I applied through an employee referral. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at Google (Mountain View, CA) in Dec 2020
Interview
Questionnaire from HR, phone (video call), onsite interviews. I only made it through phone interview. Questionnaire asks about the past experience, projects worked on, dataset size, techniques used. It takes awhile to write everything for the questionnaire. The virtual phone is pretty much google hangout call for 1 hour asking stats questions and experimental designs
The standard interview process starts with resume screening, followed by initial phone screening, technical and behavioral rounds, a final leadership interview, and ends with reference checks and a job offer.
In the technical round, I faced a challenging A/B testing question regarding YouTube thumbnails that pushed my analytical skills. I was also asked to discuss metrics for evaluating user engagement, which had me thinking on my feet. The behavioral section was tough, but I found the principles I studied on PracHub to be incredibly relevant. The overall experience was intense and demanding, yet I received an offer in the end. Ultimately, I decided to decline, as I felt it wasn't the right fit for my career goals.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Design an A/B test to evaluate the impact of a new YouTube homepage thumbnail design on user watch time. How would you choose the success metric, sample size, and handle novelty effects?
It was all good, the interviewer was very nice. Technical questions were a bit challenging but overall it was good. The hiring manager was looking for some hands on experience