How did Venkatesh Ganesan crack Google despite being a Mechanical Engineering student at BITS Pilani?

The first time I ever wrote a rhyme people laughed
My friends called me impetuous and a little brash
Local rockers were dissing cause I was spittin raps
My father said its a fantasy, it would never

I heard from some of my friends that he studies Mech Engg. I was really amazed. PS: I don't intend to undermine him or his talent in any way. I wish him all the very best. I just wanted to know a little bit about this from his point of view (his strategy, preparations etc.) which will be helpful to a lot of people. Does Google usually take non CS students for Software Engineer profile?

I couldn't stop, giving up was irrational
Was skipping meals to save up and build a capital
Discriminated by fiends for bein broke
Subject to jokes, I was in need of neat clothes
Life was provocative, opposite of how it is not
For those who contradict to seek solace in God
Like I was targetted, with some chronic hate
Pretended I'm fine, while everybody walked away
My first ever gig and nobody was there to support me
But for my brother Smokey and his homie who barely
had known me
I went ahead and eventually ripped the mic
Ended up making a 100 fans in a single night, now....
- Brodha V



Pardon me. I'm neither a rapper nor do I have a hundred fans.

Yet I can relate strongly to that excerpt.

I won't lie. It was hard for me and indeed a gamble.

I like problem solving. A lot. However, problem solving in itself, has different genres.
Different disciplines offer different problems to solve, each one rich in its own respect.

Long story short - I found the problems that Computer Science had to offer, to be quite fascinating.

What was more exciting was that I could solve miniature versions of those problems online on a number of different sites (SPOJ,Codeforces, topcoder etc.) and learn so much from it. (Competitive Programming - if you'd like a lame term for it)
It became like a game for me. The best game I've ever played in my life.
I got obsessed with it.
I ended up solving more than a thousand problems in a year.

The end result of this was that :

1) I wrote a lot of code.
2) I learnt about different Data structures and Algorithms in Computer Science. I fell in love with them.
3) Given a problem, I can now jump to the crux of it without focusing much on the low level details - This is a rare and important skill in the field of Software Engineering in my opinion.
4) My debugging skills improved a lot - Again very important.

I was glad to be able to put these skills to good use in an internship that I did recently.
It involved designing a data structure to address a cool problem.
I shall not go into more details here as it's supposed to be kept confidential.

Now coming to your questions:

Q. What was my strategy?

I had no strategy as such. I blindly did what I found to be interesting over and over again.

Q. How did I prepare for the interview?

All my preparation was done in the process of solving problems. I did not prepare anything special for this interview.

Q. Does Google usually take non CS students for Software Engineer profile?

I don't have any statistics on this. But I believe if you have a deep passion for the field and are genuinely good at your stuff, then anyone would like having you on their team.

Your branch is not tattooed to your forehead. (Right?)
Go ahead and do what you like.


The only thing standing between you and your goal is the bullshit story you keep telling yourself as to why you can't achieve it.
- Jordan Belfort