So here are some key things I learned about bombing my final round at google for an SRE.

  • You will be judged on your competitive programming skills than your knowledge of Linux and systems.
  • You should be able to communicate the code you have written properly to the interviewer.
  • The 5-hour interview is tiring, practice it with people.
  • You can perfectly prepared but one bad interview can mentally derail you.
  • Practice whiteboarding.
  • Be ready to accept failure.
  • Your interviewer can be an prick and will try to destroy your confidence, be calm at all cost.
  • If you have to prepare for the interview, means you are not yet ready for google.
  • I lost 6kgs of weight in 3 months in preparation, don’t do it.
  • Try to interview in sunny vale, Philadelphia, etc Interviewing in 3 degrees Celcius in NYC is not fun at all.
  • Don’t be depressed if the hiring committee does not go forward with an offer.
  • The starting salary of an SRE (University Graduate) is $1,28,000 base salary. Don’t do it for the money. Do it for the learning and impact.
  • SRE was invented at google and I would have killed to be one and grow over there. You can fail, it’s ok. Grow from it.
  • If you are experienced, you will have 5 rounds + lunch. 3 coding and 2 system design.
  • Google is not the end of the world.

https://landing.google.com/sre/

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