Thus Spaketh Idd Salim

Hello, we are Google! Who are you?

Well, blame my exclusive ownage of the words ‘idd salim‘ on google, my rich CV and list of systems done and out there, or just plainly the references I have, but a week after my 28th Birthday, google came calling…

Their main point of reference was my Xing Profile.

Alot of my facebook, gmail, symbiotic, redtape, Qz and PLG buddies have requested me to blog about the google Interview process. What they require. How to prepare.. yaddayadda.

I could not refuse. Who am I to refuse?

Their initial point of contact was an email below:

Hi Idd,

SRE are an elite group of circa 350 engineers in Google. This is obviously a very small group of the overall organization.
Technically this team consists of both Systems Admins and Software Developers.

Sys Admins are expert Linux admins with kernel level hacking experience. They also tend to have exceptional scripting experience and some networking knowledge. Developer tend to come from a C++, Python, C or Java background with exceptional Design and algorithms and data structures experience.

The team has a large number of industry leaders and industry technical pioneers especially in the area of Linux and Python.

SRE work on all of the major internal and external Google systems. Gmail, Search, Maps, Earth etc etc
They are responsible for the Scalability, Reliability and Efficiency of all of the systems from both a software and hardware perspective.
This is not an operations team (we have one of them!) but rather an internal consultancy type group.

The job specs are below:

http://www.google.ie/intl/en/jobs/dublin/swe/software-engineer-google-com-eu-headquarters/index.html

http://www.google.ie/intl/en/jobs/dublin/engops/opsit/unix-system-applications-administrator-google-com-eu-headquarters/index.html

We have these roles available in Dublin, London, Zurich, US and Sydney.

If you are interested, send me back your updated CV and we can arrange a time to discuss

Kind Regards,

I sent them my CV and then Google sent me a self-evaluation test:

Hi Idd,

Thanks for your reply and the updated Resume.

Can you complete the skills assessment below as accurately as possible and return it to me.

Self Evaluation Guide:

10          = you literally have written a book
7,8,9      = expert, go-to person on this technology
5,6         = solid daily working knowledge. Highly proficient.
3,4         = comfortable working with this, have to check manual on
some things.
1, 2        = have worked with it previously but either not much, or rusty
—————————————————————————

TCP/IP  Networking (OSI stack, DNS, etc.)(  )
Unix/Linux System Administration tasks(  )
Unix/Linux internals(  )
Algorithms & Data Structures(  )
SQL and / or Database administration(  )
C(  )
C++(  )
Java(  )
Perl(  )
Shell Scripting (sh, bash, ksk, csh)(  )
Python(  )

Whats days and times this week would be suitable for us to discuss.
I would like to call you and discuss your Resume, give you more information regarding the roles that we have available and also ask you a number of technical questions.

Kind Regards,

I responded as honestly as I could. We set a date to a week later via email for a phone interview. So I spent a week brushing up on my skills on things like as Trees, Calculus I and II, Algebra V, Discreet maths, Big-O, Data Structures, Algorithms and the full unoma shebang.

And so, the big day came. Google was to call at 5pm. I was the young Salim again. I now could speak-out the code to do a heap-sort, merge-sort, Dijkstra’s Algorithm, TSP, Graphs etc, in C and Java.

At 5:07pm. Google Calls. The callers accent was somewhat faster than I could decipher, but after a verbal interview on what languages I know, about systems and databases, started.  The following some of the few questions I can remember:

1. How many bytes are there in a MAC Address?
2. Explain the 3 way HTTP TCP handshake.
3. Explain, in detail, the sticky bit flag on Unix directories.

Not surprisingly, this is all I can remember as I blog this. As I give them space to get back to me (not holding my breath of-course), the hassle continues.

Benefits from this exercise

After the Google contact forced be to revisit things that I had completely ignored or postponed like the books of Knuth, the Dijkstra’s algorithm, B+Trees… It made me a better optimizer. I now look at my YU and Orange projects with optimism as the systems will perform better. Ramadhan period locks me indoors and I can only improve.

Google job or no Google job, I am now a better coder, thanks to the contact.

Wazi, back to Dijkstra!

Well, yesterday, as always, I was just hacking some network that a certain client had authorized me to do medium-risk penetration testing on and I got an SMS. ‘new email from google’.

Normally, I have configured my SMS deamons powered by www.tumasms.com to only alert me (via sms) on emails from Mike of Zim, Mbugua, Zunguka Home, Server FAM and Disk Monitors and My wifey (only if the email contains keywords like emergency, baby, hospital and sick). Of course, this list changes every week. But somehow, my metaheuristics code deemed the google email as *important*.

So I switched windows and read the email and BAM! It was an enquiry from google as to whether Idd Salim would be interested to work for them, giving me a choice of Dublin, London or Zurich as my residence.

The dilemma

Alot of my friends, ‘students’, mentors and twitter followers see me as a classic case of a hustler who hopefully can prove that a Kenyan Enterprenuer can come from NOTHING to SOMETHING via code. We don’t have the funding of the facebooks of this world, so our best brains always turn into code-for-food gurus who hustle to pay for server bills, rather that sit and code! Most ‘investors’ we meet are just talkers, jokers, greedy, vultures, old-school or a combination of the 5.

I always advice people on how they should never give up on their cause and that I will personally do my CSR to make sure their code is more profitable, e.g. via APIs like for TumaSMS and pay.Zunguka and advice.

“Google has big tits like Pam and as hot as Hale Berry. When she turns her head your side, you BETTER be ready to embrace the chance with open arms and open legs. This is a once in a lifetime chance.”, Said Jack, My Accountant. “Respond positively to Google’s email.” He said.

“You need to move a step up, Salim. At the current state, you are better off getting a serious permanent job because this Kenyan Hassle Bull*#@t has no fruits. You could have been VERY FAR right now were it not for this self-employment crap. It does not work in Kenya. Not unless the government does something to support the BEST coders. You have the brains, but as long as you have to worry about rent and milk every month, then you will not exploit your full potential!”, Adviced Buju, angrily.

I am confused.

Back to code!