The process took 1 day. I interviewed at Google in Jul 2024
Interview
Google visited our campus for its SWE intern role. The process began with an online coding challenge consisting of two questions to be completed within one hour. Shortlisted candidates then moved on to two rounds of interviews, each lasting 45 minutes, with progression to the second round based on performance in the first. The interviewers were very friendly, making the overall experience smooth. To excel, it's important to keep the interview interactive, clearly present your logic, and use meaningful variable names and proper comments in your code. Results were declared on the same day.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
I am not allowed to disclose the exact question, but the questions mainly revolved around trees and graphs
OA with three questions to solve. Each problem was a leetcode medium or hard question. I was given I think about two hours for the three questions. The site automatically locked after the given time.
The overall process was challenging but well-structured, taking a few weeks from start to finish. It began with an initial recruiter screening to discuss timeline and background. This was followed by rigorous technical interviews focusing heavily on Data Structures, Algorithms, and problem-solving (expect LeetCode Medium/Hard level questions).
After passing the technical rounds, I moved into the Team Matching phase. This involved a behavioral and technical discussion with the actual Hiring Manager to see if my past projects (C++, hardware, system architecture) aligned with the team's needs. Once the manager gave the green light, the file went to the global compensation committee. The final step before the official written offer was an automated ID verification process (via Veriff) to confirm my legal name for the contract. The recruiting team was great, but be prepared for the final administrative steps to take a bit of patience!
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Walk me through the architecture of the most complex system you have built. What were the biggest performance bottlenecks and how did you solve them?
The first step was OA, then two 45-minute technical rounds with engineers. These rounds had one coding question + multiple follow-ups. There was some time left at the end for questions.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
One question tested my knowledge of recursion, hashmaps, and backtracking.
