14 DAY TRIAL // As any tech startup can tell you, getting your hands on good engineers is really hard because most of them are already working at Google, Facebook, Microsoft, or Apple.
These companies sometimes have Human Resources departments bigger than many companies in Silicon Valley, departments which spend most of their time finding new ways of stealing employees from one another, or coming up with new recruitment schemes, as Max Rosett recently found out.
In a blog post for The Hustle, Max shared how Google recently recruited him using an application built inside the company's search engine.
As Mr. Rosett describes, "One morning, while working on a project, I Googled 'python lambda function list comprehension.' The familiar blue links appeared [...] But then something unusual happened."
Just like in a Harry Potter novel, the world cracked open to reveal a secret doorway to a fantasy world. The Google search page split open in two, and a message asked him: "You’re speaking our language. Up for a challenge?"
Welcome to Google geekland!
Max was then redirected to a special page, where for the next two weeks he went on to solve six different programming problems.
For each challenge, he had two days to complete the test, and then upload it to the Google secret page, which looked and worked just like a regular UNIX console.
After all tests went well, Max was asked for his personal contact details, and a Google HR representative soon had him in its grubby little hands.
Max Rosett was eventually hired and is currently one of Google's newbie engineers.
The page where Max was redirected just like Alice taking a tumble through the rabbit hole to Wonderland is located at google.com/foobar, but you won't be able to access it unless Google deems you "special" enough.
