How I Started the World’s Fascination with Google Interview Questions
December 1st, 2009 by lewis
TweetI’ve always wanted to compile the world’s largest collection of Google interview questions. On October 24, 2009, I posted a list of 140 Google interview questions. Shortly thereafter, it kicked off a worldwide fascination with Google interview questions (see chart).
Read on to read how it started and the extent of the coverage.
Figure 1. Comparison of Internet searches for “Google interview questions” vs. “Microsoft interview questions.”
Source: Google Insights for Search, December 2008 to November 2009
November 2, 2009
James Temple of the San Francisco Chronicle writes an article about Google’s hiring practices. I e-mail him the next day with a link to the 140 questions blog post. He features the list in a a San Francisco Chronicle piece called Google interview brain teasers.
November 3, 2009
With the national coverage, the 140 Google interview questions gets covered by a few top journalists, including Nick Allen, the Daily Telegraph’s US correspondent. The articles feature proactive headlines including Revealed: Google Job Interview Questions! and Google interview questions released.
November 4, 2009
Henry Blodget’s site, The Business Insider, puts an immense spotlight on the issue with 15 Google Interview Questions That Will Make You Feel Stupid (GOOG). As of this writing, the article has almost 5 million page views. The Business Insider normally gets 20 million page views a month. The Business Insider publishes a follow-on piece the next day, with answers for the 15 questions. That article has 3.4 million page views.
November 6, 2009
The 140 Google interview questions make it to InfoWorld’s weekly news quiz.
November 5-18, 2009
The Google interview questions continue making headlines, especially overseas. The Sunday Times provides answers for nine Google questions, supplied University of Oxford professors.
- November 5, 2009: Fancy a job at Google? by guardian.co.uk
- November 8, 2009: Here’s a tricky one, Google: The cyber giant fires tough and quirky questions at job applicants. We ask why by Sunday Times of London, the UK’s dominant Sunday newspaper
- November 18, 2009: Manholes, pirates and window cleaning — welcome to the modern job interview by The Irish Independent, Ireland’s largest selling daily newspaper
- November 18, 2009: Fuzzy logic: Employers’ Top 10 brainteasers by The Irish Independent
November 13, 2009
The Business Insider rekindles interest in Google interview questions by having one of their staff writers, Alyson Shontell, describe her “nightmare interview with Google.” It registers a sizzling 173,000 page views. I’ve included Blodget’s interview with Shontell below:
November 16 & 23, 2009
The Business Insider follows up their Google interview questions coverage with tough interview questions in other industries. Neither article has the same degree of interest.
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