[NDA] Google | L4 | MTV | Feb 2020 [Offer]
Anonymous User
16160

I have some advice in the end for people who will try Google onsite. Hope this helps!!

I have YOE 8+. 4 years in QA, 4 years in SWE.
I live in the bay area. My background as SWE is data engineeirng/distributed systems.

Phone Screen 1
One Leetcode hard level. I solved the same question on leetcode recently so I did well.
However I was requested 2nd phone screen. Later I realized I had a tiny bug (like missing 2 letters in if-statement which generates wrong output).

Phone Screen 2
Another Leetcode hard level. The solution requires topological sort. I practiced implementing topiogical sort a lot so I solved within 20-30min. It was easy.

Onsite at Mountain View
Coding 1
One leetcode medium level. I felt easy

Coding 2
One leetcode medium - hard level
The interviewer pointed out all compile erros and bugs and I had to fix all.

Coding 3
One leetcode medium level. I felt easy

Googlyness
Standard behavioral questions

Coding 4
I bombed this interview badly. I couldn't find the same question on leetcode.
It was like "you are given this input. Write a function that generates this output".
Let's say there is 10 pieces of information you need in order to fully understand what the function should do.
Initally the interviewer gave me 1 out of 10. I started very confused, no clue how I can generate the output for the given input. I tried my best to get as much information as possible from the interviewer but he gave me 1/10 information each time. I spent 30 min to fully undrestand the question. I later realized the input and output in the given example was incomplete.
What's worse, while I was discussiong my solution, the interviewer asked me if my solution really works. I wondered if there is more missing information (later I found I was on the right track). I started over. Then timed up. I ended this round with no coding. No solid solution.

The interviewer told me "it's not uncommon that candidates end with no coding for this question" in the end. I'm glad that I'm not the only one.. but I wonder if this is some kind of new interview technique at Google.

Since I thought I completely bombed the last round, I sent a thank you and goodbye email to my recruiter right after my onsite. Next day, my recruiter told me I did very well and they will move me to the hiring committee. I got approved for L4.
This is my post about my compensation.


My advice for leetcoders who will try Google:

  • Make sure what level you are interviewing for.
    There is no system design for L3 and L4. My recruiter told me I may be qualified for L5 so he sent me system design prep material. I studied system design very hard. However they downgraded me to L4 "before" my onsite and didn't let me know. I found that out on the onsite day. Obviously coding questions at onsite were easier than phone screens.

  • Google allows one failure and considers it as an outlier. They also evaluate how the interviewers performed interviews in the past. I have seen other people completely bombed one round but still received an offer. So, if you think you didn't do well on one round, keep trying hard on the rest of the interviews. This is onsite only. If you fail phone screen, it's over.

  • Have Google onsite first if you are applying multiple companies.

Google doesn't do salary negotiation unless you have a competing offer. However Google's hiring process is super slow, meaning competing offers may expire by the time you negotiate with Google.
At Google, you first need to be approved by the hiring committee, then find a team to join(called team match) in order to receive an offer. This whole process may take minimum 3 weeks to a few months. It took me 1 week for hiring committee approval and 3 weeks for team match.
I was tring to get competing offers from Facebook and LinkedIn. I wanted to have results from them around the same time I finish team match at Google so I had to postpone Facebook and LinkedIn onsite twice.
I failed Facebook and LinkedIn anyway so I coudln't negotiate haha lol

Hope this helps!!

Comments (32)