Role: SWE: Software Engineer, General (GCloud Tech Infra 24x7 (Site Reliability)) - Warsaw or Remote - Poland
How it All Started
During my last semester at Singapore Polytechnic, where I was pursuing a Diploma in Information Technology, I self-sourced an internship at a startup called Pixium Digital, a French-based company. The team was mostly French, with some Malaysians and Singaporeans, and we tackled all kinds of issues and built solutions for our clients. To this day, I have never regretted starting my software engineering career at a startup, even though I initially thought it might be a bad choice. Working as a full-stack software engineer, I learnt an incredible amount—from building web and mobile applications to setting up local Docker environments and constructing servers on the cloud, to communicating with stakeholders and presenting my ideas. A huge shoutout to my mentors at work: Lionel, Wai Chun, Mederic, and Kenny Chan. I worked at Pixium Digital for about two years as a full-stack engineer and spent another year in management roles, leading projects and handling teams.
My First Real Job Interview.
I loved what I was doing at Pixium Digital, but over time, I started to feel stagnant. The initial excitement of learning new things began to fade, and despite my efforts, I felt like I was hitting a ceiling. I have always loved learning and exploring new things, so this feeling of limitation was frustrating. After much contemplation, I made the difficult decision to quit. It wasn't about being egoistic or cocky; I simply wanted to seek new challenges and push myself out of my comfort zone.
With that, I embarked on a job hunt that lasted over six months in 2023. I started searching in early January, armed with three years of experience as a full-stack software engineer. However, I only began preparing for the technical aspects in late April. To be honest, my job search had actually started in late 2022, but I received no responses to my applications. Then, I decided to use ChatGPT, which had just been released, to refine the wording of my resume and improve its acceptance rate with better phrasing.
The Turning Point
The turning point came at 17:55 on 24 April 2023. I received an email at work and a message on LinkedIn titled “A conversation about the future!” I was surprised and unsure because the sender was Google's Software Engineering recruitment team. Given that I only held a diploma in Information Technology, I couldn't believe it was real. How could they choose me over other candidates during a period of mass layoffs, right? So initially, I set the email aside and continued with my work.
That night, during a company dinner with my coworkers, I had already forgotten about the email when I received a phone call from the States. I muted the first call but picked up the second one. It was the Google recruiter! I was shocked. She explained that they had a role in Poland that might suit me and wanted to give me a chance. I introduced myself, shared my background, and expressed my eagerness for the role, hoping to proceed to the next stage if given the chance. She said that after a background check with the team, if everything went well, she would send me a Google invite to arrange the next interview.
I was really surprised and shocked that Google was going to be my first job interview ever! I was so excited, worried, and happy. I spent the dinner zoning out, thinking about how unprepared I was at that moment, considering I had only solved 34 LeetCode problems at the moment, for real...
I shared my happiness with my family, but they didn't believe it
either. They kept checking if it was a fake offer meant to scam me. I
was 100% sure it was real because the sender's email was ended with
Google's domain like: ...@google.com. How could that be
fake, right? I tried to explain it to my family, but none of them
believed it was a real Google interview. I was a little heartbroken. Why
didn't my family believe I could have such an opportunity early in my
career? I was sad.
A few days later, I received the thrilling news that I had passed the HR round and would proceed to the next stage: Technical Interview Round 1! The excitement was palpable—I was one step closer to my dream job at Google!
The Champion Call
I had a special opportunity called the Google Champion Call. This is something only Google offers, where you can talk to a senior person in the role you are interviewing for, ask for advice, tips, and more. I arranged one and asked for a bunch of advice on preparing for the technical interview. The person shared some tools and preparation techniques, insights into what a day in the life of an SRE at Google is like, their work culture, and more. After this call, my eagerness to work at Google grew even stronger. One thing she suggested was to postpone the interview if I didn't feel ready yet. She said it's totally fine and that they understand how tough it is for a full-timer to get ready for this. Eventually, I did arrange for a later date to give myself more time to prepare. In the end, I managed to solve 51 LeetCode questions before the interview. It was tough, considering I had a full-time job and it was a release period, so I had to juggle a lot of DevOps tasks and communications. It was one of my most exhausting phases ever, but I pushed through to complete 17 more questions (51 in total).
The First Round of Technical Interview
I prepared an empty room with a whiteboard and prayed 😳. An hour before the call, I was already fully ready. I talked to my family and friends to calm myself down. My hands were sweaty, and I had a few tissues ready beside me.
Five minutes before the call, I clicked on the link and waited at the loading screen. The interviewer joined, and she didn't introduce herself after I did. She was cool and composed, which made me feel a bit pressured. She then explained a LeetCode question to me and said she would paste it on the board.
One side note: contrary to what others had said about Google using Google Docs for interviews, this was a different Google interview website. I had specifically trained myself on Google Docs without syntax highlighting for LeetCoding, but the website did support some default functions. As I used JavaScript, it could still auto-complete some built-in functions. I was quite surprised!
The question was presented with rough information. I thought out loud, clarified my understanding with her to ensure we were on the same page, and shared my initial solution and its potential downsides. Everything went smoothly until I checked with her again on something we had previously agreed on, but she responded with the opposite. At that moment, I realised my solution would no longer work for this new scenario. I was stunned—was it a miscommunication? I don't know whose fault it was, as we both had agreed on the problem initially. I was lost and froze for what felt like the longest seconds ever.
In the end, I knew I had messed up. What seemed like a LeetCode easy question had now become a LeetCode medium (or at least medium-hard) challenge. And just like that, I screwed it up...
The End
It all ended on 12 June 2023, a day I will never forget. Another recruiter scheduled a call with me at midnight, 1 am SGT. It was the most comprehensive feedback session I've ever had. He told me everything I could do to improve, pointed out my weaknesses, and highlighted the strengths I showcased. He encouraged me not to give up and to try again next year, as Google's policy requires candidates to wait a year before reapplying for the same role.
Throughout this journey, I truly felt the meaning of "time flies". I often wished I had 72 hours in a day. Despite my efforts, I did not pass the first round of the technical interview. I knew I wasn't quite qualified yet, but this is just the beginning.
Throughout this journey, I truly experienced the meaning of "time flies". I often found myself wishing for 72 hours in a day to prepare even more. Despite my best efforts, I did not pass the first round of the technical interview. I knew I wasn't quite qualified yet, but this is just the beginning, the entire interview process remains unforgettable.
This experience has only fueled my determination to improve and succeed in the future. This experience planted the seed of my dream to get into Google even deeper. That seed is now growing stronger every day, and I am more determined than ever to achieve my goal. I will continue to learn, grow, and push my limits. This is just the start of my journey, and I will never give up.
And this is my first job interview.