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Google: Better To Be a 'B' CS Grad Than an 'A+' English Grad

Posted by samzenpus on from the take-the-hard-road dept.

theodp (442580) writes "In a NY Times interview on How to Get a Job at Google with Laszlo Bock, who is in charge of all hiring at Google, the subject of grit-based hiring came up. Bock explained: 'I was on campus speaking to a student who was a computer science and math double major, who was thinking of shifting to an economics major because the computer science courses were too difficult. I told that student they are much better off being a B student in computer science than an A+ student in English because it signals a rigor in your thinking and a more challenging course load. That student will be one of our interns this summer.' Bock also advised, 'You need to be very adaptable, so that you have a baseline skill set that allows you to be a call center operator today and tomorrow be able to interpret MRI scans.'"

8 of 358 comments (clear)

  1. 15" Golf Holes by Tokolosh · · Score: 4, Funny

    Google employment interview: "Do you think increasing the hole size is good for golf?"

    “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things. Not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”

      John F. Kennedy

    --
    Prove anything by multiplying Huge Number times Tiny Number
    1. Re:15" Golf Holes by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 3, Funny

      That makes them very suitable for confiding them to us,doesn't it?

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    2. Re:15" Golf Holes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      I would share my google interview questions (some of them were pretty original and interesting), but unlike you I happen to remember they're confidential.

      I would tell you woosh!!, but I suspect the situation would become recursive.

  2. Yes, study CS to be a call center operator by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Was that supposed to be a pitch for or against CS?

  3. Re:*sigh* by 0xdeadbeef · · Score: 4, Funny

    Those upper level english courses require a lot of rigors thinking

    I'm sure they did.

  4. Re:What passes for rigorous thinking apparently by daremonai · · Score: 1, Funny

    C'mon. English and economics both start with the letter 'e' so they're pretty much the same thing.

  5. Re:Double A by lbmouse · · Score: 5, Funny

    Doesn't Google have on campus coffee shops? If so they need English majors to bolster their barista ranks.

  6. Re:Open contempt for the humanities by PrimaryConsult · · Score: 3, Funny

    So, English Majors are good for documentation and middle management?