[trhway]

> I have to study for an interview, then I’m clearly not good enough for the position.

that is true only to the extent that the interview is related to the position... Whereis most interviews in our industry are akin to a hazing ritual, and it stands for a reason that "Google interview" got it name from that and is also religiously practiced in the other frat-companies like for example FB or stereotypical startups with young founders.

Wrt. the ritual aspect it is thus natural that at Google/FB you first have to pass the interview and only after that you are getting to the project assignment stage ( not sure about specific details at FB as i failed there, while at Google the offered projects were pretty crappy (as well as the offer itself))

[curmudgeon9]

The way Google does project assignment after a lengthy interview process strikes me as a bait-and-switch. Feels like they're hoping you've invested so much time in the process that you won't turn down a role you would have never applied to in the first place.

[emodendroket]

Would you care to elaborate? I'm not familiar with the process.

[southphillyman]

You interview to get into Google at a specific level (new grad, SWE III, etc). They don't reveal which project you will be working on until the offer stage though. So it's possible that you can be in the interview process for months only to find out you'll be working on some kind of old legacy maintenance role.

[emodendroket]

Yikes. That stinks.