So, everything started from getting a mail from a Google recruiter. He told me that he found my profile interesting and wanted to schedule a quick call with me. This call was supposed to be a recruiter call and some people also call this the first stage of the screening process. After thinking for a while, we decided to get on the call.

Interview #1

This was a short call where i was asked basic problems on data structures and time complexities, i was able to breeze through this round, and the recruiter told me about the next steps. I was supposed to have a Phone Screen round, which will be a 45-min long interview based on DSA. This will be an elimination round, so people who do bad in this will not be allowed to proceed further and he told me that he will inform me about the next steps after i clear this round.

Interview #2

Today was the phone screening, i was obviously a bit nervous because this was my first Google interview.

But, the interview began, i was asked a Leetcode Medium level problem. I was able to grasp the problem in like 5-6 seconds, and asked all the clarifications i had, the interviewer kept making the problem complex by adding follow-ups but i was able to provide a solution for all of them.

Recruiter contacted me that i cleared the Phone Screening very well, and now its time for the next steps.

So, in this call recruiter explained me about the (virtual) onsite interviews. I will be having 5 interviews next. 4 Technical + 1 Googliness round. The feedback will be taken in a cumulative fashion after all interviews are over. I was given some time to prepare for it as onsite interviews are supposed to be harder than the phone screen rounds.

The onsite was split into 2 day.

Preparation for Onsite

I basically solved 450 LC Medium and 200 LC Hard problems.

Due to some confusion today, i missed my first interview 🤦🏻‍♂️  My time conversion had an offset of 1 hr. I mailed the recruiter and he told me that he’ll reschedule my interview after all interviews are over.

Interview #3

I was asked a LC Hard problem on Graphs. The problem wasn’t explicitly mentioned as a graph problem but due to my competitive programming skills, i was able to figure out that this problem is based on graph. Once that was done, i moved to explain my approach and interviewer was happy, she introduced a follow-up to make it complex but i already had the solution to that follow-up in my mind. So, i was able to ace this round.

Interview #4

I was asked another graph problem, which became a design problem during the followup. I was able to solve the problem but not the followup

Interview #5 (Googliness)

Various situation based questions, i just remained honest and gave her all the answers based on my own opinion.

Interview #6

I was asked a LC Medium Problem based on intervals and merging. I was able to provide 2 solutions for it. Interviewer seemed happy.

Interview #7

I was asked another LC Hard problem on Graphs. I was able to solve the problem with its follow-up very quickly

I got the mail from recruiter that my feedback is now available and is “pretty positive”, and he would like to move me to Team Matching phase.

Right after the call ended, i was scheduled 5 calls ( not the same day ) with different Hiring Managers.

I took some time to finalize the team, but I finally decided to move ahead with the team i chose.

The Team Matching call was a normal conversation between the hiring manger and me, where he would ask me my background in tech, what languages im good with and “Why do i want to join Google?”

It was the best part of the interview process in my opinion.

So, Due to some reasons, HC wanted to schedule 2 more coding interviews for me.

Interview #8

I was asked an implementation based problem based on strings, there were 3-4 follow ups but i manage to successfully solve all of them. Interviewer seemed satisfied.

Interview #9

The interviewer asked me a problem on sliding window, which after a few follow ups became a dynamic programming problem. I was able to figure out the DP approach and was able to code it in time.

Got the mail from recruiter confirming my selection !