Garvey: Technical interview tips

My name is Garvey, I'm a global staffing manager here at Google.
I've hired, I would say, several hundred security engineers here at Google over the last seven years.
Advice I'd give those that are preparing for their technical interviews, don't expect that the interview will be a sort of trivial exam of how many questions can you answer in this sort of period of time.
I want to know, as an interviewer, does the candidate understand the fundamentals and can they explain them back to me?
Programs and applications that I would recommend preparing for when doing an entry level interview, for example, Splunk, Wireshark, understanding their functions, their purpose.
If you can get to the point of understanding their internals, why they exist.
If they didn't exist, how would you solve a problem?
Outside of that, just understanding the fundamentals of topics that exist within this space.
Network security, web application, security knowledge, operating system internals, understanding and mastering security protocols I think that's an important place to start.
Practice answering open end questions.
They tend to be really difficult, they're ambiguous by design, they're complex by design.
You always want to start first by asking clarifying questions.
Get information from your interviewer to help you narrow down the focus of the question itself, but also sort of lower the scope of the problem, right?
Into something that you can answer yourself, that you know that you feel comfortable with.
Organize your answer through the STAR method.
It's a great way to organize yourself when faced with a large open ended question, it will help your interviewer understand your train of thought.
Thinking out loud as well will help your interviewer understand okay, this is where Garvey's going with this answer, if I need to help him, I can help him.
Maybe he doesn't get the entire answer, I know he was on the right track because he was thinking out loud, I understood where he was going.
If you don't know the answer, that's fine.
Again, no one expects you to walk on water, but we don't expect you to lie, [LAUGH] if you will, right?
My ideal candidate is someone who just loves to learn, right?
Someone that's humble, that's honest, someone that can manage through ambiguity, complexity in their own life, doesn't necessarily have to be directly related to cybersecurity, but someone that when faced with a problem, runs towards it.
They're always a student, they're always there to learn, always there to mentor, lead others, and they demonstrate those characteristics throughout their life.
Nerves during technical interviews, I think that's pretty standard [LAUGH], it's okay to be nervous, right?
I think it means you care.
There's a reason you're there.
There's a reason you find yourself in that moment, right?
Someone has counted you in already.
They have belief in you and this space needs you.
So, you know, I would say, trust yourself, trust your gut, don't be afraid to fail.
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