <\--- just added after comment from
@arkro

Hiring Companies (like TripleByte) or Companies giving you training for a fee:

=== [https://www.hireart.com/](https://www.hireart.com/)

[https://hired.com/](https://hired.com/)

[http://interviewkickstart.com/](http://interviewkickstart.com/)

[https://www.interviewcake.com/](https://www.interviewcake.com/)

[https://www.pramp.com/](https://www.pramp.com/)

[https://triplebyte.com/](https://triplebyte.com/)

[https://www.smarthires.com/](https://www.smarthires.com/)

Interview Prep Sites ===

[http://leetcode.com/](http://leetcode.com/)

[http://www.geeksforgeeks.org/](http://www.geeksforgeeks.org/)

[https://www.careercup.com/](https://www.careercup.com/)

[https://community.topcoder.com/tc?module=ProblemArchive](https://community.topcoder.com/tc?module=ProblemArchive)

[https://codility.com/programmers/](https://codility.com/programmers/)

[http://interviewing.io/](http://interviewing.io/)

[https://www.quora.com/Where-can-I-find-difficult-
algorithm-d...](https://www.quora.com/Where-can-I-find-difficult-algorithm-
data-structure-problems)

[http://www.gainlo.co/#!/](http://www.gainlo.co/#!/)

[https://www.interviewbit.com/](https://www.interviewbit.com/)

[https://github.com/mission-peace/interview/wiki](https://github.com/mission-
peace/interview/wiki)

------
dudul
I receive messages from Google's recruiters once in a while (maybe twice a
year). Always through LinkedIn so I would recommend to polish your LinkedIn
profile.

------
bbcbasic
Why Google in particular? How about the other tech giants?

