It makes sense that Google would be recruiting search programmers through its search engine.
New Google employee Max Rosett recently blogged about how he landed his new job, saying that he was working on a coding problem while taking online courses and working at his old job, as a data scientist at Apartment List. He then turned to Google, searching "python lambda function list comprehension."
Among the search results, up popped a box, which said: "You're speaking our language. Up for a challenge?" Clicking on that box led to google.com/foobar, which is a programming test that Google has previously used to recruit programmers. After passing the tests, Rosett was able to go through the Google application and hiring process, and was sitting in his new job at Google three months later.
The tests themselves involved finding a file in a special interface as well as having to undergo a special programming challenge, all within the user's Internet browser.
"Foo.bar is a brilliant recruiting tactic," said Rosett in the blog post. "Google used it to identify me before I had even applied anywhere else, and they made me feel important while doing so. At the same time, they respected my privacy and didn't reach out to me without explicitly requesting my information."
Rosett continued on to say that the first time he went to the Google office for an interview was also the first time he didn't feel like he was simply the victim of an elaborate prank.
This is, of course, not the only way that Google recruits employees. It also has a traditional website called Google Careers, although using this website is nowhere near as fun.
Those interested in a job at Google won't be able to simply go to google.com/foobar. The test itself is by invitation only, and to get back onto the site, users will need a password.
Via: Re/Code
