Google

Google Interview Questions

The coding and system-design questions asked in Google interviews - with worked solutions, in-browser code execution, and active-recall review. 11 questions.

How Google interviews software engineers

Google's SWE loop runs in stages: resume screen, sometimes an online assessment, a technical phone screen, and an onsite loop of four to six rounds, followed by hiring-committee review and team matching. End to end it typically takes eight to twelve weeks.

The phone screen is a ~45 minute live coding interview. The onsite is usually two coding rounds, a system design round (from L5 up), and a behavioral / 'Googleyness' round. Hiring is committee-driven, so the onsite is decoupled from any specific team - you match to a team after passing.

The interview loop

  1. 1Recruiter & resume screenRecruiter call on background and logistics; resume is screened for the bar.
  2. 2Technical phone screen~45 min live coding with an engineer, in a shared doc - data structures and algorithms.
  3. 3Onsite loop4-6 rounds: two coding interviews, one system design (L5+), and a behavioral / Googleyness round.
  4. 4Hiring committee & team matchA committee reviews packets independent of the interviewers; team matching follows an approval.

What they look for

  • Data-structures and algorithms fluency with clean, optimal solutions
  • Clear communication of trade-offs and complexity
  • Googleyness: collaboration, humility, and dealing with ambiguity

How to prepare

  • Drill medium/hard DS&A and always state time/space complexity and alternatives.
  • Practice in a plain shared doc - no autocomplete, no run button.
  • Prepare structured behavioral stories; the Googleyness round is scored, not a formality.

Sources

See every company's references on the interview-process sources page.

Practice questions