Software Engineer
Practice for Software Engineer
Initial Screening
30 minutesA recruiter will contact you for a 20-30 minute conversation to discuss your background, technical skills, and interest in the position . They're responsible for all scheduling/coordination which comes after, so it's useful to establish a good footing with them since they can provide great insight into what Hiring Managers care about especially if you're interviewing for a specific team rather than the generalist pool .
5 minutesTell me about yourself and walk me through your resume.
5 minutesWhat inspired you to learn programming?
5 minutesWhat are you looking for in a workplace?
All interviews are private and won't be shared with the recruiters.
Technical Deep Dive
30 minutesThis round focuses on assessing your coding skills and problem-solving abilities . You'll be asked to solve algorithmic problems, often using a shared Google Doc or collaborative coding platform .
5 minutesGiven an array of integers, find the maximum sum of a contiguous subarray.
5 minutesHow would you check if a binary tree is balanced?
5 minutesImplement a function to reverse a string in place.
All interviews are private and won't be shared with the recruiters.
Googleyness & Behavioral
30 minutesThis round assesses your personality and whether you are a cultural fit . The interviewer will assess you for certain personality traits based on your answers to these questions .
5 minutesTell me about a time you failed to achieve a goal or desired result.
5 minutesDescribe a situation where you did not get along with your manager and how you resolved it.
5 minutesTell me about a time you had to lead or influence others without being in a formal position of authority.
5 minutesWhat motivates you to work at Google, and how do you align with our mission?
All interviews are private and won't be shared with the recruiters.
System Design Discussion
30 minutesThis round is for level 5 positions and above and focuses on open-ended design challenges that require critical thinking and creativity . The interviewer intends to see how the candidate analyzes problems, reasons through trade-offs, and builds a thoughtful solution .
5 minutesDesign a URL shortening service like TinyURL.
5 minutesDesign a system for a real-time collaborative document editor like Google Docs.
5 minutesDesign a rate limiter to prevent abuse of an API.
All interviews are private and won't be shared with the recruiters.