The Google Interview
4:00 PM -- I've disparaged the Google Life before, and I meant what I said. But it's hard not to get caught up in the enthusiasm when you meet someone who's actually applying there.
One guy who shared my plane flight home from NXTcomm recently completed a PhD in geology, of all things, and was being flown to Mountain View for a job interview with Google Maps. And he was pretty excited.
The interview was scheduled for five-and-a-half hours on a Friday. But rather than ship the candidate back to the Midwest, Google opted to pay for a weekend stay, encouraging him to explore (and hopefully fall in love with) The Valley. They paid for car and hotel and some food; Google inexplicably skimped on his per diem, at just $35.
Sounds as if Google was already interested in the guy. One thing, though -- being from the Midwest, he's totally unprepared for Silicon Valley housing prices. He's done with school and wants to own a place, and he didn't like hearing about $400,000 townhouses.
Can't imagine him turning the job down, though. Who would have thought geology could take you such places?
— Craig Matsumoto, West Coast Editor, Light Reading
One guy who shared my plane flight home from NXTcomm recently completed a PhD in geology, of all things, and was being flown to Mountain View for a job interview with Google Maps. And he was pretty excited.
The interview was scheduled for five-and-a-half hours on a Friday. But rather than ship the candidate back to the Midwest, Google opted to pay for a weekend stay, encouraging him to explore (and hopefully fall in love with) The Valley. They paid for car and hotel and some food; Google inexplicably skimped on his per diem, at just $35.
Sounds as if Google was already interested in the guy. One thing, though -- being from the Midwest, he's totally unprepared for Silicon Valley housing prices. He's done with school and wants to own a place, and he didn't like hearing about $400,000 townhouses.
Can't imagine him turning the job down, though. Who would have thought geology could take you such places?
— Craig Matsumoto, West Coast Editor, Light Reading
