Google Interview Experience — University Graduate Role

In this article, I would like to share my interview experience for the Software Engineer, University Graduate, 2024 — India role at Google. This was an off-campus drive, and I will take you through my journey.

Additionally, I share some off-campus tips that helped me in securing interviews with major companies here.

Short Info about me

I graduated in Computer Science and Engineering from NIT Calicut in 2024. Prior to this, I interned at Arcesium (a D.E. Shaw Group ) and Sandvine Technologies.

Application Process

The journey began with the application process. On September 12, 2023, I applied for the Software Engineer, University Graduate, 2024 — India role through Google’s careers portal using a referral.

On October 18, 2023, I was contacted by an HR representative who asked me to select dates for the interview. I scheduled my interview for the first week of November but did not receive a response afterward.

Subsequently, on January 30, 2024, I heard back from the same HR representative, who inquired about my availability for the interview and provided me with the interview links and preparation material.

The recruiter informed me that I would initially need to complete two interview rounds. Based on my performance in these rounds, I would then receive a link for the third interview round.

Round — 1 ( Technical Interview — 1 )

On February 15, 2024, my interview was scheduled for a duration of 45 minutes. As soon as the interview began, I provided my introduction, and the interviewer presented me with a coding question.

• The coding question was based on Graphs and the difficulty was LeetCode Medium.
• It was not any question I had seen before, but the solution was based on the number of connected components in Graphs.

The interviewer asked me to code on a shared Google Doc. Be prepared to write the entire code, including the main function.

I successfully solved the question within 20 minutes and was also able to explain the time and space complexities of my solution.

The interviewer then presented a follow-up question, which was an extension of the initial problem. I was able to solve this follow-up question and provide the optimal approach. The interview concluded after 40 minutes.

I would rate my performance as a strong hire, as I received the invitation link for the third round within minutes of completing the first round.

Overall, I would rate the difficulty of the interview as medium to hard.

Round — 2 ( Technical Interview — 2 )

The second round took place on the same day, one hour after the first interview. It lasted for a total of one hour, with 45 minutes dedicated to technical questions and 15 minutes to Googleyness Questions.

The interviewer presented me with a coding question. I initially asked a few clarifying questions before beginning my solution.

It is generally advisable to address all queries related to the problem with the interviewer before providing a solution, including any edge-case conditions.

After completing my initial solution, the interviewer pointed out an edge case that my code failed to handle. I reconsidered my approach and successfully identified the correct data structure to use, ultimately coding the correct solution.

It is important to note that some interviewers may guide you toward the solution, while others may not; thus, we must take responsibility for writing a correct solution.

I would rate my performance as leaning towards a hire, given the initial data structure error.

Overall, I would rate the difficulty level of this interview as medium.

Round — 3 ( Technical Interview — 3 )

The third round also took place on the same day. Similar to the second round, it lasted for a total of one hour, with 45 minutes dedicated to technical questions and 15 minutes to Googleyness questions.

The interviewer began with a straightforward question about finding duplicate element in an array, gradually increasing the difficulty as I coded.

It is crucial to listen to the interviewer carefully, as misunderstanding the question can lead to wasted time, particularly with tricky problems.

The first coding question lasted for 35 minutes. The interviewer then presented me with another question. I quickly determined that the solution required recursion and coded it within five minutes, explaining the time and space complexities. The interviewer was satisfied with my solution.

At Google, interviewers do not focus on obtaining a working solution but also on our problem-solving skills and the cleanliness and usability of the code.

I would rate my performance in this round as a strong hire. Overall, I would rate the difficulty level of this interview as medium to hard.

For guidance on answering Googleyness questions, please refer to this.

Result

On the following day, February 16, 2024, I received a call from HR informing me that my application was under review and that the review process would take some time.

I received an offer from Google on May 30,2024.

Please feel free to share any important concepts in the comments section. If you have any specific queries, do not hesitate to contact me on LinkedIn.

All the best! :)