My Journey to Google (Part II)
July 2022 — June 2024
In October 2023, along with preparing for the Salesforce test, I was reaching out to plenty of recruiters from different companies (not just Google) to consider me for a Software Engineer role. I had created a template just like this and would send it to every recruiter, cold emailing it is!
Hardly any one of them would respond. But I could not be dejected or give up, I had to try every day. The hustle had started. I had to do my work diligently, else, my performance at my organisation would get impacted. And after I got home I would cold email recruiters and practice. Sometimes, I would break down because I did not know if what I was doing was right or wrong. I often juggled between delivering my duties at my office and finding time to study. When at office, I would think about slicing out time for practise and when at home, I would feel guilty because of not working to my full potential at office. Sometimes, I would feel like cheating on my previous company that I was not delivering the time I committed: 8 hours. I would not go to coffee breaks sometimes only to work that extra hour so that I could justify my duties. On weekends, I would immerse myself into Leetcode. I would feel frustrated that I am not enjoying and chilling out just like my friends. The only reason that would keep me going was that one Salesforce test.
One day, one Google recruiter responded and I could see something. They asked me to email my resume to their official email id. I quickly did that and saw a ray of hope.
Meanwhile, I got a test link of DE Shaw too.
November 23
This was the month of complete confusion. There was an event at my office where we had to build a project, a prototype of an idea. I was expected to perform in that, work on the tasks assigned, and in parallel get ready for the test too. I cannot tell how exhaustive this time was but I am proud of myself that I did not give up.
I was doing it all. I took the Salesforce test and solved 3 out of 4 questions. I was so happy and expected that I would get the interview call.
One day, when I was working from home, my phone rang, and there it flashed “Google.” I picked up the call, it was the same recruiter whom I had sent my resume. They asked me general questions, where I worked, my experience, my college, and when I graduated. When they asked me my preferred language of coding I knew that yes, I was being considered for some role. I was jumping for joy.
In the next few days, I got a call from Salesforce that I was shortlisted for interviews. Another opportunity was on its way and I could not feel more motivated. I was on it!
I took the DE Shaw test too in the same month and the test went well. I was so satisfied with my performance and I expected to get an interview call from here too.
I was wholly preparing for Google. I believed if I would prepare at par with Google’s level I would anyway be prepared for Salesforce. However, Salesforce kept on postponing their interviews. I was disappointed as attending an interview that too during a full-time job is sometimes a chaos. I had to make arrangements, sometimes I would take leave to attend the interview and when it would not happen, it would irritate the hell out of me. Google interview was also in queue. I wanted to be completely prepared for it so I asked my college seniors working in Google to take my mock interview. I took a mock interview on the day of Diwali and I could not approach the question let alone solve it. I realised that I needed more preparation. I was so scared of getting the pre-screen rescheduled but I had to do it else this was anyway a gone case. I asked my recruiter to reschedule it to December.
December 23
After three drives of postponing Salesforce interview, I finally got the chance to interview this month. And Google pre-screen round was scheduled just the day after.
On the day of Salesforce interview, I was calm and relaxed as I believed I would crack the round. However, in the interview itself the question I got was completely different from what I had expected. They told me that they were looking for specifically data engineer, and I expected to it to be a developer role. Another disappointment! Hence, the interview did not happen altogether and I told my recruiter about the miscommunication. They told me that they ‘might’ get back to me in January for the developer role. And I knew they were never getting back to me.
The next day I did pretty well in Google interview and was optimistic about going to the next rounds. I kept on practising and preparing.
Just a few days later, I received the result of my interview that I had cleared the pre-screen round and would be informed about the next steps. I was elated with joy and praying to God that this time I might have it.
January 23
In the first week, I got a mail from the Google recruiter that the position to which I was tagged to had been filled and they had to halt my process. One more time when I lost my hope completely. Every opportunity that I could get to was again snatched off my hands. I was low on motivation and left practising. However, I kept on scrolling LinkedIn and applying wherever I got an open profile, only to keep myself in the eyes of recruiters.
February 23
Google had opened a lot of job applications on their portal. I applied on all of them. I remember how I had gone to attend an Engagement in Gwalior and there I was applying to the job applications after the ceremony in a hotel room when everybody had slept.
Meanwhile, I reached out to a Coinbase recruiter as well to interview me. They responded promptly and immediately sent some test links. Again a ray of hope!
I took the tests on weekend. I could not perform that well in the test and I thought I would not get any interview invite.
But I did receive the interview invites and I again went on to read the Coinbase interview experiences on Leetcode.
Meanwhile, I received an email in my inbox that marks the beginning of ‘the Google journey.’ It was an email from a Google recruiter again!!! It stated that they want to consider me for a Software Engineer role at Google.
March 23
The Coinbase interviews were scheduled. Google recruiter was also in touch with me and we decided to first take mock interviews before proceeding to the onsite rounds. This time I had decided not to compromise on my life and my office to attend the interviews. Hence, I got one of Coinbase interviews rescheduled as I had to attend my office event 😅. Here is a picture of my office event. I wore a saaree and felt so beautiful.
I attended all the Coinbase interviews one-by-one and waited for the result. My mock interview at Google was also scheduled. I performed pretty well in the mock and got some feedback from the interviewer on how to improve.
The result of Coinbase was out and I could not clear them. One more wicket down!
Meanwhile I got a test link from Walmart too. I cleared the test and was called for interview. They mentioned that it was for data engineer role. To be honest, I was not concerned about profile at all but just the ‘brand.’ I prepared for it in three days and appeared for the interviews. Voila, I was selected and was offered from Walmart! However, it could not match my expectations and I eventually turned down the offer.
I finally got the mail to schedule my interviews at Google.
PS
My hope has risen and sunken like a zillion times but I could not give up. I am not sure what I am made of. Not saying that I did something out of the world but what I did required strength from within. I am not boasting but every rejection shattered me a little more and broke me a little more. Getting up after every broken deal required perseverance and trust on myself. Had it not been for my mother, my sister and my friend, I could never have gotten back on feet to fight back.
I have learnt a lot in these two years. My life has taught me a lot. I am much more confident in myself than ever before. It is only after these experiences that I feel like a warrior. The confidence I have gained feels like some shield around me. I know, if no body, at least I would be there to help myself. The confidence is my weapon. I have started believing in myself more than ever.
Well, it was just the starting of the ‘journey to Google.’ The actual story starts now when I got started with the process of ‘interviewing with Google’.
