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When a recruiter contacted me for a position at Google in 2012, I happened to be also taking Daphne Koller's Coursera class on Probabilistic Graphical Models (

When a recruiter contacted me for a position at Google in 2012, I happened to be also taking Daphne Koller's Coursera class on Probabilistic Graphical Models (PGM). I was puzzled why the recruiter wanted to know my SAT score. He also wanted to know the college and high school I went to and my GRE score and my undergrad GPA ... Keep in mind that I have a BS, MS, Phd in three different engineering fields and over a decade of work experience at well know companies in the Bay area. For a 40 something engineer it seemed odd he would ask me information from two decades ago but I went along assuming he was filling in some boxes for HR. The first assignment in the Probabilistic Graphical Models class was to predict the likelihood that a candidate would be a good fit for a job given prior Bayesian probabilities for ivy league school attended, SAT score, GRE score, all forming nodes of a decision tree. I looked at the problem assignment and the recruiters questions and realized what was going on. Some Stanford grad at Google had convinced HR that they needed an objective way to evaluate hundreds of candidates and what better way than to use the same methods that they had learnt from Daphne Koller at Stanford. I quit the PGM class 'cause it seemed like a tool I would never use. I decline interviews at Google since I don't have the right Bayesian probabilities that would trigger a positive outcome for their PGM model.

nether 9y ago
Then we've got this 2013 article saying that Google doesn't care about GPA and test scores: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-google-hires-people-2013-6 http://www.businessinsider.com/how-google-hires-people-2013-.... Maybe things have changed since your experience.
- FreakyT 9y ago
  I believe they did -- from what I've read back in the day it was quite common for Google to demand college transcripts from all applicants, even seasoned professionals.
  - user5994461 9y ago
    That would be to check that the degree is real. There are people who pretend to have one while they don't. It's normal due diligence, assuming it's after you are hired.
    - throwaway76543 9y ago
      No, it wasn't. They also used to ask for high school transcripts if you didn't graduate college -- even for senior folks with decades of experience. Google's interviewing process used to be extremely absurd. They have reformed it somewhat since around 2013.
      - GauntletWizard 9y ago
        I never gave my high school transcripts to my Google recruiter. I worked there for four years as an SRE (2010-2014), without having graduated college. I'll admit I was an outlier - Most people around me had fantastic college resumes (And I was very lucky to have them to learn from to shore up places where I had weaknesses). There may also have been a different hiring track and bar for SREs. I didn't find it a problem then - But, given the known fickleness of HR (At my office, our best recruiter was forced out because she spent too much time hanging out with engineers outside after-hours) and the way Google has gone downhill since then, I'd not be surprised if this was now the case
        nitrogen 9y ago
        ...our best recruiter was forced out because she spent too much time hanging out with engineers outside after-hours... What might be the rationale for that? At every company I've worked at, the best results came when people worked across divisions between boundaries. I once asked a VC what grassroots indicators they looked at inside of companies, and they said a collaborative environment without a lot of silos. I'd never heard of companies actively punishing this kind of thing, but I totally believe you that it happens. Why would they do that?
        GauntletWizard 9y ago
- xigency 9y ago
  That's doubtful. In 2015 they called me back to clarify my college GPA after an onsite interview. The next week they gave me a rejection.
samstave 9y ago
Its like a real-life implementation of that life-score episode of Black Mirror (and what the chinese government is looking to do to their entire population. When I first interviewed with google, it took three-freaking months of panel interviews. Then they said I scored really well, and that I'd have an offer the next day. I got the call the next day and said, in fact, no offer was coming. No reason given. Then they attempted to recruit me for the same position for the next four years on three separate occasions. I told them the story of my first experience, and then they'd say "yeah let me check..." then get back to me and say "sorry, we wont interview you for this position", again, no reason given. Then they called me one more time, for same damn position. I told them "Ill make this simple, just give me the damn job or stop freaking calling me" They finally stopped calling me.
- kyle-rb 9y ago
  Sounds like callback hell :)
- ganeshkrishnan 9y ago
  Warms my heart to know that I was not the only person/startup given this treatment. I was invited to pitch my startup to google startup team twice (For their launchpad AI studio and Gradient ventures). Got an email two months later that I made it to the next round and requesting more information about the startup. I sent the emails and then... crickets. Followed up via emails and linkedin and there is just no response. No negative, no waiting, no request for more information. Just a cold dead silence. Very demoralizing.
  - cyberpunk0 9y ago
    You placed your hopes in someone other than yourself and we're disappointed when it didn't go well?
    - samstave 9y ago
      Screw this logic. Ok the company who is one of the biggest data--based companies in the world is trying to "make the world a better place" - and we are all one big family blah blah gives no data back, so as to literally stomp on some dream rather than to foster growth. So, to the VCs out there, you have a moral obligation to tell people why you don't want to invest/work-with or hire. Otherwise you stick the idea of "vulture capital" aren't helping people get better. Look at some from the ashes type teams, like WhatsApp - might find more of them if you weren't to crush them out early.
sharemywin 9y ago
Wonder if they watch the movie Gattaca and think yes the perfect society.

nether 9y ago

Then we've got this 2013 article saying that Google doesn't care about GPA and test scores: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-google-hires-people-2013-6 http://www.businessinsider.com/how-google-hires-people-2013-.... Maybe things have changed since your experience.

FreakyT 9y ago
I believe they did -- from what I've read back in the day it was quite common for Google to demand college transcripts from all applicants, even seasoned professionals.
- user5994461 9y ago
  That would be to check that the degree is real. There are people who pretend to have one while they don't. It's normal due diligence, assuming it's after you are hired.
  - throwaway76543 9y ago
    No, it wasn't. They also used to ask for high school transcripts if you didn't graduate college -- even for senior folks with decades of experience. Google's interviewing process used to be extremely absurd. They have reformed it somewhat since around 2013.
    - GauntletWizard 9y ago
      I never gave my high school transcripts to my Google recruiter. I worked there for four years as an SRE (2010-2014), without having graduated college. I'll admit I was an outlier - Most people around me had fantastic college resumes (And I was very lucky to have them to learn from to shore up places where I had weaknesses). There may also have been a different hiring track and bar for SREs. I didn't find it a problem then - But, given the known fickleness of HR (At my office, our best recruiter was forced out because she spent too much time hanging out with engineers outside after-hours) and the way Google has gone downhill since then, I'd not be surprised if this was now the case
      - nitrogen 9y ago
        ...our best recruiter was forced out because she spent too much time hanging out with engineers outside after-hours... What might be the rationale for that? At every company I've worked at, the best results came when people worked across divisions between boundaries. I once asked a VC what grassroots indicators they looked at inside of companies, and they said a collaborative environment without a lot of silos. I'd never heard of companies actively punishing this kind of thing, but I totally believe you that it happens. Why would they do that?
        GauntletWizard 9y ago
xigency 9y ago
That's doubtful. In 2015 they called me back to clarify my college GPA after an onsite interview. The next week they gave me a rejection.

samstave 9y ago

Its like a real-life implementation of that life-score episode of Black Mirror (and what the chinese government is looking to do to their entire population. When I first interviewed with google, it took three-freaking months of panel interviews. Then they said I scored really well, and that I'd have an offer the next day. I got the call the next day and said, in fact, no offer was coming. No reason given. Then they attempted to recruit me for the same position for the next four years on three separate occasions. I told them the story of my first experience, and then they'd say "yeah let me check..." then get back to me and say "sorry, we wont interview you for this position", again, no reason given. Then they called me one more time, for same damn position. I told them "Ill make this simple, just give me the damn job or stop freaking calling me" They finally stopped calling me.

kyle-rb 9y ago
Sounds like callback hell :)
ganeshkrishnan 9y ago
Warms my heart to know that I was not the only person/startup given this treatment. I was invited to pitch my startup to google startup team twice (For their launchpad AI studio and Gradient ventures). Got an email two months later that I made it to the next round and requesting more information about the startup. I sent the emails and then... crickets. Followed up via emails and linkedin and there is just no response. No negative, no waiting, no request for more information. Just a cold dead silence. Very demoralizing.
- cyberpunk0 9y ago
  You placed your hopes in someone other than yourself and we're disappointed when it didn't go well?
  - samstave 9y ago
    Screw this logic. Ok the company who is one of the biggest data--based companies in the world is trying to "make the world a better place" - and we are all one big family blah blah gives no data back, so as to literally stomp on some dream rather than to foster growth. So, to the VCs out there, you have a moral obligation to tell people why you don't want to invest/work-with or hire. Otherwise you stick the idea of "vulture capital" aren't helping people get better. Look at some from the ashes type teams, like WhatsApp - might find more of them if you weren't to crush them out early.

sharemywin 9y ago

Wonder if they watch the movie Gattaca and think yes the perfect society.