Hi everyone! I recently interviewed for an L5 Software Engineer role at Google and wanted to share my experience to help fellow folks preparing for Google interviews.

YOE: 5.5 years
Prior Experience: Entrepreneur, Tier 1 College

Disclaimer

Due to NDA, I cannot share the exact questions from my onsite interviews. However, I’ve included similar LeetCode questions that closely resemble the ones I was asked. If you can solve these, you should be well-prepared for the actual interview questions.

Coding 1 - (early June)

Question - https://leetcode.com/discuss/interview-question/416316/google-onsite-software-engineer-huffman-coding-algorithm
Experience: I took almost 30 mins to understand the problem and to clarify my approach with the interviewer. I took another 10 mins to code and got the perfectly working code covering all the edge cases in the first try. Taking some time to clarify the approach in the beginning helped me to write the code in the first try.
Self Verdict: Hire

Coding 2 - (early June)

Question - https://leetcode.com/discuss/interview-question/1244429/google-phone-interview-org-structure-modification
Experience: I had a strange experience during the interview. The question was an easy one but the interviewer wanted me to solve it pretty quickly. Whenever I take a moment to pause and think, the interviewer started giving me hints and asked me to proceed further. I was able to solve the question and answered the follow ups too. But during the feedback, they wrote that the candidate solved the problem only after giving the hint.
Self Verdict: Lean Hire

Coding 3 - (mid June)

Question - Couldn't find it online. It was something related to routers and 3D BFS and UF algo
Experience: This was my best interview round. I explained my approach and got a go to write the code from the interviewer. Finished my code within 20mins and answered 3 follow up questions for which I wrote the code (definetly with some errors) as well
Self Verdict: Strong Hire

System Design - (early Aug)

Question - design a distributed cache optimized for the given task (a task was pasted on the screen)
Experience: I started the discussion well and was able to solve the functional requirements within 20mins. Though I asked the interviewer on which aspects I should be dive deeper, I didnt exaclty get any signal on what they want hear. So I ended up making lots of self decisions and also hopped here and there a bit. This wasted some time until I finally concluded my solution.
Self Verdict: Lean Hire

GnL - (early Aug)

Experience: This round went really well. I followed the STAR format and answered every question with examples. Tried to keep my answers diplomatic but at the same time actionable. The interviewer seemed very engaged listening to my stories/ideas/thoughts
Self Verdict: Strong Hire

3 team match rounds - I had more or less similar experience in all the 3 rounds. Mostly discussions about my background, what the team does and what they want from the candidate.
Imp Tip - Try to link any of your past experiences with the team's future projects. People dont prefer candidates who can solve the problem, rather they prefer the candidates who have already solved such problems (in my opinion)

Additonal system design round - (mid Dec)
Question - Tiktok style Google news
Experience: I started the interview very well and got to the ideal solution within 30 minutes. Seeing this, the interviewer modified the problem statement and asked me to redesign it. We had a great discussion and argued on various approaches. Finally they seemed to be conviced with my approach.
Self Verdict: Strong Hire

Overall, I was able to convice the HC with my packet (definelty has 2 LH) and I recieved the offer letter 2 days ago! 🎉

Hope this helps anyone preparing for Google interviews. Feel free to ask questions and Good luck for your interviews! 😊