Recently I gleefully exclaimed on Twitter “exciting news” and despite the interest I didn’t feel until now that I could reveal what had happened, Google were looking for a hire … Google were looking to hire me:
Hi Martin,
I am a technical recruiter within Developer Relations at Google and I wanted to get in touch. Based on your background and postings, I feel you could be a great fit, as we are hiring for multiple positions within Developer Relations in NYC and Mountain View, CA locations specifically. Are you currently entertaining new opportunities? If so, I would like to get in touch at your earliest convenience to discuss your background and active opportunities. Looking forward to hearing back!
…
Ah finally the 100+ blog posts I’ve written on Google, countless presentations on hacking stuff together with Google Spreadsheets (a couple here) and I finally got noticed. What was most interesting about this message came from … LinkedIn!!!
Yes that’s right despite having a decent presence of Google+ it appears Google do some of their recruiting through someone else’s social network. This initially led me to question if it was a genuine approach or just some recruiting agent phishing for CVs spoofing a Google connection. The only thing that gave comfort was the inclusion in the message of the sender’s @google.com email address and I opted to reply via this instead. Still though LinkedIn! Why not Google+ or even Gmail. If Google are looking for hires through LinkedIn that’s a pretty big argument to make sure your graduates have a presence there … right?.
Fortunately the message wasn’t a phish and the recruiter got back to me and we arranged a phone call. The call was primarily a chance for the recruiter to find out if I was suitable to be put forward for one of the posts and included the basics: what programming languages do you use, experience of public speaking etc. As I later found out the recruiter is essentially your handler, making sure you are aware of the next steps, providing a friendly interface to what can be a daunting experience. At this point the expectation of getting a job in developer relations began to slip. As someone who prides themselves on being a hacker, often even using ‘I’m not a developer’ in my introduction – primarily because I’m often talking to novices and I want to make a connection with the audience – my lack of formal IT qualification and experience was going to be a handicap, but this is Google they pride themselves on innovation … right?
Regardless of this the recruiter saw enough to put me through to the next phase which was a 45 minute call with a Google software developer (not HR person, Google use employees to benchmark candidates), which was a mixture of ‘why do you want to work for Google? … hmmm you called me’ and a programming problem to solve. I’m not sure if part of me wanted to sabotage my opportunity but I completely tanked at this. This left me feeling both angry and disappointed. I was mainly angry for pretending to be something I’m not … a software developer. I’m a hacker, an innovator, a scamp, a scallywag. I betrayed my original calling as a Structural Engineer long ago to search of the next novelty, the next shiny thing to play with, the next idea to stretch until it breaks. No I’m not a software developer. And thankfully Google agreed, which I sure comes as a relief for a number of people in this sector … right?
The recent news that LinkedIn has dropped their minimum age to 13 to entice school kids has extra resonance for me because now I know even Google use it for recruitment. It reassuring to know people like Sue Beckingham, Matt Lingard and others recognise the importance of students having an awareness of LinkedIn.
So folks I‘m afraid you’re stuck with me 😉