Today, engineers from GOOGLE came to Mizzou and hold some events for us students. Here are some useful information for me learned from the resume/interview workshop.
Resume
Resume Tips
Recruiters should be able to find pertinent info on your resume with ease.
- PDF format
- CLean, simple, consistent, bullet-pointed
- Action words + meteries = results + impact
- Contact information
- “References upon request”
Education
Your education should be the first section of your resume.
- Post-secondary schools attended
- Intended major/minor/degree
- Graduation month and year
- Grade Point Average
- Revevant Coursework
- Technical Kkills*
Expamle
University of Missouri || Intended grad: May 2019
B.S. Computer Science, Minor Mathematics || Major GPA: 3.9
Relevant Coursework: Data Structure, Algorithms, Machine Learning, Linear Algebra, Discrete Math, Artifical Intelligence, Probablity Theory, Compilers and Interpreters
Technical Skills: HTML/CSS(7yrs), JavaScript(6yrs), Python(5yrs), Java(4yrs), Git, MATLAB, Unity, Android Studio
Work Experience
Focus on your impact!
- Include employer, position, dates employed
- Keep bullet points clear, concise, and descriptive
- Consider relevant experience
“Accomplished [X], as measured by [Y], by doing[Z]”
Before
Company, San Francisco, CA || May — August 2017
Software Engineering Intern
- Deployed company’s new and imporoved in-hourse account reconciliation system
- Generated daily reconciliation report for Fiance team
- Languages: Python
After
Company, San Francisco, CA || May — August 2017
Software, Engineering Intern
- Deployed new in-hourse account reconciliation system using Python with 90% accuracy(previously 45%) on>100k daily line items by designing and implementing event-driven bi-directional reconciliation framework
- Generated daily reconciliation report for Fiance team by automating workflow of 8 different tasks in Spark using Airflow
Projects
Again, focus on your impact
- Accomplished [X], as measured by [Y], by doing [Z]
- School vs. Personal
- Technical skills gained: Java, C++, Python, Javascript, Go
Example
[Course #]. [Course Name] Group Project || October 2017
Used C++ to provide webmail and storage services akin to Gmail and G Drive by building a fault-tolerant, load-balancing cloud platform from scratch
[Name of Project]. Personal Project || July 2017
Used Objective C to create IOS app that allows users to post haikus to a real-time feed, follow other users, leave comments; 300+ downloads to date with 4.0 rating.
Activities/Leadership
Tell us what excited you
- Clubs and organizations
- National society chapters
- Programming competitions&hackathons
- Industry internships
- Teaching Assistantships
- Research opportunities
- Open Source projects
Example
DAC, Co-Founder & VP || Sept 2016 - Present
- Spearhead new initiative to create undergraduate data analyties community
- Grew club from 50 to 300+ members through enhanced recruiting circuits. 20+ industy visits, and monthly high-profile speaker engagements
- Collaborate to plan annual Data Visualization Hackathon for 200+ attendees city-wide
Head Teaching Assistant, Intro to Data Structures || Sept 2017 - May 2018
- Led weekly office hours to 25+ students, debugging in Java, homework assistance.
- Supervised 55 TAs with curriculum support resources for 500+ undergraduates.
Honors/Awards
What, in addition to what you’ve already shared, sets your apart?
- Distinguished acadamic awards
- Speaking engagements
- Presentations & publications
- Include selectivity, if available
Final Tips
Demonstrate your passion for tech
- Graduation Month/Year
- Accomplished[X], as measured by[Y], by doing[Z]
- Java, C, C++, Python, JavaScript, (Go)
- Tell us your story
Interview
Interview Format
Technical interviews are by phone, on-campus, or on-site at a Google office. Each interview lasts about 45 mins.
- Step 1: Short Introductions 5 MINS
- Step 2: Technical Assessment 35 MINS
- Step 3: Closing Questions 5 MINS
Communication and Presentation
Verbalize your thoughts
- Restate the question to confirm understanding
- Ask clarifying questions
- Think out loud
- Draw pictures to help visualize your solution (graph)
- Prefer to think in silence? Say so, then summarize
Listen to your interviewer
- They want you to succeed
- View session as a “discussion” rather than an “inerview”
- Are they providing a hint?
Specific details for phone interviews
If you have a phone interview, you’ll type yout solutions (code!) into a Google Doc shared with your interviewr.
- Find a quiet location——45 MINS
- Use Courier New font for coding
- Charge your cellphone and computer
- Have pen/paper ready to scribble notes
- Share your thoughts out loud
- Remember to manually indent
- Don’t search for reference/the question
Don’t forget about testing
- Run through an example
- Enumerate evil inputs-find edge cases!
- Discuss how your code will crash, fall, run infinity, overflow the stack, etc
- Analyze complexity (runtime and space)
- Do a walkthrough of the code with interviewer
- Discuss improvements or alternative solutions
Possible spin-off questions
Code: CAn you do it faster?
- If you think the answer is “no”, can you justify it?
- If the answer is “yes”, can you explain it?
- What about optimizations that don’t change asymptotic complexity?
Code: Can you parallelize this?
Code: What about non-rectangular maps?
Design: Can you think of a different “fairness” criteria? Try to defend it.
Final Tips
Don’t worry — Interview can be messy
- There are no shortcuts: practice, practice, practice!
- Err on the side of over-communicating
- Test yout code!
- Don’t Panic. You know your stuff!
Communicating with your recruiter
- Read all requiements your reruiter send to you
- Reply your recruiter timely
- Keep communicating with your recruiter with any stuffs you confused
When to contact your recruiter
- Your university’s recruiting deadline(if any)
- Offer deadlines with other companies
- Major update to your resume
- Sustained period without updates
Balancing your offers
- Interviewing with other compaines
- Deadlines with other compaines
- Extending off deadlines
- Accepting offers with other companies
Resources
Excellent resources for interview and resume prep + skills development
“Google Students” YouTube Channel
Watch our videos to receive tips and information from other Googlers
Additional resources