One of the reasons why I will never apply for a job at Google: I just can’t push myself to prepare data structures and algorithm for their tech interview round.

Mugging up how to traverse a red black tree did not make much sense to me when I was a dev, and it does not make sense now, with me being a PM with more than half a decade of experience in building Products. Also, you can just open Cormen and look up any data structure you want to implement.

Most of these tech interviews are a signalling exercise: That you are willing to put in the 2-3 months effort required to get a job in the top 2 companies in the world; where every dev/PM want to work.

Would I like to work at Google someday? Sure.

Am I willing to, or even capable of practicing Data Structures and algorithm questions for 2 months? Don’t think so.

Massive respect for people who can do that though. It is not easy.