Updated by Google candidates
Software Engineer Interview Experience
Interview process
The recruiter was very clear and prompt about the expectations and the reply time for emails was generally great. The technical interviews were all DSA and had a story built around the underlying question that the candidate has to uncover to get to the actual algorithm. The Googliness interview for me particularly was all 'how would you' questions instead of 'tell me about a time' questions, which surprised me a little and I probably did not do as well as I should have. Clarity of thought and conciseness in response is incredibly important for these interviews. For the onsites, both my interviewers were helpful and communicated really well. The second interviewer went really deep into the time and space complexity of Djikstra's, a couple layers below the standard answers and the follow-ups became increasingly complicated to answer. In hindsight, my overall interview loop focused on depth of DSA knowledge over doing all sorts of obscure medium and hard leetcode questions.
- Recruiter screen
- Online assessment
- Phone interview
- Final round
Interview tips
The behavioral has three types of question categories, should be prepped for all of them. DSA depth of knowledge is more important that breadth, especially at L3, and the questions are posed in terms of real world situations that need to be decomposed, so prepare for that. Always communicate whatever you're thinking with the interviewer, they tend to be helpful and can nudge you in the right direction. For everything except for the recruiter round and the Googliness round, there was no time for intros, so expect to dive into questions directly.
Company culture
The overall vibe was very relaxed and helpful, interviews were more conversational than other traditional company interviews. Company culture is very chill, there is a general perception that Google engineers have very good WLB, which can be both good and bad they way I see it.
Questions asked
Question types asked
Specific questions asked
Random sampling class game (Priority Queues and Hash Maps)
Version of Djikstra's Algorithm
Get full access with a membership, or share your experience to try it free.
