I was contacted by a recruiter who found my profile on LinkedIn asking me if I was interested in their ITRP program . I said sure and I had to go through a phone screen, then 2 weeks later a highly technical 1 hour phone interview, and then finally an on-site interview in Mountain View 1 month later. Let me tell you it was one of the best experiences I have had in my life. No I didn't get selected but I had such an amazing experience I had no doubts that Google would be a fantastic company to work for. 3 45-minute interviews were 1:1 and a 45-minute lunch with an employee-guide was also done but I don't think that had anything to do with the hiring process. Believe me these interviews are so conversational and easy going that time flew SO fast. I am normally at 120bpm heart rate in interviews but this one was nothing like that. I personally felt like I nailed the interview but apparently I didn't or there were just better people than me (this is Google!). Google pampers their candidates. I stayed at a very nice hotel, got a neat leathered rental car with gas reimbursement, $35/day food reimbursement, and free food and all the beverages I wanted that day aka Redbull lol. After the interview I went to San Francisco that afternoon since I've never been there, and then in the early evening, I drove down to Pacifica which is a gorgeous coastal city and went down a bit along Pacific Coast Highway. Long story short I'm a huge auto enthusiast and that is one of the most scenic roads in the U.S. and I still smile months after just thinking about it.

I interviewed for the IRTP position after Google came to my school. I spoke to a recruiter and about a week later I was invited to do a technical interview over the phone. The interview was with an operations engineer and he started the technical questions right away after saying hello. There was no room for formality or discussing your resume/experience. The initial screen is to weed out anyone that does not meet the qualifications and it is intense. I would recommend studying up on protocols, system administration, and the specifics of Linux/Windows/Mac administration. I forgot the difference between hard and soft links and didn't know a lot about how OS X loads certain background processes. A lot of the questions required you to solve technical problems like if a router goes down and how it loads IP tables. Study hard! Also remember to ask questions at the end of the interview, that can be a deal breaker. Ultimately I didn't make the cut but it was a good experience.