Google - Software Engineer
Overview
The Google interview process consisted of 1 phone screen and 5 onsite interviews covering coding, system design, and behavioral questions. The entire process took about 6 weeks from initial contact to offer.
Interview Location/Type:
Remote/Hybrid
Interview Process
Technical Phone Screen
Duration: 45 minutesInitial technical assessment with a focus on algorithms and data structures.
Design an LRU cache with get and put operations in O(1) time complexity
System Design Interview
Duration: 60 minutesFocused on designing a large-scale distributed system with considerations for scalability, reliability, and performance.
Design a real-time chat messaging system like WhatsApp
Coding Interview 1
Duration: 45 minutesFocused on algorithm implementation and optimization.
Given a matrix of 0s and 1s, find the largest square of 1s
Coding Interview 2
Duration: 45 minutesFocused on string manipulation and optimization.
Design a data structure that supports adding, removing, and finding a random element in O(1) time
Behavioral Interview
Duration: 45 minutesDiscussion about past experiences, leadership, teamwork, and conflict resolution.
Tell me about a time you had to make a difficult technical decision with significant tradeoffs
Describe a situation where you had a conflict with a team member and how you resolved it
Preparation Notes
Google interviews focus heavily on algorithm efficiency, clean code, and system design. Behavioral questions are aligned with Google's leadership principles, especially around collaboration and technical decision-making.
Interview Tips
- Practice coding on a whiteboard or Google Docs without auto-complete
- Focus on time and space complexity optimization
- Think out loud during problem-solving
- Study distributed systems concepts for system design
- Prepare STAR method responses for behavioral questions
- Ask clarifying questions before jumping into solutions
Prepare for Your Interview
Use our DSA section to practice coding problems frequently asked in technical interviews.
Practice DSA Questions