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Recent Google Interview Questions

Review this list of 921 Google interview questions and answers verified by hiring managers and candidates.
  • "watch time = #users x avg videos/user x avg duration of video x % watched #users - already huge can't affect more avg videos/ users - sticky videos (interactive video content form + promoting youtube shorts in recommendations) avg duration of video - double edged sword (quick summaries of long videos) % watched - reduce unecessary ads + improvise and provide native advertising gamification - to win points after reaching a daily target + few days of free premium create a viral trend/ video"

    Rev - "watch time = #users x avg videos/user x avg duration of video x % watched #users - already huge can't affect more avg videos/ users - sticky videos (interactive video content form + promoting youtube shorts in recommendations) avg duration of video - double edged sword (quick summaries of long videos) % watched - reduce unecessary ads + improvise and provide native advertising gamification - to win points after reaching a daily target + few days of free premium create a viral trend/ video"See full answer

    Product Strategy
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    5 answers
    +2

    "I have no idea if this would qualify, but I took a different, rather singular approach. Curious and gracious in advance for any and all feedback. My main question is whether this response goes into enough depth with regards to all the content types that Google Map stores, as I chose to focus uniquely on image storage (but am sure to state that clearly before I began): Clarifying questions: global map or US/sectional map? Assume global storage on a single end-user device? Yes consider co"

    John S. - "I have no idea if this would qualify, but I took a different, rather singular approach. Curious and gracious in advance for any and all feedback. My main question is whether this response goes into enough depth with regards to all the content types that Google Map stores, as I chose to focus uniquely on image storage (but am sure to state that clearly before I began): Clarifying questions: global map or US/sectional map? Assume global storage on a single end-user device? Yes consider co"See full answer

    Estimation
    Technical
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    3 answers

    "Understand the problem:Users in areas with poor or no data coverage can't fully utilize their smartphones. This affects communication, access to information, and use of various apps. Potential solutions: a) Offline capabilities: Enhance offline modes for popular apps (maps, messaging, content consumption). Implement better caching mechanisms to store frequently accessed data. Develop a system for queuing actions to be executed once coverage is restored. b) Improved connectivity: -"

    Surbhi G. - "Understand the problem:Users in areas with poor or no data coverage can't fully utilize their smartphones. This affects communication, access to information, and use of various apps. Potential solutions: a) Offline capabilities: Enhance offline modes for popular apps (maps, messaging, content consumption). Implement better caching mechanisms to store frequently accessed data. Develop a system for queuing actions to be executed once coverage is restored. b) Improved connectivity: -"See full answer

    Product Design
    Technical
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    1 answer

    "What is the goal of this product? If its engagement for the people in a flight, can other options be explored? If there is a particular business insistence for hangman for engagement, the following can be the features of the game: Pain point: Typing might be hard Feature: Connect with phone keyboard to enable typing Pain point: These games do not engage multiple people simultaneously. Have leaderboards and multiplayer duels where the game is designed to hang the other player in case of a"

    Ranjani M. - "What is the goal of this product? If its engagement for the people in a flight, can other options be explored? If there is a particular business insistence for hangman for engagement, the following can be the features of the game: Pain point: Typing might be hard Feature: Connect with phone keyboard to enable typing Pain point: These games do not engage multiple people simultaneously. Have leaderboards and multiplayer duels where the game is designed to hang the other player in case of a"See full answer

    Product Design
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    Add answer
    Product Design
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  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    2 answers

    "Tell me about yourself? What is your weakness?"

    Yashveer singh R. - "Tell me about yourself? What is your weakness?"See full answer

    Behavioral
  • "Ads"

    Suhas M. - "Ads"See full answer

    Product Strategy
  • +4

    "Let's start by understanding Google's goals with Search. Google Search is by far the #1 search engine, capturing 70% of the search market. There are probably two reasons why Google would bid to maintain its place as the default search engine on Firefox: the first, Firefox is a popular web browser, with many users, and Google wants to retain the large user base who search on Firefox. Second, Firefox users tend to be more privacy oriented than users of other browsers, therefore Google wants to c"

    Rika S. - "Let's start by understanding Google's goals with Search. Google Search is by far the #1 search engine, capturing 70% of the search market. There are probably two reasons why Google would bid to maintain its place as the default search engine on Firefox: the first, Firefox is a popular web browser, with many users, and Google wants to retain the large user base who search on Firefox. Second, Firefox users tend to be more privacy oriented than users of other browsers, therefore Google wants to c"See full answer

    Analytical
    Product Strategy
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    3 answers

    "Goal Clarification Let’s start by clarifying the goals on the in-flight entertainment system. My assumption is that the goal to enhance/improve the in-flight customer experience and increase passenger loyalty rather than generating additional revenue. User Segments We can broadly segment the customers into casual traveler frequent traveler frequent business frequent leisure travelers Given that frequent business traveler account for the highest airline revenue"

    Kunal S. - "Goal Clarification Let’s start by clarifying the goals on the in-flight entertainment system. My assumption is that the goal to enhance/improve the in-flight customer experience and increase passenger loyalty rather than generating additional revenue. User Segments We can broadly segment the customers into casual traveler frequent traveler frequent business frequent leisure travelers Given that frequent business traveler account for the highest airline revenue"See full answer

    Product Design
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    8 answers
    +5

    "Clarifying questions: What is leisure travel? Assuming : Travel for vacation not business What is the vision/mission of the company that we are developing this for (I would like to keep this as an anchor to any users, pain points, solutions that we pick) Assuming : Brand new company - startup. Nothing specific in vision/mission for now. When we say travel user experience -> Do we have an existing product that we want to improve on? Is yes, is there any particular complaint or metric issue rel"

    Unicorn 2. - "Clarifying questions: What is leisure travel? Assuming : Travel for vacation not business What is the vision/mission of the company that we are developing this for (I would like to keep this as an anchor to any users, pain points, solutions that we pick) Assuming : Brand new company - startup. Nothing specific in vision/mission for now. When we say travel user experience -> Do we have an existing product that we want to improve on? Is yes, is there any particular complaint or metric issue rel"See full answer

    Product Design
  • +26

    "YT's mission is to give everyone a voice and show them the world. So when a user is sharing their voice with us in the form of a feedback, I would receive it with open mind. I would first determine what the review is about: 1. app/website's performance 2. quality of content they experienced 3. complain about YT being addictive and causing them to lose time 4. difficulty in using the app/website (search, navigation, recent changes negatively affected their experience) 5. complain about other YTbe"

    Amit S. - "YT's mission is to give everyone a voice and show them the world. So when a user is sharing their voice with us in the form of a feedback, I would receive it with open mind. I would first determine what the review is about: 1. app/website's performance 2. quality of content they experienced 3. complain about YT being addictive and causing them to lose time 4. difficulty in using the app/website (search, navigation, recent changes negatively affected their experience) 5. complain about other YTbe"See full answer

    Execution
    Technical
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    3 answers

    "Clarifying Questions What do we mean by ‘improve’? Is there a certain goal that we are trying to attain? Is there a target user that we are going for? Any constraints or things to keep in mind when building this? Assumptions Only focused on google docs and not collaboration on other G-suite products such as PPT or sheets What is Google Docs? Web-based productivity tool that allows you to access your files from any computer through your gmail account. You can also share and"

    Esha - "Clarifying Questions What do we mean by ‘improve’? Is there a certain goal that we are trying to attain? Is there a target user that we are going for? Any constraints or things to keep in mind when building this? Assumptions Only focused on google docs and not collaboration on other G-suite products such as PPT or sheets What is Google Docs? Web-based productivity tool that allows you to access your files from any computer through your gmail account. You can also share and"See full answer

    Product Design
    Technical
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    15 answers
    +12

    "Okay, so I understand the question: "how does Google Maps compute estimated time of arrival"... There are a couple scenarios when ETA is calculated: planning a future journey, planning current journey. Can we assume scope to the current journey? The learnings will likely be transferable. User inputs to ETA include origin, destination, and route chosen. Let's assume first that the user has chosen an origin, destination, and a route chosen. We can come back to these assumptions later. The way I'"

    Daniel P. - "Okay, so I understand the question: "how does Google Maps compute estimated time of arrival"... There are a couple scenarios when ETA is calculated: planning a future journey, planning current journey. Can we assume scope to the current journey? The learnings will likely be transferable. User inputs to ETA include origin, destination, and route chosen. Let's assume first that the user has chosen an origin, destination, and a route chosen. We can come back to these assumptions later. The way I'"See full answer

    Technical Program Manager
    Technical
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    9 answers
    +6

    "Let's imagine you want to open Google Maps, you type maps.google.com and hit Enter. Here is what happens: You type maps.google.com into the address bar of your browser. Browser completes the address, for example, maps.google.com → https://www.maps.google.com [Address decoding] → browser breaks down the URL into parts ‘https://’: protocol → how the browser should connect to the website Default is HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) which shows up as ‘ http:/"

    Jasmin R. - "Let's imagine you want to open Google Maps, you type maps.google.com and hit Enter. Here is what happens: You type maps.google.com into the address bar of your browser. Browser completes the address, for example, maps.google.com → https://www.maps.google.com [Address decoding] → browser breaks down the URL into parts ‘https://’: protocol → how the browser should connect to the website Default is HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) which shows up as ‘ http:/"See full answer

    Security
    Technical
    +2 more
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    21 answers
    +18

    "Cloud computing is like going out to a restaurant instead of cooking dinner at home. When you cook at home, you have to do everything yourself. You need to use your own plates, pots, and pans. You have to know how many people are coming over and buy the right amount of ingredients. If more people join for dinner than you expected, you'll run out of food! But if fewer people show up, then you'll have leftovers that go to waste. And on top of it all, you have to do all the cooking, set up, and cl"

    Jacob S. - "Cloud computing is like going out to a restaurant instead of cooking dinner at home. When you cook at home, you have to do everything yourself. You need to use your own plates, pots, and pans. You have to know how many people are coming over and buy the right amount of ingredients. If more people join for dinner than you expected, you'll run out of food! But if fewer people show up, then you'll have leftovers that go to waste. And on top of it all, you have to do all the cooking, set up, and cl"See full answer

    Technical
  • +1

    "Clarifying Questions Have we confirmed this was a server side issue and not client side or network related? Interviewer confirms this was a server side issue Do we have additional information on whether this was region specific, user specific? Interviewer says you can make some assumptions Introduction I am going to focus on a few potential factors and describe how they could lead to system downtime: Data Center Power Outage Software Deployment Software Bug P"

    Catherine Z. - "Clarifying Questions Have we confirmed this was a server side issue and not client side or network related? Interviewer confirms this was a server side issue Do we have additional information on whether this was region specific, user specific? Interviewer says you can make some assumptions Introduction I am going to focus on a few potential factors and describe how they could lead to system downtime: Data Center Power Outage Software Deployment Software Bug P"See full answer

    Technical
  • "To scale web applications, one must concentrate on having Shared hosting / Dedicated server CDN (for images servers) Caching techniques Database Sharding Adding/removing webservers on the fly In order to improve the speed of the web applications, certain techniques to look at : Web hosts - Shared hosting / dedicated server CDN Caching techniques Compression techniques Reduced use of plugins, check Java script / CSS files Pre-fetch : If we are aware that th"

    Googlepm 1. - "To scale web applications, one must concentrate on having Shared hosting / Dedicated server CDN (for images servers) Caching techniques Database Sharding Adding/removing webservers on the fly In order to improve the speed of the web applications, certain techniques to look at : Web hosts - Shared hosting / dedicated server CDN Caching techniques Compression techniques Reduced use of plugins, check Java script / CSS files Pre-fetch : If we are aware that th"See full answer

    Technical
  • "Aim of compression is to reduce the file size and bandwidth consumed in transmission in order to preserve the quality of the image or text as experienced by the consumer/user. Text compression typically uses a library to act as a key for words, either words that repeat in the same document or words that are commonly presented in all documents. And maybe even word parts. Key points are that 1. it tends not to be lossy, 2. is simple/fast/consumes relatively little memory, 3. is pretty standard"

    Raymond W. - "Aim of compression is to reduce the file size and bandwidth consumed in transmission in order to preserve the quality of the image or text as experienced by the consumer/user. Text compression typically uses a library to act as a key for words, either words that repeat in the same document or words that are commonly presented in all documents. And maybe even word parts. Key points are that 1. it tends not to be lossy, 2. is simple/fast/consumes relatively little memory, 3. is pretty standard"See full answer

    Technical
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    1 answer

    "Metrics which Youtube Consider before building a recommender system Number of likes on a video by user The watch time of a video by the user The video disklied by the user The video share by a user The video skipped or churn with 20-30 seconds. Depending on this Youtube build a recommender system. The video suggestion feature in youtube works based on the recommender system. It may use a hybrid of batch prediction and online prediction. So depending on the above metrics, the youtube p"

    Anonymous Muskox - "Metrics which Youtube Consider before building a recommender system Number of likes on a video by user The watch time of a video by the user The video disklied by the user The video share by a user The video skipped or churn with 20-30 seconds. Depending on this Youtube build a recommender system. The video suggestion feature in youtube works based on the recommender system. It may use a hybrid of batch prediction and online prediction. So depending on the above metrics, the youtube p"See full answer

    Analytical
    Technical
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    28 answers
    Video answer for 'Tell me about a time when you solved a complex problem and how you went about it.'
    +12

    "I work at a startup that makes software for Law Enforcement and the FBI. Our product analyzes calls being made by prison inmates and "listens" for predictors of violence and criminal behavior. Our clients are some of the top state prisons in the country. Recently one of the largest states in the country decided to evaluate our product for their prison system. I demo'd the product to the officers and they seemed to like everything. During the presentation they asked us if the product was ADA com"

    Aabid S. - "I work at a startup that makes software for Law Enforcement and the FBI. Our product analyzes calls being made by prison inmates and "listens" for predictors of violence and criminal behavior. Our clients are some of the top state prisons in the country. Recently one of the largest states in the country decided to evaluate our product for their prison system. I demo'd the product to the officers and they seemed to like everything. During the presentation they asked us if the product was ADA com"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Behavioral
    +6 more
Showing 841-860 of 921