Google Android Interview Experience
It was 1st Nov when I received a mail from a Google recruiter from London that my profile may be suitable for Software Engineer for Android Role for London. She asked me to connect for a few minutes for a further discussion if I’m interested. Then on the 2nd of Nov, I book a calendar for discussion with HR.
In this discussion, I share my past experience and current work that I am working in Walmart. She also asked approx 8–10 MCQ questions based on java and Algorithms, it was quite easy if you know about the oops and Time complexity of different algorithms in DSA.
Preparation and Interview Dates
Basically, google offers you a champion call and mock interview option if you want to opt out. So, I choose a champion call to know about google's work culture in London and how to prepare for DSA, etc.
After this, I share 5 dates and times for my 1st phone screen round. For preparation, I choose approx 3 weeks and that works for google, my first round is on the 12th of Dec.
On the 6th of Dec I mail Hr for a mock interview and it was scheduled for the 9th Dec.
Mock Interview
I suggest you please opt out of this option, an interviewer asked about the hard-level question it was https://leetcode.com/problems/strobogrammatic-number-iii/ I solve this but not much time left for optimization.
Phone Screening Round
1 easy LeetCode-based question and 1 following question that makes it medium level.
I came up with the most optimized solution, and after discussing it, had to write error-free code in 45 mins for both of them. Before jumping to coding, he asked me to come up with edge cases for both. The interviewer was friendly.
Since this was my first round, I was quite nervous and worried about the time.
After a few days, I receive positive feedback for phone screening and go to go for the next onsite rounds, She also gave detailed feedback about each aspect. The main points were — I did not communicate while writing code so I take care of this point in my next on-site rounds.
Around this time a lot of employees were going to be on year-end holidays so there were some delays (since I’d asked for a month’s prep time). Eventually, I have 3 codings and 1 leadership round scheduled on the 24th and 25th of Jan.
Round-1(coding)
Surprisingly, in his round, the interviewer asked me about android specific including code also, He gave me 1 scenario where I have to use a broadcast receiver in android for receiving some data and write the whole code scenario in it.
It goes quite well, first I gather all the information reading questions then I start writing class and all in kotlin. 1 thing that goes bad only in the end is that I am not able to remember 1 edge case for a broadcast receiver as I did not work in-depth on it. it is as if my task takes more than 60 sec then my code will not work.
Round -2 (Leadership round)
This interview is related to leadership principal. Basically, situations were given and how did/would I handle them? In 45 mins, she asked a lot of questions and heard each one! I am not able to give a clear answer to 1 question as I was confused a little bit about that question.
Basically, language is also a barrier in this round for me, she is talking in a different accent :)
Round -3 (Coding)
1 easy question with a follow-up of another question and 1 medium-level question with a follow-up for optimization.
In his round, I am able to solve the first question with follow-up and also write their test case for all edge scenarios. Now I am left with 20 min so he asked me another medium-level question that I am also able to solve by using recursion and backtracking.
1 issue in this round is that I left with approx 5 min at the end. I am not able to explain the full dp approach of 2nd question.
Round -4 (Coding)
1 medium (Graph) and its follow-up question.
I discussed several solutions, and finally coded one of them based on time complexity. I was asked about possible edge cases and had to actually walk through the code to verify all of them are covered.
A few Points to remember
- if you are a working professional then practice daily 1 question from leetcode and system design LLD on weekend.
- Sometimes the information available on social media platforms like YouTube can be demotivating or misleading. It’s better to talk to HR and schedule a champion call or a mock interview instead.
- Try to write code that works well, not with any mistakes or errors.
- The interviewers are really friendly so keep calm.
- Some important points for interview preparation, are monotonic stack, Dfs, Bfs, disjoint union set, DP, and Backtracking.
Connect me on topmate.io/prabhat_rai for mentorship or any query regarding interview preparation.
