When the Mothership Calls: How I helped my husband prepare for his Google Interview
When my husband and I eloped a couple of years ago, I promised him that I would be the woman people are referring to when they say, “Behind every successful man is a great woman.” So when he said he is ready to leave his current employment, he has 100% of my attention and support.
For this article, I intend to share how we prepared for Google’s job interview. This is a training regimen from the perspective of a software engineer’s spouse. Everything I did was intended to provide support to my husband’s aspirations. Going full support mode ala-Wendy Marvell!
Before I started any concrete plans, I had to make sure that he is ready to find a new job — for real. And that this decision is genuine and not emotionally motivated.
After confirming he’s ready to move on, we signed a contract agreement and started a project I called “Google Project.” (I love contracts!)
The Google Project
Objective: To get an offer from Google & to rank top 300 on Leetcode’s weekly contest
Step 1: Building confidence
To boost Olek’s spirit, I started styling his working clothes. I watched several Youtube videos discussing men’s fashion. He used to wear the typical programmer’s clothing — tee shirt, hoodie, and tennis shoes. When I became in charge of his wardrobe, I donated his tee-shirts and made him wear polo shirts, dark pants/chinos, and stylish shoes. When you know you look good, you instantly feel better. Aside from clothing, I also volunteered to do his haircut and hairstyle. I watched a couple of youtube videos to learn how to cut men’s hair, and thankfully it worked. I also handled his grooming, which included a constant reminder to trim those nose hairs.
My favorite Youtube channel and video tutorials:
One Dapper Street — For fashion
BluMaan — For hairstyle
How to Cut Your Man’s Hair — For haircut
A Benefit of dressing well according to Science:
The Cognitive Consequences of Formal Clothing
Step 2: Exercise every day!
A couple of years ago, my husband introduced me to TABATA training. He used to exercise daily and eventually stopped for at least two years. Once we started our Google Project, I asked him to do TABATA every morning. His routine lasts for ten minutes a day.
After a long day at work, he comes home and walks for twenty minutes with our dog, Babbage. I hope that exercising will lessen the impact of stress from working full time & studying hardcore.
More reasons to exercise & reading references:
Step 3: Healthy meals only, please!
I am a career-driven woman, but I take pride in the fact that I am a hands-on wife. I make sure Olek eats healthily and avoids any high cholesterol food. He enjoys veggies, fruits, and a high protein, low carb diet. After all, when we eloped, he made me promise never to let him go fat.
**For this part, follow a diet your doctor recommends**
Importance of healthy diet:
What are the benefits of eating healthy?
Step 4: Quality practice matters
I created a household schedule that includes everything from eating, relaxing, and training. We called our training sessions as quiet hours. During this time, we don’t play any sounds or watch any television shows.
Every single day, we will have at least four hours of quiet hours. Leetcode’s premium subscription was essential for this training. If you have a budget, consider getting it.
Schedule your errands effectively to maximize your hours. Having an efficient schedule where we do everything in one trip helped us achieve at least four hours of training a day. It was also essential to prioritize, choose between going out or studying. Thankfully, for us, it was natural to stay home.
Why four hours?
“ He practices only three to four hours a day, not six to seven.”
We did steps one to four every single day since late September to November.
We started this project in late September and did our training religiously. I made this training template tailored for Olek, but you are welcome to change any portion you see fit.
Our Google Project was supposed to run for six months or at least when he finished within the top 300 on Leetcode’s contest before sending an application to Google. However, sometime November, a Google recruiter contacted him via email and inquired if he is looking for a job. He asked me, “What do I do?” I smiled and said, “When the mothership calls, you answer.”
