We asked a Googler how he got his job

If you ask any computer science or engineering major what their dream company to work for is, chances are they’ll say “Google.” For many college students, Google is a dream.

Because of this, we spoke with Oscar Rodriguez, a Google employee of four years. He told us about his job, working for Google, Google’s interview process, and gave us some advice specifically geared towards college students.

What is your position at Google?

Head of Safe Browsing Operations in Mountain View, CA (the Googleplex).

Google’s Safe Browsing website describes the job as “identifying unsafe websites and notifying users and webmasters so they can protect themselves from harm. By providing details about the threats we detect and the warnings we show, we hope to shine some light on the state of web security and encourage safer web security practices.

How long have you been working there?

Four years – I joined October 2012.

What made you decide to pursue a job at Google?

Google is a market leader at one of the most innovative companies in the world. On top of this, they have a number of perks that you can’t find at any other company. We have bring your kids to work day as well as bring your parents to work day. We get free food, massages, hair cuts, access to a gym etc. We also have opportunities to work abroad— I was able to live in Brazil for six months opening a new office in São Paulo.

What was the interview process like?

I interviewed the first time in 2010 and got rejected – I made it through the first three rounds.

The second time I interviewed there were about eight or nine interviews over the course of about two months. The interviews mostly focus on problem solving— though they mostly want to see how you approach problems rather than the actual answer to it.

What are the strangest questions you got during the interview process? How did you answer them?

Google used to ask strange questions during the interview process. The first time I interviewed they asked me “How many golf balls can you fit on a 747 airplane?” and “How would you get out of a blender if you were shrunk to dime size?”. After some research, Google realized that those types of questions gave no sufficient information about the applicant, so now we focus on questions specific to the job you would be doing.

For example, I ask people some of these questions when I interview them: “How would you create a search engine?” “How could you identify fraudulent reviews on a product?”

For the answer you often want to lay out a high level approach. Start by saying these are the big three thing I would look at and then explore them deeply.

I prepared for these types of questions doing consulting case interview drills with Darden.

Did you feel intimidated by the name?

No, but once you come in a lot of people have “imposter syndrome” or thinking that they don’t belong once they get in.

When I first started at Google there were people who were world salsa dancing champions and people who used to work at NASA, so it was intimidating, but soon you realize that you all made it to the same place.

Do you have any interview tips especially for college students?

You have to actually try. You have to be OK with rejection because often it’s not about you – it can be about another applicant they like better, or maybe they already filled the position; it doesn’t always have something to do with you as an applicant.

Don’t just interview because it’s Google – do it because you like the job or the career. Don’t do a disservice to the things you actually want to do.

For interview questions that measure problem solving abilities, I find it easiest to break up the problem into smaller pieces. Be sure to demonstrate curiosity throughout your interview.

It’s important to note that interviewing is a skill like most things. Make sure you practice interviewing with as many people as you can.

Do you think a job at Google is restricted to those in STEM majors and why?

No, Google like any other companies has a lot of different functions from marketing to legal to engineering to finance to sales. All of those come from different backgrounds. product management and engineering need a STEM background, but for things like legal or marketing you don’t you need a relevant background.

A lot of people with STEM backgrounds go to business school to understand the why and to learn how to sell things and make money off them. It helps to speak both the engineering and business language. For example, I majored in Computer Science and then attended the Darden School of Business.