Google Software Developer interview questions

Tough interviews. Very high bar. Lots of coding but also design.

Initial HR phone screen followed by a single technical phone screen followed by onsite interview with 5, 45 or 50 minute technical interviews. HR screen is largely administrative and technical phone screen is pretty elementary questions or small technical questions. They may ask you to walk your way though solving a programming task on the phone, and you can use pencil paper as you do it. Actual interview is very efficient. They show off their amazing office space then lead you to the meeting room where you meet with 5 single engineers in turn, with a 5-10 minute break in between where you're essentially on your own. I had mine done over two consecutive days, they are flexible if you ask. I forget how the times worked, but I remember them not being allowed to run over more than a minute even. It was a hard-cutoff time and they'd leave the room. Don't be dismayed by that, but be sure to finish what you need to on the whiteboard in time. Most interviewers were friendly and personable. One was extremely arrogant who seemed to gain pleasure from proving your "stupidity" to himself. Everyone I spoke to carries a chip on their shoulder that they work there, even if they're just a couple years out of school and have never had a "real job" as they call it. My self evaluation after the interview was that I had gotten 4 of the 5 well, and made a mistake that led me not to get the solution in time for one of them, though got most of the way through. I fudged the time complexity evaluation on one of the complex problems, but got the solution. After a week wait, I didn't get an offer. The HR person was nice, and on request acknowledged only one mistake noted in the interview process, that I was aware of. She said everyone liked me and several had said they would like me on their respective team (I guess that is part of their review process). She was unable to provide any more info. She said that a mistake on one session was not enough to signify no offer though. This is the discouraging part of Google interviews-- that you can know your stuff, do pretty well and still not get an offer. The interviews are big time consumers in life too.