Google | Bangalore, India | No Hire
Anonymous User
2456

Years of exp - 12
Not mentioning exact questions due to NDA

Round 1 - Coding - DP question around pattern matching (not there on LC) - I managed to write the code and explain the algorithm and complexity.
Feedback was Hire

Round 2- Coding - Geometry question - I managed to propose a solution and write code. But I made a silly mistake (which interviewer caught). Complexity was discussed and I was asked to make it better and think of very large scale. Discussed some ideas which he acknowledged but he was clearly not impressed

Feedback was No Hire. Got a comment - "Overcomplicates things"

Round 3 - Coding - Started off as a design question and went into coding. Question was around caching. I discussed my approach was able to write the code. After explaining the code he pointed out a mistake in my understanding of the question (Not sure if he intentionally didnt mention this when I discussed the approach). I modified the code and he said it would work
Interviewer kept interrupting me in the middle for some questions. Broke my focus. This was very annoying.

Feedback was Leaning No Hire.

Round 4 - GNL - Standard questions based on my experience and how I handled some scenarios
This round was good.
Feedback was Hire

Round 5 - System Design - Very vague question around news generation with specific requirements
I discussed the idea and explained high level design, database requirements, problems in the approach and estimates.
Took one hint. I felt it was a good discussion.
Feedback was No Hire. Comment was - Candidate is slow and didnt not discuss multiple approaches with pros and cons

So with 2 Hire and 2 No Hire + 1 leaning No Hire recruiter said they would not go ahead.

Notes:

  1. Coding rounds are straight forward. You either know the answer or you dont. There is no way one can come with a optimized solution in 40 min if you havent seen the pattern before.
  2. Questions are not from LC. They are variations or questions with similar ideas.
  3. Questions are vague and interviewer usually doesnt clarify unless you ask for examples. So clarify the question and expectation correctly. But doing this means you are going to lose time.
  4. The function prototype is not provided like in LC. So we have some liberty in what we return and what we take as input (Like we can assume that input is already structured)
  5. System design round is tough. Expectaion is you have to be fast and discuss multiple approaches. And again questions are not the standard questions you see in any of the paid/free resources. But knowing the standard patterns definitely helps.

Hope this helps.

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