Mikhail Naganov has written a handy post for engineers who are stressing out about interviewing. He’s spot-on when he says:
“what are the staffing needs in smart companies? They want people that can tackle complex problems in new problem areas. They want people that are responsible and passionate about their work. And, of course, they want people that can explain their solutions to colleagues.”
We’re going to grill you when you come through, but it’s not like we expect you to solve all of our problems correctly – if you do that, expect an offer before you leave (unless you’re a jerk – we have a policy against hiring those…)
One more resource I’d point you at (hat tip to Mikhail) – Steve Yegge’s poston interviewing at Google. Worth a gander or two… That said, very funny counterpoint to Steve’s raving about Google culture can be found here (hat to William Wechtenhiser for that one).
“…very funny counterpoint to Steve’s raving about Google culture…”—it’s not really a counterpoint. Did you see the position at Google they point at? Sales Manager! Double-dumb for an engineer to apply there.
BTW, nice blog
Lol on that Mikhail – personally, I thought the EA to Cashmore sounded like the most soul-killing one…