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Testing Grandpa's New Boat

So Meghan and her Dad got to go out and ride Grandpa's new boat. Addy and I waited on the shore.

And here is the triumphant return of the party.

We heard good reports of the trip. Kyle successfully got up on his water skis even though his endurance wasn't what it used to be. Meghan floated on her back and got to pee in the bushes on Boy Scout Island. They were out a long time cruising the Lagoon for unfortunate souls in need of assistance - they found one guy who needed Stevie's diving abilities to rescue a lost cellphone and another who needed his boat towed in.

How Many Princesses Fit in One Castle?

Addy Television Zombie

Playing Dress Up

So this pregnancy occasionally sends me to the couch to relax. Since I can't be working this gives Meghan and I a chance to play games we never really played together before.

We Love Our Subaru

Trampoline Hair

Here is Adelaide playing on Grandma's trampoline.

Google!

If you haven't heard, I recently got a job offer from Google. Yeah that Google. I figured I'd share the story, omitting the details that I promised on the head of my firstborn that I wouldn't divulge.

I was contacted out of the blue by a Google recruiter in December. I was busy, and asked her to contact me in January. That gave me a month to think about working at google. I told her to contact me after the 15th of January. On the 18th I was so excited about it, that I called her and left a message, only to later remember that it was a holiday. Working from home, I only occasionally remember when holidays are. She called back on the 19th, and asked for my resume as well as for me to choose skills to help her match an interviewer with me. She collected some more info, and scheduled me for a phone interview January 25th.

My contact at Google suggested that the only things worthwhile to study were algorithms, data structures, and discrete math. Having gone through the process, I would say that was generally true with one addition: If you're interviewing for a front-end software engineer position, you should also know JavaScript like your mother tongue, and the DOM.

The phone interview took ~45 minutes, and was representative of all the interviews: Approx 45 minutes, 30-35 of which are technically focused, and the rest are for you to find out about Google. The interviewer asked me a CS optimization problem where we were concerned more about constant factors than Big-O. Then he asked me a Haskell question, which proves that they do expect you to be able to answer Haskell questions if it's on your resume. (Not that it was in doubt)

A little over a week later, I was told that I did well on the phone screen, and was given to another recruiter. (All the recruiters work for Google, they're not 3rd party recruiters). It was also suggested that I interview for a front-end software engineer position. I had to think about this for a while especially because I've grown to despise internet explorer 6, but I decided to go for it since: a) Front-end covers a pretty broad scope of projects at Google, and given the fact that you get some scope to choose your team when you start, I should be able to avoid having to deal with IE6 too much. b) Google is pretty flexible about the ability to move to different projects. c) Google is really a cool opportunity to grow as a person and professionally, even ignoring the perks.

The recruiter scheduled my interview ~3 weeks in the future, February 25th (flights are a little cheaper that far in advance) and I continued to prepare as well as work. Google arranged the whole trip. Everything went really smoothly. The only things that I had to pay for out of pocket were food, and the rental car. Getting reimbursed was straightforward and speedy.

The day of the interview I got up early and got ready. I ate the Google-provided breakfast at the hotel, and went back upstairs and watched some TV until it was time to go. I was on time (just barely, I got confused as to which side of the road the hotel was on). There were 6 interviews scheduled, of which 4 were real interviews, 1 was the recruiter explaining more about the hiring process and working at Google, and 1 was lunch and a tour of the Googleplex. The interviews were pretty true to my expectations, and covered things that either I or Steve Yegge have mentioned. I felt that I'd done really well in 3 of the 4, and only missed some minor points in the 4th. Afterward, I called up my friend at Google and we talked over the interview questions and life at Google over a smoothie.

The flight home was relatively uneventful, except for the delays in Houston, but after I'd gotten back, and before I was even home, the recruiter called me and asked for references. She told me, that all my interview feedback was in. Over the weekend, I got her my references, a copy of my college transcripts, and I talked to her about my resume and which jobs were full/part time and why there was a 2 year break in my college education. We also discussed current salary and salary expectations. The recruiter was really efficient, because she was able to call me with an offer that Friday, March 5th. Tanya and I thought about it and decided that it was a good offer and a good opportunity.

My start date is April 26th, and I don't know what I'll be doing. As a part of the hiring process, after I received the offer, I had to fill out a project preferences worksheet. Sometime between today and the day that I start, I'll be given a choice among a set of projects to work on. When I decide, I'll post that here too.

Addy's Sweet Ride

When Grandpa hurt his back, we borrowed a sweet ride for him from the Samuels. Addy enjoyed taking it for a spin.