Short and Sweet Google Interview Process
October 2, 2022•606 words
created_at: 2021-09-29
I'll use this post as a progress report of the Google Internship application process. The only unique thing I did in regards with the initial application was specifying my interest in the ChromeOS team. In addition, I submitted a bug report to the ChromeOS team and mentioned my application. I don't know if this helped move me forward, but it was something different I did compared to previous applications.
Snapshot Survey
The survey autosaves, so use the answer history to indicate confidence in some and confliction in other answers.
Coding Exercise
Leave comments on code
Use descriptive variables names
Make test cases
* I wrote a message to the Googlers in my tests
- Leave feedback on the form
* They say to not include identifiable information, but the Google account is associated with the form, so it can only help
Candidate Questionnaire
There isn't much room for unique answering strategies here, but the time to show your stuff in writing has finally come. For all long-answer sections, be sure to fill it out thoroughly. Use Grammarly to verify writing style and leave feedback at the end per usual.
Phone Interviews
I solved each question proposed in the interviews, but didn't have time to complete their second parts. The questions were straightforward but added a slight twist on common data structures. Once I completed the first question in the interviews, I opted to stop coding and instead talk to the interviewer. Hopefully that was the right move, and I'll find out within two weeks whether I move to hosting.
My first interview was stronger than my second, so as expected, I got scheduled for a third interview.
The hosting round, where you match with Google teams, comes quickly and is on a first-come basis. Because of this, completing your phone interviews as quickly as possible is very important. The sooner you can progress to hosting the better in terms of obtaining an internship, in my opinion.
Skills
Code Analysis
Construct and Traverse
Implement system routines
Mine data
Transform datasets
Algorithms
- Runtime + Space complexity
1. https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/time-complexity-and-space-complexity/
2. https://stackabuse.com/big-o-notation-and-algorithm-analysis-with-python-examples/
- Memorization
1. https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/dynamic-programming/
- Inorder, Postorder, Preorder
1. https://towardsdatascience.com/4-types-of-tree-traversal-algorithms-d56328450846
Data Structures
https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/implementation-of-dynamic-array-in-python/
https://codezup.com/create-own-custom-array-implementation-python/
https://www.tutorialspoint.com/data_structures_algorithms/dsa_queue.htm
https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/priority-queue-set-1-introduction/
- Binary, N-ary, Trie-
1. https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~clo/www/CMU/DataStructures/Lessons/lesson4_1.htm
Balanced
- Red/Black + Splay + AVL
1. https://web.stanford.edu/class/archive/cs/cs166/cs166.1146/lectures/02/Small02.pdf
- Objects + Pointers, Matrix, Adjacency List
1. https://www.upgrad.com/blog/graphs-in-data-structure/
Operating Systems
1.
Discrete Math
Timeline
Software Engineering Intern, Bachelors, Winter 2022
Date | Event |
---|---|
July 31st, 2021 | Applied to Google |
September 29th, 2021 | Passed Résumé Review |
October 4th, 2021 | Completed Snapshot Survey and Coding Exercise |
October 5th, 2021 | Passed Survey and Exercise Stage |
October 6th, 2021 | Scheduled Phone Interviews |
October 11th, 2021 | Completed Phone Interviews |
October 14th, 2021 | Scheduled Third Phone Interview |
October 20th, 2021 | Completed Third Phone Interview |
October 29th, 2021 | Failed Phone Interviews |