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Google interview notes, page 213 of 215

FAANG / Big Tech

Most of these Google write-ups come from Software Engineers (1,167), then Product Managers (686) and Data Scientists (125). The most reported rounds are the product sense round (667), the technical phone screen (660), the behavioral / leadership round (252) and the onsite coding round (214).

2146 interview notes · updated Oct 2026

Google·Software Engineer·Onsite - Coding / Algorithms

Aug 2026
Went through the full loop for a Research Engineer role at Google, technical and behavioral rounds all went well, but the coding interview tanked the whole thing. No offer, but the recruiter suggested trying again in a year, which may or may not mean anything.
  • Given a 2D grid, perform a binary search on it without allocating additional memory.
  • Manipulate arrays while adapting to continuously changing requirements mid-problem.

“This is where I completely fell apart.”

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Google·Software Engineer·Onsite - Multi Round

Aug 2026
Two coding rounds for a Google SWE campus role, both went well technically, still got rejected. The second interviewer was difficult to work with and the question was barely coherent for the first 20 minutes, but I cracked it anyway. Didn't matter.
  • Given a 1D array, solve a multi-source BFS problem and then optimize the solution.
  • A vague algorithmic problem that required significant back-and-forth clarification before the actual question became clear.

“Nailed the BFS part first pass, no issues.”

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Google·Software Engineer·Onsite - Multi Round

Aug 2026
Two technical rounds for Google SWE Intern, one went pretty well and one was a bit rough. Round one had a small hiccup but I recovered and hit the optimal solution. Round two was heavier on implementation and I ran out of time before cleaning up some buggy helper methods, though the core logic was solid.
  • Algorithm problem requiring an optimal solution with follow-up complexity and edge case questions.
  • Object-oriented design problem requiring you to implement a class structure with multiple methods, then analyze time and space complexity.

“Got a little turned around in the middle and needed a nudge, plus the interviewer quietly fixed one line of my code.”

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Google·Software Engineer·Onsite - Multi Round

Aug 2026
Four rounds for a Google SWE position. Three went well enough that I felt decent walking out, but the last onsite left me sweating. Needed a hint on the base problem, made a few dumb coding mistakes in the follow-up, and now I'm just waiting and hoping the earlier rounds carry enough weight.
  • Heap-based algorithm problem with a follow-up extension.
  • Behavioral and culture-fit questions assessing how you work and think.
  • Onsite coding round with a base problem and a follow-up (Round 1).
  • Onsite coding round with a base problem and a follow-up (Round 2).

“Got through both parts cleanly.”

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Google·Software Engineer·Onsite - Coding / Algorithms

Aug 2026
Had a Google SWE round where the interviewer skipped a written problem statement entirely and just showed me an image, expecting me to figure out what the problem even was before solving it. Managed to identify it as a graph problem about finding max node values, but ran out of time before I could work through the adjacency list construction properly. Came out of it pretty unsure whether any of that was enough.
  • You are shown an image with no accompanying problem statement. Deduce the underlying algorithmic problem from the image, then solve it.

“This format genuinely threw me.”

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Google·Software Engineer·Onsite - Multi Round

Aug 2026
Two coding rounds for a Google SWE intern role. First interview ran well over time and kept escalating in complexity, second had a rough start due to a misread problem but recovered okay. Waiting to hear back and not totally sure how to read either of them.
  • Solve a coding problem, then iteratively optimize it for better time complexity, then space complexity, across multiple escalating rounds of feedback.
  • Solve a medium dynamic programming problem, then optimize the solution for better time and space complexity.

“The interviewer kept pushing me further every time I thought we were done.”

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Google·Software Engineer·Onsite - Coding / Algorithms

Aug 2026
Interviewed at Google for a software engineer role. Behavioral went well apparently, but the coding round is what got me. They passed, and I'm looking at a 6-month wait before I can try again.
  • Implement a graph traversal using BFS to solve a search problem.
  • Follow-up: re-implement the same BFS solution using recursion instead of an iterative approach.

“Nailed this part.”

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Google·Software Engineer·Onsite - Coding / Algorithms

Sep 2026
Got recruited by Google for an SWE role after a LinkedIn inmail, made it through the behavioral assessment and online coding challenge, then ran out of time in the first technical interview after spending too long on intro questions and not being able to code up a backtracking solution. Googleyness round still pending, so the verdict isn't in yet.
  • Walk me through your background and what you've been working on.
  • How do you use AI tools in your day-to-day development and debugging work?
  • Solve a matrix traversal problem that requires backtracking to explore all valid paths or configurations.
  • Online coding challenge: optimize a customer loyalty system (array-based problem) and solve the Largest Rectangle in Histogram.

“Burned a solid 10 minutes here between the intro and the AI usage question that followed.”

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Google·Software Engineer·Technical Phone Screen

Sep 2026
Google SWE interview that went sideways pretty fast. Got stuck on a math constraint for half the session and never actually wrote any code, which was the whole point.
  • Given a coding problem, derive and prove the underlying mathematical constraint that makes an optimal solution possible, then implement it.

“Tried brute force first and got redirected.”

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Google·Software Engineer·Technical Phone Screen

Sep 2026
Went through a Google SWE intern interview and got hit with OOP questions, which I was not expecting at all.
  • Object-oriented programming concepts question during the interview.

“Wasn't ready for OOP to come up.”

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