The interview process lasted about six hours. The recruiter didn't show up for the first 45 minutes. All of the engineers were very pleasant to talk to. A couple of them asked questions that actually related to the kind of work I would be doing. Most of the others asked questions about data structures, algorithm complexity, optimizing for server/host communication, and so on.

The recruiter had sent a standard email warning me to study up on this stuff, but I didn't bother, since most of it has little or no relevance to what I do.

So, I was fully expecting the process to be somewhat amusing, and in this, I was not disappointed. In fact, Google exceeded my wildest expectations. I've never experienced an interview anything like this. In retrospect, I'm glad they didn't make an offer because I've found the start-up job of my dreams.

Google's a great company, but there's something a little odd about their interview process. It would've been nice if they'd interviewed me about how I could add expertise they don't have, rather than testing to see if I can write a search engine.