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Google Software Engineer Interview Questions

Review this list of 120 Google Software Engineer interview questions and answers verified by hiring managers and candidates.
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    15 answers
    +10

    " function climbStairs(n) { // 4 iterations of Dynamic Programming solutions: // Step 1: Recursive: // if (n <= 2) return n // return climbStairs(n-1) + climbStairs(n-2) // Step 2: Top-down Memoization // const memo = {0:0, 1:1, 2:2} // function f(x) { // if (x in memo) return memo[x] // memo[x] = f(x-1) + f(x-2) // return memo[x] // } // return f(n) // Step 3: Bottom-up Tabulation // const tab = [0,1,2] // f"

    Matthew K. - " function climbStairs(n) { // 4 iterations of Dynamic Programming solutions: // Step 1: Recursive: // if (n <= 2) return n // return climbStairs(n-1) + climbStairs(n-2) // Step 2: Top-down Memoization // const memo = {0:0, 1:1, 2:2} // function f(x) { // if (x in memo) return memo[x] // memo[x] = f(x-1) + f(x-2) // return memo[x] // } // return f(n) // Step 3: Bottom-up Tabulation // const tab = [0,1,2] // f"See full answer

    Software Engineer
    Data Structures & Algorithms
    +3 more
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    27 answers
    +23

    "def friend_distance(friends, userA, userB): step = 0 total_neighs = set() llen = len(total_neighs) total_neighs.add(userB) while len(total_neighs)!=llen: s = set() step += 1 llen = len(total_neighs) for el in total_neighs: nes = neighbours(friends, userA, el) if userA in nes: return step for p in nes: s.add(p) for el in s: total_neighs.add(el) return -1 def neighbours(A,n1, n2): out = set() for i in range(len(A[n2])): if An2: out.add(i) return out"

    Batman X. - "def friend_distance(friends, userA, userB): step = 0 total_neighs = set() llen = len(total_neighs) total_neighs.add(userB) while len(total_neighs)!=llen: s = set() step += 1 llen = len(total_neighs) for el in total_neighs: nes = neighbours(friends, userA, el) if userA in nes: return step for p in nes: s.add(p) for el in s: total_neighs.add(el) return -1 def neighbours(A,n1, n2): out = set() for i in range(len(A[n2])): if An2: out.add(i) return out"See full answer

    Software Engineer
    Data Structures & Algorithms
    +1 more
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    10 answers
    +6

    "I would first call out the two types of Google Doodles that are published. First would be the static doodle which just shows a picture, and users can get more information on it by hovering on it or clicking on it. Second would be the dynamic google doodles which are either short videos or games through which users engage a bit more. My top 3 metrics that covers both would be: Click-through rate and post-click CTR - Although different metrics, I clubbed them since they fall under similar"

    Rahul R. - "I would first call out the two types of Google Doodles that are published. First would be the static doodle which just shows a picture, and users can get more information on it by hovering on it or clicking on it. Second would be the dynamic google doodles which are either short videos or games through which users engage a bit more. My top 3 metrics that covers both would be: Click-through rate and post-click CTR - Although different metrics, I clubbed them since they fall under similar"See full answer

    Software Engineer
    Analytical
    +1 more
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    6 answers
    +3

    "As an engineering manager, motivation is key to the success of the team. Here are some ways to motivate the team: Set clear goals: Clearly defined goals help team members understand what they're working towards and give them a sense of purpose. Offer growth opportunities: Providing opportunities for professional development and advancement can increase motivation and job satisfaction. Provide recognition and rewards: Recognising and rewarding team members for their hard work and achieve"

    Santhosh K. - "As an engineering manager, motivation is key to the success of the team. Here are some ways to motivate the team: Set clear goals: Clearly defined goals help team members understand what they're working towards and give them a sense of purpose. Offer growth opportunities: Providing opportunities for professional development and advancement can increase motivation and job satisfaction. Provide recognition and rewards: Recognising and rewarding team members for their hard work and achieve"See full answer

    Software Engineer
    Behavioral
    +1 more
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    Add answer
    Software Engineer
    Behavioral
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  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    10 answers
    Video answer for 'What is your leadership style?'
    +7

    "My leadership style is flexible and adaptive, it varies depending on the team members and the needs of the company. My leadership goal is to empower the team and inspire and grow leaders. In order to achieve that, I combine transformational, democratic and coaching leadership styles. Usually when we are facing a new type of challenge, or at the early stage of a project, I like to adapt the transformational leadership which allows me to listen to all the suggestions from the team members and sta"

    onering2ruleall - "My leadership style is flexible and adaptive, it varies depending on the team members and the needs of the company. My leadership goal is to empower the team and inspire and grow leaders. In order to achieve that, I combine transformational, democratic and coaching leadership styles. Usually when we are facing a new type of challenge, or at the early stage of a project, I like to adapt the transformational leadership which allows me to listen to all the suggestions from the team members and sta"See full answer

    Software Engineer
    Behavioral
    +5 more
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
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    Video answer for 'Find the median of two sorted arrays.'
    Software Engineer
    Data Structures & Algorithms
    +4 more
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    Add answer
    Software Engineer
    System Design
    +1 more
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    1 answer

    "Do any one know how to build trie using IP address?"

    Graig - "Do any one know how to build trie using IP address?"See full answer

    Software Engineer
    System Design
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    Add answer
    Software Engineer
    Data Structures & Algorithms
    +1 more
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    1 answer

    "Question: An array of n integers is given, and a positive integer k, where k << n. k indicates that the absolute difference between each element's current index (icurrent) and the index in the sorted array (isorted) is less than k (|icurr - isorted| < k). Sort the given array. The most common solution is with a Heap: def solution(arr, k): min_heap = [] result = [] for i in range(len(arr)) heapq.heappush(min_heap, arr[i]) "

    Guilherme M. - "Question: An array of n integers is given, and a positive integer k, where k << n. k indicates that the absolute difference between each element's current index (icurrent) and the index in the sorted array (isorted) is less than k (|icurr - isorted| < k). Sort the given array. The most common solution is with a Heap: def solution(arr, k): min_heap = [] result = [] for i in range(len(arr)) heapq.heappush(min_heap, arr[i]) "See full answer

    Software Engineer
    Data Structures & Algorithms
    +1 more
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    1 answer

    "Yes to peer manager from stackholder team the problem was every time she wanted say something she used to have three way connect with me and my manager"

    Graig - "Yes to peer manager from stackholder team the problem was every time she wanted say something she used to have three way connect with me and my manager"See full answer

    Software Engineer
    Behavioral
    +3 more
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    6 answers
    Video answer for 'Design a visual landmark recognition system.'
    +3

    "I understand this is more focused on ML. However, I have a system question. If users allow us to access their location, or they send location via text box, could we use CDNs for the search without hitting our database? We only query the database when we have zero information on location. Other questions: does embedding always guarantee information on location? Do we discharge the user images after we return a prediction? I heard the feedback that we should keep it for future learning. What would"

    Bini T. - "I understand this is more focused on ML. However, I have a system question. If users allow us to access their location, or they send location via text box, could we use CDNs for the search without hitting our database? We only query the database when we have zero information on location. Other questions: does embedding always guarantee information on location? Do we discharge the user images after we return a prediction? I heard the feedback that we should keep it for future learning. What would"See full answer

    Software Engineer
    System Design
    +1 more
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    1 answer

    "Situation: As a Product Manager at Cisco, I was leading the development of a new highly critical product for enterprise customers. Midway through the project, a key engineering team was reassigned due to an urgent security patch, leaving us understaffed with only six weeks left before a critical customer pilot. Task: I had to ensure the product launched on time without sacrificing key features, despite losing half of our engineering team. The challenge was to"

    fuzzyicecream14 - "Situation: As a Product Manager at Cisco, I was leading the development of a new highly critical product for enterprise customers. Midway through the project, a key engineering team was reassigned due to an urgent security patch, leaving us understaffed with only six weeks left before a critical customer pilot. Task: I had to ensure the product launched on time without sacrificing key features, despite losing half of our engineering team. The challenge was to"See full answer

    Software Engineer
    Behavioral
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    14 answers
    Video answer for 'Generate Parentheses'
    +9

    " O(n) time from typing import List def generate_parentheses(n: int): res = [] def generate(buf, opened, closed): if len(buf) == 2 * n: if n != 0: res.append(buf) return if opened < n: generate( buf + "(", opened + 1, closed) if closed < opened: generate(buf + ")", opened, closed + 1) generate("", 0, 0) return res debug your code below print(generate_parentheses(1"

    Rick E. - " O(n) time from typing import List def generate_parentheses(n: int): res = [] def generate(buf, opened, closed): if len(buf) == 2 * n: if n != 0: res.append(buf) return if opened < n: generate( buf + "(", opened + 1, closed) if closed < opened: generate(buf + ")", opened, closed + 1) generate("", 0, 0) return res debug your code below print(generate_parentheses(1"See full answer

    Software Engineer
    Data Structures & Algorithms
    +3 more
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    10 answers
    +7

    "Honestly, In addition to having the right expertise and skills required for this job, I am really looking forward to being part of this organisation’s journey. I am really confident that I will really exceed your expectations in achieving both mine and the company’s goals. I have worked with different teams in different capacities, managed a team of engineers successfully from very early part of my career and that has made me a very easy person to work with. I get things done easily. I am passio"

    Piyush D. - "Honestly, In addition to having the right expertise and skills required for this job, I am really looking forward to being part of this organisation’s journey. I am really confident that I will really exceed your expectations in achieving both mine and the company’s goals. I have worked with different teams in different capacities, managed a team of engineers successfully from very early part of my career and that has made me a very easy person to work with. I get things done easily. I am passio"See full answer

    Software Engineer
    Behavioral
    +2 more
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    2 answers

    "Clarifying questions: is this a brand new product, or are we improving an existing one? (i.e. are we going to have to migrate an existing codebase or are we starting from scratch?). are we resource-strapped (e.g. # engineers, time)? are there any specific priorities for the product, or should i leave it open-ended? Assume: brand new product, well-resourced, no specific priorities. It seems that there are two sides to this question: 1) technical evaluation of different languages, and 2)"

    Laura S. - "Clarifying questions: is this a brand new product, or are we improving an existing one? (i.e. are we going to have to migrate an existing codebase or are we starting from scratch?). are we resource-strapped (e.g. # engineers, time)? are there any specific priorities for the product, or should i leave it open-ended? Assume: brand new product, well-resourced, no specific priorities. It seems that there are two sides to this question: 1) technical evaluation of different languages, and 2)"See full answer

    Software Engineer
    Technical
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    1 answer

    "Functional Requirement Monitor health, metrics Alert in case of failure/anomaly Visualize the live health Analyse machines on periodic basis Non Functional Should not exert load on machines low latency Highly scalable Logs/Metrics Gathering push - machine gather and send to system and low priority background thread along with batching pull - heart beat check (for offline machines) Processing Real time streaming using Kafka/kinesis + Flink TimeSeries database for stor"

    Sourabh G. - "Functional Requirement Monitor health, metrics Alert in case of failure/anomaly Visualize the live health Analyse machines on periodic basis Non Functional Should not exert load on machines low latency Highly scalable Logs/Metrics Gathering push - machine gather and send to system and low priority background thread along with batching pull - heart beat check (for offline machines) Processing Real time streaming using Kafka/kinesis + Flink TimeSeries database for stor"See full answer

    Software Engineer
    System Design
    +2 more
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    3 answers

    "Getting things done : I am extremely proud of walking the extra mile to get things done which I am extremely proud of in my career Ladder transfer : Being on the tactical front, to dream about creating a product from its inception to the delivery and being able to achieve it Gaining trust : Leading without authority is critical and gaining trust in the process of the peers and stakeholders is one thing I am extremely proud of."

    Googlepm 1. - "Getting things done : I am extremely proud of walking the extra mile to get things done which I am extremely proud of in my career Ladder transfer : Being on the tactical front, to dream about creating a product from its inception to the delivery and being able to achieve it Gaining trust : Leading without authority is critical and gaining trust in the process of the peers and stakeholders is one thing I am extremely proud of."See full answer

    Software Engineer
    Behavioral
    +1 more
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    9 answers
    +6

    " from typing import List def least_interval(tasks: List[str], n: int) -> int: pass # your code goes here if n == 0: return len(tasks) dictionary = {} total_sum = len(tasks) output = 0 for t in tasks: if t in dictionary: dictionary[t] += 1 else: dictionary[t] = 1 dictLen = len(dictionary) while total_sum > 0: for key in dictionary.keys(): if dictionary[key] > 0: "

    Anonymous Quail - " from typing import List def least_interval(tasks: List[str], n: int) -> int: pass # your code goes here if n == 0: return len(tasks) dictionary = {} total_sum = len(tasks) output = 0 for t in tasks: if t in dictionary: dictionary[t] += 1 else: dictionary[t] = 1 dictLen = len(dictionary) while total_sum > 0: for key in dictionary.keys(): if dictionary[key] > 0: "See full answer

    Software Engineer
    Data Structures & Algorithms
    +2 more
Showing 61-80 of 120