Smok Code's video: Score interview at Google through SUPER-SECRET recruiting website: foobar

You don't apply to Google: solve the challenge, Google will apply to you! Imagine googling for an answer to intricate programming question and stepping on something that seems like a prank, but in reality is a secret Google recruiting program called foobar "You're speaking our language, Up for a challenge?". Would you like to try your luck? Comment under the video why it is YOU who should get the referral link! Music by nixealice: https://soundcloud.com/nixealice/holo-roundabout CC: Welcome to Having Coffee with Smok, where we talk about tech, programming and everything software development related. Today I have something really special for you guys - a very exclusive thing. If you’re thinking about career in software - there is plenty to choose from. Companies may say what they want, but reality is - that for truly talented people - sky is the limit. Corporations will pay you handsomely and offer bonuses that don’t leave much to be desired. This creates an interesting dynamic, when rumours of all the perks run wild. More and more wannabe programmers knock on the doors of the biggest and most exciting places to work for. After all - who doesn’t heard about such names like Amazon, Netflix, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple or Google - not only job is great, salary and other perks but also - the prestige which comes from working under such flag. Every day thousands and thousands of resumes, fly over the internet to these corporations. Selected few will get in, and have chance to prove their worth in on-site interview. Well, recently more on-line, but still, in person. These processes are quite thorough and long and just because so many people are eager to get in - companies can just have their way with you. You can agree to the rules of the game and play with some chance to win, or you can say: I’m winning by not playing. I’ll go somewhere where I’m not one of tens of thousands, but someone who’s valued. And that’s fine. The corporations of course know that, and if you’re a good fit - they still want you. They’re interested in getting you interested. What happens then? Let me tell you a story of short affair I had with company called Google. You may have heard of them, they run a lot of that thing called Internet. Of course I wanted to work for them, and I applied few years back, while still living in Poland I didn’t expect much and … well they didn’t get back to me. Meanwhile I got the job in Amazon and moved to UK. Few months in and… I get a an email and an invitation to the table. I really wanted to join Google, but hey - loyalty to Amazon was more important to me at that point, the invitation was to join a team in Switzerland, this could be a dream life with more and more to come. I told Google that I really appreciate the offer, but I can’t. I just can’t do it right now - timing doesn’t work and it wouldn’t be fair to back out of my commitments. Google and other big companies are of course aware that reaching out in such form is a long shot, they have very persuasive offer, but stars have to be aligned. Often people are just afraid to talk options to not lose their current jobs. So they came with another plan. A secret, super seductive intricate ploy to interview people who don’t want to be interviewed, not looking to switch, or even talk about it. They called it foo-bar. It’s a hidden webpage that contains programming challenges to solve. If you get them right - there is high chance of getting a job offer. Oh, and did I mention - it’s invite only? You can’t just go to the foobar.withgoogle.com and start solving, no no no. You need to be formally invited by google. Well, that sounds like a fairy tale, or a spy story, but it’s totally true - look it up. Foobar was started as a google’s side project in 2014, and it is still operating because I my dear friends - I got invited. This isn’t an ordinary invite, you’ll find in your inbox or spam folder, it’s not a phone call, or a linked-in message. It’s not even a chat from a long forgotten colleague. Dude - this is really crazy. Imagine this: you’re busy with your day, working as usual, coding stuff and looking things up in google, and suddenly the usually white page opens up a black hole with an invitation to play a game. Shivers run down your spine, as this isn’t something you see every day. It’s a static phrase everybody can just type in and get the same effect. Google tracks your searches and if you match against secret pattern - you will see the invitation. People have tried for days searching different things that could open up foobar invitation, but no dice. Google is extremely smart about showing the thing only to people who they really want. Having that said - I have a referral link that I’ll be giving away at the end of the video, so stick around for that. So this is it - google foobar challenge. I must say that first few levels were quite easy, but they got progressively harder down the line.