I have no college degree. It did not come up during interviews at all. Having a degree gets you into Google at a higher pay grade if you have no experience. Otherwise, it's experience that matters.
Well, I think people like despite being having all it takes can never work there. You see I can research, think and build quickly. I can push long hours, I can do weekends. I can virtually work and solve any problems by reading manuals. I have worked at back breaking deadlines, delivered stuff when others said it was impossible.But I don't remember math theorems. And am not too much into text books. Unless those books are like OnLisp(Paul Graham), Higher Order Perl(Mark Jason Dominus)... Kind of books.
Yes, you will need to know what a binary search is. But you can read "Programming Pearls" and that will be enough. (Good book, BTW.) You don't have to be an algorithms expert, you just have to be competent. It's not as hard as you think it is.
Having dealt with the Google interview process and declined to continue: Maybe that is the typical process, but for me the experience was a long series of ridiculous questions that went into details about stuff that it makes no sense for anyone to memorize, and where the interviewer didn't seem to understand when I pointed out issues with the questions. Frankly, if that guy had worked for me, I'd have wanted to "manage him out" (and if I'd taken the position he would have worked for me).
The recruiter agreed with me, FWIW, and got the results thrown out without me even asking, and I got the distinct impression that she and many other recruiters at Google are extremely frustrated at the how the technical interviews are conducted. In the end I couldn't be bothered, as I wasn't particularly interested in the first place and had another offer on the table (took less time from start to finish than it took Google to arrange the first phone screen).
Anyway, my recommendation to anyone that interviews at Google and think the interviews are unreasonable: If you want to continue the process, detail any issues to the interviewer, and give them a chance to fight your corner. Chances are good that they will as long as you give them ammunition. Of course that assumes you actually do know your stuff and isn't just trying to sneak one past them.
I remember early in my career, before I had the chance to really build an application of any major size, I was given the opportunity to look at the source code of an application that I used frequently. I always felt like it was built by geniuses working well beyond my skillset, but once I saw the code, I remember thinking "that's it?" It wasn't the flawless work of art I imaged. It seemed like something I could have probably written myself.
Google has always had the same aura to me. It feels like the people there are working on things I could never comprehend, building flawless works that I could only dream of writing. Even though by your description I think I might actually be a really good fit, the idea of working at Google remains intimidating for some reason.
I remember early in my career, before I had the chance to really build an application of any major size, I was given the opportunity to look at the source code of an application that I used frequently. I always felt like it was built by geniuses working well beyond my skillset, but once I saw the code, I remember thinking "that's it?" It wasn't the flawless work of art I imaged. It seemed like something I could have probably written myself.
The same thing when I started learning music. First every time I saw some one playing an instrument it looked like work of geniuses. When I started playing myself, I can now realize it is not that great after all.
Well, like they say.
Nothing is as good or as bad as it originally seems.
I was not told what I would be working on when interviewing, but I was told before I accepted the offer. I work on the test infrastructure for payments (which is Wallet / Checkout / buying books and Android apps, etc.).
(As for level, I came in at 4/7. Out of college, people start at 1 or 2. So I'm not worried about the lack of a degree affecting my options or advancement at Google. If it does, Google will pay for the classes I need to take to get it :)
Well, I think people like despite being having all it takes can never work there. You see I can research, think and build quickly. I can push long hours, I can do weekends. I can virtually work and solve any problems by reading manuals. I have worked at back breaking deadlines, delivered stuff when others said it was impossible.But I don't remember math theorems. And am not too much into text books. Unless those books are like OnLisp(Paul Graham), Higher Order Perl(Mark Jason Dominus)... Kind of books.
Umm. This is exactly what Google is looking for.
Read Steve Yegge's post on what is typically asked in interviews: http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2008/03/get-that-job-at-goog...
Yes, you will need to know what a binary search is. But you can read "Programming Pearls" and that will be enough. (Good book, BTW.) You don't have to be an algorithms expert, you just have to be competent. It's not as hard as you think it is.