Feeling bad...

Still waiting for MS's offer :(. I missed call from MS last Thursday, and got very nervous for whole night, until hr called again at 11:00 on Friday, because i was expecting it to be an offer. However, she told me the feedbacks were fine, but there were still something to check, which might mean i was on the waiting list :(

I attended written test of EMC this afternoon, couldnt answer all of the questions, some of which are easy or i didnt give the best solution to :(. I also got an onsite interview of IBM on 17:00, so I had to hand in 10 minutes earlier. Then i took a cab to IBM, which took me 50 minutes.... it was 17:50 when i arrived at the building, sh*t! Fortunately, hr of ibm was nice, she arranged another interview for me which went well except my failing answer to a stupid open question.

Work of Lab became a little heavier, and i had to work hard from tomorrow :(, at least i can be no more bored.

Just wish myself luck.... :(

Onsite interview @ Microsoft

It started at 13:00, Nov 1st. This is what i've been preparing for, so i drank 2 cans of red bull before i took off-_-.


First round, hr led me to an office... and the name on the door was 'Gene', it's a foreigner... Fortunately, he is a really really nice guy. I told him i didn't expect a foreigner interviewer, and he laughed and introduced himself and we started to talk. But i was still nervous until he asked me to make a reality design. I saw the question before, and still didnt think too much of it. But my instant design was good. Gene was really nice, and he laughed all the time, his accent was great, very easy for me to understand. We finished talking and he led me the way to the meeting room where next round will be held.

Second round, i felt a little relaxed after being interviewed by an foreigner which i thought went very well. Maybe i was too relax and i didn't expect the interviewer to ask questions about VM which i am current working on. His question was not very tough but i didnt answered well, i gave him some solutions but they are not what exactly he wants. After that, he asked me a regular question, and i thought and gave him a solution, using radix sort and merge sort, he was a little confused with my algorithm at first, but finally he got my idea. Then he asked me if i know hash, i said sure and he told me it is more efficient to use hash to solve it. I disagreed at first, and after discussion, i found i misunderstood the question a little... has asked me to group, but my solution was to sort -_-.

Third round, went in the same meeting room. The third interviewer didnt asked too much but two questions. The first one was to create a two-dimension array, it's too simple, and i finished without hesitate, and ... with hints of the interviewer, i found i forgot to use 'malloc'.... why was i so excited, damn. The next question was to solve an chess problem. While the interviewer was drawing the question, i was regretting, because i saw the chess before but didnt solve it. Then he describe the problem to me, which i had known, and he asked me to write code to solve. Thank god it was not me who he wanted to solve the chess but the computer. After finished this problem, he led me to waiting room and told me to wait for hr.

After about ten minutes' waiting, i got call from hr, she told me to rest in lounge, my next round interview will be held at about 17:00, which means i was forwarded. The lounge was facing south and got a great view, i love resting there. At about 17:15, hr came and led me to the interviewer, she asked me how did i feel, i said first round was good but the other two are not very good, she said i was unobtrusive, the feedback are quite positive. That relaxed me more or less.

The fourth round, which is also my final round, took placed in a Philippine interviewer's office. He came from Redmond too, as Gene did. And his accent was also great, we talked about transferring between different groups, relation between family and work, advantage work in China, then he alse asked me a problem about reality stuff, as Gene did, do foreigners always like to ask this type questions. I made a design, then we discussed, improved, considered some more situation, until he said it was finished. Then we talked more about microsoft, and he started to packing, because he's off duty, we walked out to the elevator, i was going up to check out and he was going down, so we said bye to each other. I reckon it as a great talking, but what i can do now is only waiting for news...

Written test @ Yahoo, Adobe, IBM

The companies' names are sorted by written test time.

Yahoo's problems are not too hard, but covered a lot of areas, like database, network, c++, even some iq tests. But they are all basic questions, the easist test of the three.

Adobe's test was not hard too, i had to choose java or c++ part to answer, i browsed quickly and chose c++. When i came back, i wrote some code down to check, and my answer seems right, quite good, reading TCPL did help.

IBM's test was awful. I read someones' experience on BBS, but still did not well in part I of IPAT, only 2/3 of the questions were answered, then i did good in part II and so-so in part III. Technical part of IBM's test was nightmare for me, too many questions about design pattern and too many new words for me to understand both the question and choices, like many people said, IBM is like a Chinese Natinal Enerprise, we can tell from the test.

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p.s. I got phone call from Microsoft this afternoon, hr told me the on-site interview was arranged on 10.1. Today is the first day to send out interview invitation, it seemed that i did really well in written test, and i also heard somebody was arranged for an phone interview while i was not, so i would conclude that dechu is quite nb. :)

p.s. got Baidu's rejection letter last Thursday, that's exactly 2 weeks after the interview.

Rejected by Google :(

I have been waiting news from Google and Baidu for nearly 2 weeks, and just now, an email pop up from my gmail, it was from 'Google', and by the time i saw the word 'thank' in the title, i know it's over. Thinking back, it may because my badly performance on the last problem of the third round interview. There's no pity, i think i did my best, and i was not qualified enough, forwading to the fourth round makes my satisfied.

And, still no news from Baidu, guess another rejection email will arrive soon :(

ps. this morning i visit this blog directly, but now i cant do that again, weird network~

Written test @ Microsoft

The invitation was delayed for some fking reason, but i didnt think too much, and still did some preparation for the test. At about 15:00 on Friday, some fellows on smth complained about the invitation sending system, and said they called chinahr and get invitation immediately, i couldnt wait and called chinahr, the hr said i was qualified for written test and an invitation had been sent. Then i got the resent invitation soon.

First part of the test was not hard, i could solve almost every question. Second was ok, too, although i had to wrote a lot of code and description about thoughts. All questions have to be answered in English, luckily i had practised in this blog for some time. Third and fourth part was open questions, i wrote a lot, and have no idea if i was right. Anyway, i dont feel hard about the questions.

Guess and expect that i can pass.

Onsite interview @ baidu - first round

It surprised me when i got a phonecall from baidu last night. And the caller surprised me again when i asked him if i should brought something to the interview, becuase his answer was, a pen.

I had a little trouble with finding the place, i went into the wrong building, but still get there in time. The interviewer is nice, but the questions are tough, they suck... He started with a regular one - how to remove duplicate data, while size of data is quite huge. I came up with about 3 kinds of solution, and he agreed with one of them that he expected. Then he asked me to introduce about my project experience, it went well too. Then came the disgusting parts, he asked a lot about c++, network, multi-process, i didnt feel comfortable about these questions because they are too detailed, and related experience required, and most importantly, i know little about them. Interviewers of Google mainly focus on solving problem ability, while interviewers of Baidu focus on technical detail, that makes me consider Baidu interview unprofessional. I couldnt answer about third of questions and feel not terrible, because i feel Baidu is terrible. At last the interviewer told me I will be informed in 1 or 2 weeks, and there will be at most 3 round interviews. Whatever, i guess i can pass, if i fail, it's Baidu's fault and loss.

Onsite interview @ google - 3rd&4th round

As i expected, google hr called me on 10.8, rigth after the long vacation, and the interview was arranged on 10.9. Before the interview began, hr confirmed that if you acted excellent in last round interview, you will be arranged more than one round next time, so i concluded that i got a 'pass' in first round, and guessed got an 'excellent' in second round. It turned out that my guess was right, i had 2 interviews in one day.

The third round went well at first, i introduced all kinds of sort method that i learn from CLRS, and solve quite a few questions, even pointed out a little mistake he made, before he threw the damn last question to me. I do have seen that question and i do have solved it, but unfortunately, i did not realize my solution was not most optimized. It was of O(nlgn), while the interviewer wanted an answer of O(n). I spent lot of time on that and got the answer after a few hints. :(

The fourth round went smoothly. I finished a non-bug function writting, solved a little math question, and 2 little questions about one sorted matrix.

So, i guess i can get a 'pass' and an 'excellent' this time again. Hr told me to wait, and some of the engineers are going to Shanghai so I may not be told the result soon. Just wait.

I went farther than i expected at first, so got and rejection in fifth round would be perfect for me.
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I also submitted my resume to EMC and Yahoo. There is a schoolfellow of my department in EMC, and i asked him for recommendation. He did it and replied me, unlike my schoolfellows in Baidu and MSRA, who didnt give me any response. I feel warm and decide to make EMC my third choice, right after Google and MSRA. I didnt plan to apply for Yahoo at first, but yesterday i saw a SE position which i didn't think there was one, so I decided to apply, and amazingly, an online test has to be done before submission. The test covered different kinds of knowledge, i could answer about fifth of it only, shoot. At last, i finished it with help of search engine. :)

Onsite interview @ google - second round

It went perfectly.

I have practised for first question, quite simple...
Second question is new to me, but i finished quickly with few hints.
I have seen third question, but didnt think it through. I found out a solution quickly, and i thought the algorithm was not perfect, but after communited with interviewer, he said it was the best way.
Then i was told.... there's no question left, seemed i did it too fast :D. After a few self-introduction, he came up with another question about binary-tree, and i worked out quickly again... I dont know why those question are so simple, I feel like having passed this round.

Though still not expecting a google's offer, i have more confidence now, :D

Onsite interview @ google - first round

Google hr is really working high effectively. i was informed to first round interview 3 hours after paper test, and informed just now again, to second round interview.

The interview i took this afternoon didnt goes very well, i thought, the 2 question was not hard, but there are problems write program on paper. There were unavoidable mistakes i made, although i gave me thoughts quickly. I didnt feel quite well when i left the building. I ran into one of my labmates, who was aslo taking an interview.

Accidently, i came across him again at about 18:40, and he told me he has been informed to take the next round interview tomorrow. I became sad, and thought had been rejected :(, until got my phonecall at about 20:00. I thought too much about being rejected, is it becuase of background match? or too many mistakes i made? or .... My english sucks, i cant express emotion precisely :(

That's all for today, I am happy, and more confident, and expecting to pass tomorrow's test now.

paper test @ google

The call I got at 13:00 really shocked me, I thought it was from Baidu, but it turned out to be google, where i applied just 18 hours ago.

I was told the test began at 14:40, but it didnt until 15:30, I dont know how they are planning this. The test was not hard, but i didnt finish them :(. The first question was easy, but a little bit complicated, just a little, but i spend too much time on it, and i heard there was only 9 minutes left before wrote anything down for question 2. So i wrote my thoughts briefly and quickly... maybe becuase the first was too easy, i didnt get excited enough, and i, again, spent too much time on details, sign...

While in google, some of the testees got calls from hr of other company and made appointments, and i also met a guy who got interviewed in MSRA from 10:00 to 19:00... I will be quite busy in next month.

Somehow feel terrible..

While browing Algorithm board on smth, I saw a post about some problems, with title 'some old problems...'. Those are from CLRS, I tried to solve, but could do only half of them, and I dont know if my answers are correct... :( So I stated to wonder if I am qualified for MS, or Google, or other great companies, if I can pass the interview....

Applied for Google last night. The classroom which has 300 seats was filled with about 500 people, so I handed my resume and left. Interestingly, there was a blank where you should write down your most creative project, i finished that part quickly, lucky to have that prepared.

Still no response from Baidu, should not expect anything....

Here's another idea

I'm seeking for a job now, so why not write everything down here.

I'm kind of tired of writing blog, so i didnt do that often recently, while i did a lot about one year ago.Changing from space to baidu may be one of the reasons, i really dont get excited about the interface of baidu, it's fast, but simplicity and a little crudeness doesnt seem atrractive to me. This place is great, no fantastic effects, also simple, but comfortbale. So it's all new, blog site and language, and i feel like writing again.

Ok, about jobs, first step, resume.

I'm still not sure about pronounciation of resume, is it ri-SUM or rese-MEI, the latter one seems to be correct, i remembered Pheobe said that in , and it seems like a French word. It took me about 2 weeks to make my resume, most of time was spent on project expereinces part, it must be very important to me, so i wrote and edited several times, and it's stil not perfect but almost, so i printed 20 copies, and submit on Internet for application. A lot thanks to SYX, who helped me with the English version, i dont want to write his full name cause i dont want to be discovered by a serach engine. Many of SYX's fans search his name on search engine for digging every detail of their star.

I applied for SDE position in MSRA on 9.24. MS has always been my dreaming work place since i was in high school, which is about 7 years ago. I read a book named "Follow the Intelligence", which introduces people worked at MSRA and Kaifu Lee, leader of MSRA. I was totally shocked, i was envy of how clever they are and how passionate they are, and i love the feeling when a job's done, one could say to another proudly, 'that's my baby'. This should not be an ad for MS, but i do like that place, and my feeling was enhanced last night after attending Microsoft Campus Recruiting Talk last night. I submitted on 9.24 to avoid attending first round paper-test, which was held on 9.22, I dont think I'm ready, although I dont even think so now, but I'm going to attend the second round test, which will be held on 10.16. Too many words here, hehe, just want to join MS too much.

The other company I have appied for is Baidu, which is NO. 1 Chinese Search Engine currently. The no-constrain-about-worktime seems attractive to me, and the company is going up and ... poor me, dont know how to describe it, just wanna say Baidu has a bright future. The application date is also 9.24, and i also ask my classmate to recommended for me to skip paper-test.

Since now, I dont have any response except confirmation letter, and I dont expect any before National Day.

Ok, i'm on the way, wish me luck!

This is interesting

For some reason, this blog cant be accessed from China mainland, even by myself, however, i can post and i can preview my post, cause the url used now is *.blogger.com, but for viewers, you have to visit through *.blogspot.com, which might be blocked by some kind of firewall.

So, very few of people who know me can see this page, and i can talk even most freely, like 'I hate my boss!', which i'm not by the way, or 'I have my workmate!', which sometimes it does happen, and just using my poor english, not being embarrased.

......

just register in advance

maybe some day i will use it

i love the default fonttype here, and i love the auto-save-draft function, just like what gmail provides

hia~~