Google Interview Questions & Reviews in Mountain View, CA
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Updated Feb 13, 2012 – Interview questions and reviews posted anonymously by interview candidates.
Ratings are reflective of location and job title.
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Difficulty Rating [?] Based on 340 ratings 
“Difficult” Interview
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Interview Experience [?] Based on 340 ratings
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| 31–40 of 340 Google Interviews | Sort by |
APM at Google
Posted Oct 21, 2011
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4.0
Difficult Interview
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Overall Negative Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Oct 2011 in Mountain View, CA (took 4+ weeks)
They asked for more background information then gave the phone interview 2 weeks later.
Interview Questions
Other Details
The interview consisted of a Phone Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Operation Analyst at Google
Posted Oct 18, 2011
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Jun 2010 in Mountain View, CA (took 4+ weeks)
Interesting but the position did not fit my background
Interview Questions
Other Details
The interview consisted of a Phone Interview and a 1:1 Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Software Engineering Intern at Google
Posted Oct 14, 2011
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2.0
Easy Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Received and Accepted Offer
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Interviewed Dec 2009 in Mountain View, CA (took a day)
My recruiter was very friendly. She was a little slow to respond to emails, but it wasn't too bad.
The technical interviews were fairly easy.
After the technical interview, there were project interviews. These were just to determine whether or not I would be interested in a given project; it was for my benefit more than theirs.
I ended up turning down their offer the first year to take an opportunity programming for public health in Cambodia, but they told me that I could go with them the following year without having to repeat the technical interview.
The next year, my recruiter connected me with a project in Google.org that I accepted.
Interview Questions
/*How many ways can you make change given the following denominations? ie, if numCentsToMake is 6 and denominations is [25, 10, 5, 1], then it should return 2: either a nickel and a penny or 6 pennies.*/
int numWaysToMakeChange(int numCentsToMake, int[] denominations)
This was the last question. They had me implement it on my own and send it back to them.
Other Details
The interview consisted of a Phone Interview and a Skills Test.
More Google Software Engineering Intern Interviews
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Patent Docketing Specialist at Google
Posted Oct 11, 2011
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5.0
Very Difficult Interview
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Overall Negative Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Sep 2011 in Mountain View, CA (took 2 weeks)
I applied online and was interviewed on the phone twice. The first interview consisted of 1 question. The woman who interviewed me was 20 minutes late calling in and then was rude and short on the call. The second interview lasted about an hour. Again, the man interviewing was late calling in and VERY rude and short. The interview was very difficult and they make you feel very stupid.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I Applied Online and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview and a Skills Test.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Software Engineer at Google
Posted Sep 16, 2011 — 8 of 9 people found this helpful
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2.0
Easy Interview
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Overall Neutral Experience
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Received and Accepted Offer
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Interviewed Aug 2011 in Mountain View, CA (took 2+ months)
I've been contacted by their recruiters every 6 months or year for the past 6 or 7 years. Finally I was in the right place in my career to actually interview there, so I agreed.
The first step was a phone interview. The recruiter suggested a whole lot of studying material. I kinda skimmed "Programming Interviews Exposed", but I don't think it really made much of a difference at any point in the interview process. I feel like you either know your CS fundamentals or you don't and reading a book about them at the last minute isn't going to help much. Maybe I'm wrong.
This is my best tip for interviewing!: don't just discount your first answer because you think it's "too obvious"! It very well might be the right answer, and now you'll be lost searching for an even better answer that doesn't exist! If you think it's not right, just say "there might be a better way to do this, but I'm just brainstorming", and then explain what you're thinking. If there's a better way to do it, they'll let you know. I made this mistake twice in my interviews.
First there was a 45 minute phone interview. It was just two questions, one coding, and one more conceptual. It was pretty straightforward. The coding one was just something basic like implementing a binary search with a few tweaks.
Despite all the scary things people say, I felt like the in-person interview wasn't especially difficult, but I probably just lucked out with the group of interviewers I pulled. My friend told me he knows a ton of really smart people who didn't pass the in-person, so I shouldn't take it personally if I didn't either. That helped me relax and realize I just had to go in there and do my best and see what happened. I wasn't really nervous then and the interview mostly just felt like I was discussing interesting problems with co-workers. I think being relaxed really helped me get the job, so if you can... chill out. :)
Then things got really boring. At this point, it had been six weeks since I first started talking to the recruiter. Within three days, I was told that I'd passed the hiring committee. And after the I didn't get the offer for FOUR AND A HALF MORE WEEKS. That's 2.5 months total. The recruiter was very nice and apologetic about the whole process, but I feel like they need to do something to speed it up. It was a frustrating experience, knowing I'd passed the hiring committee and was probably hired, but then things just kept getting held up for weird reasons passing through all the other processes.
When the offer finally came, however, it was a good offer and I accepted immediately.
Negotiation Details
I didn't negotiate because the offer was above what I was hoping for. (I know I probably should have negotiated anyway, but I wimped out.)
Other Details
I got the interview through a Recruiter and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a 1:1 Interview and a Background Check.
More Google Software Engineer Interviews
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Communications Associate at Google
Posted Sep 29, 2011
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Negative Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Jul 2011 in Mountain View, CA (took a day)
Contacted within a week of applying for a job. Was told it would be 30 minute interview, so I prepared for three days learning all I could about Google. Get the call and it last four minutes. Not only did he not explain the position at all, he asked me two questions to verify my GPA in my major and an explanation of a job. He then asked if I liked technology. He finished by asking me to send him an email of articles I've written in bullet point form. And that's it. Haven't heard back, despite a few follow-up emails. Overall, a really discouraging process.
Interview Questions
Other Details
The interview consisted of a Phone Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Legal at Google
Posted Sep 29, 2011
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4.0
Difficult Interview
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Overall Negative Experience
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Received and Declined Offer
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Interviewed Sep 2011 in Mountain View, CA (took 4+ weeks)
They are very into skills. They quizzed me on the phone in one of my 3 phone screens about random knowledge. Eg., they asked me acronyms to see if I knew what they stood for. Very quick stuff so I couldn't look it up on the internet. But very pedantic. Then, on site, they gave me a bunch of hypos - each meeting had 2 people who worked there - and one would ask the question and the other would write down comments on the laptop. Very much had the feel of an oral exam. Very skills/knowledge oriented and little to no focus on cultural fit.
Interview Questions
Reason for Declining
Didn't want to move to Mountain View, CA.
Other Details
I Applied Online and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a Group/Panel Interview and a Skills Test.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
View Comments (2)
Inappropriate?
Operations Analyst (Contract) at Google
Posted Sep 26, 2011
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Sep 2011 in Mountain View, CA (took 1 week)
Applied for job online, did not know it was contract. Was emailed and then contacted by recruiter for initial phone screening. She was very nice and set up my phone interview with the hiring manager.
Went to campus, chatted about my background and then he pulled out some questions. Very nice guy, awesome atmosphere, its google...
Interview Questions
Other Details
I got the interview through a Recruiter and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview and a 1:1 Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Project Manager at Google
Posted Sep 20, 2011
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5.0
Very Difficult Interview
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Overall Negative Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Aug 2011 in Mountain View, CA (took 4 weeks)
I have interviewed for several positions with Google. All of which would have essentially been lateral moves. Ironically, Google determined I was not technical enough for their teams.
Interview Questions
Other Details
The interview consisted of a Phone Interview.
More Google Project Manager Interviews
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Finance Manager at Google
Posted Sep 17, 2011
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2.0
Easy Interview
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Overall Negative Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Aug 2011 in Mountain View, CA (took 3 days)
My interview consisted of an email and a phone call. I have sent my resume in Feb and after 6 months (!) I got an email - Google is interested in talking to you. I scheduled an interview time and on the given date GOOG did not call me.
I got an email after a few days apologizing for missing the call and rescheduled again. This time the person at the other side couldn't hear me well, I tried to call from three different phones, she still couldn't hear. Our interview was not a success as I had to repeat things, etc. I don't know if goog recruiters call from home or starbucks, but definitely - this things can derail an interview.
The questions were basic as in a typical HR screeneing - why do you want to work for google, etc. , what goog product do you use.
Regarding missing calls from Google - this all seemed so familiar to me. Five years ago I interviewed with them and the process looked the same - they scheduled multiple call times and still they missed those calls. At that time I lost interest after fifth missed call and chose one of the other three offers I had in hands.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I Applied Online and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview.
More Google Finance Manager Interviews
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
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