I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Google (Cambridge, MA) in Feb 2022
Interview
The interview was tricky. The interviewer was engaging and helpful but the question was hard to even understand, let alone solve. I had been expecting something akin to a leetcode problem, but the given problem was more of a general logic/knowledge/comprehension exercise, which threw me off. Apparently this is very typical with Google, the questions will be deliberately vague and open-ended so that the interviewer can can focus more on your raw reasoning process than how much leetcode you have practiced.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Question was about finding the index in a buffer of an element "after the system crashes". Not really an algorithmic question as far as I could tell, more of a "A has 2 apples, B has 3 apples, calculate the mass of the sun" type question.
The interview was way more challenging than I anticipated, especially the technical rounds. I was thrown off by the depth of the DSA questions. One standout was a coding question about finding the median of two sorted arrays, which I recognized instantly — it was the same problem I had worked through on PracHub. The behavioral questions felt less intense, but the overall vibe was stressful. Ultimately, I didn’t receive an offer. It was a tough experience, but I'm grateful for what I learned along the way.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Given two sorted arrays of size m and n, find the median of the combined sorted array in O(log(min(m,n))) time.
The interviewer was very nice, one interviewer didn't show up so I rescheduled it. When I didn't come up with the best solution, the interveiwer was very patient and give me hint as many as possible
1 screening round + 3 onsite round
All rounds were focused on DSA that included topics like strings, linked list, heap and dynamic programming. Screening round had 2 questions on qualifying which I was eligible for onsite and Googliness rounds. The whole process took nearlying 2.5 months
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