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Google interview notes, page 214 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 - Product Sense / Strategy

Sep 2026
Interviewed at Google for a Strategy & Operations role and got rejected the same day. It was a case-style interview and I kind of knew mid-conversation that my structure was falling apart, which is never a good feeling.
  • Case question(s) testing problem solving and structured thinking for a strategy and operations context.

“I could feel it slipping in real time.”

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Google·Software Engineer·Technical Phone Screen

Sep 2026
Did a SWE internship at Google in the Bay Area hoping to convert full-time, got positive signals from my hosts the whole summer, then a week after wrapping up they called me back for a re-interview because my project work apparently didn't demonstrate enough algorithms chops. One coding interview later, no offer, no intern feedback, nothing.
  • Given a coding problem involving edge cases, develop an initial solution and refine it as constraints are introduced.

“Got to a working solution after a few iterations but the interviewer kept pushing back even after we both verbally agreed the approach was sound at a high level.”

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Google·Software Engineer·Hiring Manager Screen

Sep 2026
Did a team-matching call for a software engineer role at Google, talked for about an hour with the hiring manager, felt pretty good about it, and then... nothing for two weeks. Now I'm just here refreshing my inbox wondering if silence means rejection or if this is normal.
  • Walk me through your background and experience.
  • How do you incorporate AI tools into your day-to-day work?
  • What qualities or working style are you looking for in a manager?

“Standard opener, had my story ready.”

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Google·Software Engineer·Technical Phone Screen

Sep 2026
Two-round Google SWE intern coding interviews, both on the easier side technically but with enough follow-up pressure to make things interesting. First round went pretty clean until the code review phase, second round had a logic bug caught by a test case the interviewer threw at me. First interview overall.
  • Solve a straightforward algorithmic problem, then justify your choice of approach and walk through edge cases.
  • Given a non-standard algorithmic problem, discuss the memory vs. time complexity tradeoffs between two different implementation approaches.

“Picked a recursive solution because it was the cleanest to write.”

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Google·Software Engineer·Onsite - Multi Round

Sep 2026
Went through a Google SWE onsite and came out with a mixed scorecard. Two coding rounds plus a system design I had zero idea was coming, and now I'm stuck deciding whether to take an extra coding round to strengthen the packet or just roll with what I have into team match.
  • Should a candidate in a borderline hiring situation take an optional additional coding round to improve their packet, or proceed directly to team match with the existing scores?
  • In the Google hiring process, does team match happen before or after the hiring committee review?
  • Is a system design round standard for a mid-level software engineering onsite at Google, or is it typically limited to more senior levels?

“This is the thing keeping me up at night.”

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Google·Software Engineer·Onsite - Coding / Algorithms

Sep 2026
Did the Google onsite for a software engineering role, two coding rounds back to back. First one went fine after a shaky start, second one was rough in a way that's hard to shake off.
  • A DSA problem where the optimal approach involved a classic data structure or algorithmic pattern (first coding round).
  • A DSA problem requiring a Trie-based solution (second coding round).

“Came up with the right idea almost immediately, then talked myself out of it.”

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Google·Software Engineer·Onsite - Multi Round

Sep 2026
Two rounds of coding interviews at Google for a SWE intern role. Both interviewers were relaxed and the problems felt manageable, though the second one had a weird moment where we were basically solving two different questions until I caught on.
  • Given a coding problem related to video platform infrastructure, solve it and then optimize for better time complexity as the constraints are modified.
  • Solve a coding problem efficiently, then determine whether the time complexity can be further improved.

“The interview ran way over time, like 25 minutes over, because the interviewer kept adding new scenarios.”

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Google·Software Engineer·Onsite - Multi Round

Sep 2026
Two back-to-back coding rounds at Google for a SWE internship. The first went smoothly, the second was a logic-heavy problem that threw me off and I needed a hint to catch a bug. Still waiting to hear back and kind of spiraling about it.
  • Find duplicate elements in a collection and perform a set of operations on them.
  • Solve a logic-based coding problem with no conventional data structures involved, focused purely on reasoning through the problem's mechanics.

“Started brute-force, talked through sorting, got the complexity right when asked.”

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Google·Software Engineer·Technical Phone Screen

Sep 2026
Interviewed at Google for a software engineering role. The DSA portion went fine but the interviewer was visibly checked out the whole time, rolling their eyes and complaining about having to conduct a first-round interview. Technically I held my own. Everything else was a mess.
  • Solve a data structures and algorithms problem, walk through your approach with an example, and present your solution.

“Completed it fine.”

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Google·Software Engineer·Technical Phone Screen

Sep 2026
Google SWE intern technical screen, one OOP and data structures problem at roughly medium difficulty with three follow-ups. Nerves were a factor and there was a small bug at the end, but the core solution held up.
  • Design a solution to an OOP-based data structure problem, then work through multiple follow-up extensions on top of your initial implementation.

“Hadn't touched OOP in about a year, which showed a little at the start.”

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