Google Interview Questions & Reviews in San Jose, CA Area
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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 360 ratings 
“Difficult” Interview
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Interview Experience [?] Based on 360 ratings
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| 1–10 of 358 Google Interviews | Sort by |
Engineering Manager at Google
Posted Feb 13, 2012
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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 Feb 2012 in Mountain View, CA (took a day)
R&D Leadership experience - went well
R&D experience - went well
product management experience - went well
program management experience - went well
technical question: hmmm, provided a time efficient answer, but not the most space efficient answer
Interview Questions
Other Details
I got the interview through a Recruiter and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview.
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Helpful Interview?
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Inappropriate?
Software Engineer at Google
Posted Jan 31, 2012 — 2 of 2 people found this helpful
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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 Aug 2010 in Mountain View, CA (took a day)
Google uses relatively junior programmers to screen candidates, because the senior programmers apparently don't want to take the time to do it. These programmers focus on computer science questions, and even if you answer their questions correctly, they don't thereafter ask you anything about your past experience or qualifications. A manager who was looking to hire someone into Google would probably do a better job of interviewing potential candidates.
Interview Questions
Other Details
The interview consisted of a Phone Interview.
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Product Manager at Google
Posted Feb 10, 2012
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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 Nov 2011 in Mountain View, CA (took 3 months)
I had an initial phone screen with a product manager from another group. Then I had a series of face to face interviews with other product managers and with an engineering manager. These interviews consisted of real-world Google product manager problems and discussion of how I might attempt to understand those problems and resolve them.
A few weeks later I met with a manager and was asked similar questions about problem solving and another question about a product that I like to use, why I like to use it, and how I would improve it (other interviewers had asked this one too). Finally, again a few weeks later, I met with a Director and the process was repeated.
After the interviews were finished, the information was sent to a hiring committee and my candidacy was voted on.
Interview Questions
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.
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Helpful Interview?
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Internal Technology Residency Program at Google
Posted Feb 10, 2012
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5.0
Very Difficult Interview
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Overall Neutral Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Nov 2011 in Mountain View, CA (took 1+ week)
I interviewed for the IRTP position after Google came to my school. I spoke to a recruiter and about a week later I was invited to do a technical interview over the phone. The interview was with an operations engineer and he started the technical questions right away after saying hello. There was no room for formality or discussing your resume/experience. The initial screen is to weed out anyone that does not meet the qualifications and it is intense. I would recommend studying up on protocols, system administration, and the specifics of Linux/Windows/Mac administration. I forgot the difference between hard and soft links and didn't know a lot about how OS X loads certain background processes. A lot of the questions required you to solve technical problems like if a router goes down and how it loads IP tables. Study hard! Also remember to ask questions at the end of the interview, that can be a deal breaker. Ultimately I didn't make the cut but it was a good experience.
Interview Questions
Other Details
The interview consisted of a Phone Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Product Manager at Google
Posted Feb 9, 2012
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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 2011 in Mountain View, CA (took a day)
got a call from the recruiter, a few days later got a phone screen that lasted about 45 mins.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I got the interview through an Employee Referral and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview and a 1:1 Interview.
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Software Engineer at Google
Posted Jan 29, 2012 — 2 of 2 people found this helpful
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4.0
Difficult Interview
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Overall Neutral Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Sep 2010 in Mountain View, CA (took 6+ weeks)
There was one phone screen, two phone interviews, and one in person interview. The phone interviews were mostly puzzle solving and algorithms. The in person interview was all just your basic CS questions. Oddly enough they didn't ask much about my background, anything on my resume, or any of my side projects. I would recommend you know your CS algorithms and data structures, and to practice puzzle solving since you will definitely be asked a lot of those.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I got the interview through a Recruiter and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a 1:1 Interview and a Skills Test.
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Software Engineering at Google
Posted Feb 7, 2012
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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 Jan 2012 in Mountain View, CA (took 1 week)
I was contacted by a Google recruiter to first schedule a phone interview.
The phone interview was to be held on the phone and through Google docs where both the interviewer and I could type in text on the same page.
When talking to the recruiter, she asked me what languages I was the strongest in. I responded that my most recent languages were C and Matlab. She said that the interview would be in one of these two languages, but that the potential on-site interview could be in anything on my resume. My most recent background is in embedded systems development, but to my complete surprise once the phone interview started, the interviewer asked questions in C++. I did answer the initial basic C++ question correctly, but I was not prepared to answer the C++ questions and I asked the interviewer if she was familiar with my background and if she could switch to C instead. She did.
During the interview she asked about software implementation of the cache driver first. We had a detailed discussion about it. Then she asked if I was familiar with binary trees. I said that I have heard of them, but never used them, and explained that I have used linked lists in the past and implemented basic search functions on them. We later discussed differences between arrays and linked lists and I answered all her questions correctly. So, in total, of the questions she did ask, I answered all of them correctly and frankly did not find them very insightful or difficult.
A week later, I received the call from the recruiter that I would not have any further interviews. Citing company policy, she declined to provide specifics. She did say that they were looking for people with broad backgrounds.
Here is what I think happened.
In short, the interviewer's background was completely different from mine. I would not have any issue with that, after all Google is a software company, but that is not how the process was explained to me. I was prepared for a completely different type of interview, based on the comments from the recruiter. Not only did the recruiter set me up for a different type of interview, the interviewer herself was completely not familiar with my background. There seem to be limited communication between the recruiter and the interviewer and little understanding of my qualifications on their behalf.
I feel misled, because I should have not been told by the recruiter that the interview would be conducted in C, whereas clearly the interviewer must have had her eyes set on C++. I would have prepared for a C++ interview if it were not for the comments by the recruiter. For sure I would have not asked to switch to C, if I had any inclination that C++ were so important to them. The interviewer should have insisted on conducting the interview in C++, if it were so important. She should have insisted on my answering the binary tree questions, if they were so important.
Lessons learned:
1. Do not take everything the recruiter tells you as 100% accurate. Google is now a large company and has large company policies, meaning the recruiter may have very limited communication with the interviewer.
2. Be prepared for any type of questions, regardless of your own background. It may not be checked.
3. Be prepared for specific skill tests, not only for evaluation of your thinking ability. In spite of Google claiming that the interview process is about determining how candidates think, it is apparently not always true. I have IQ over 170. My logic in my answers was 100% accurate, but I did not want to discuss issues I was not prepared for. I do not think the interviewer was interested in my thought process or in my thinking capability. It appears that she was merely interested in me solving academic problems that she knew the answers to.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I Applied Online and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview.
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Helpful Interview?
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Software Engineer at Google
Posted Feb 7, 2012
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Received and Declined Offer
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Interviewed Dec 2010 in Mountain View, CA (took 3 weeks)
Started with tech recruiter: asked me 10 multi-choice questions around a variety of computer science stuff, Java, C++, http, etc. This was just a smoke test to weed out people quickly - if you studied CS this is really easy. Then I had two phone interviews: both were technical, asked CS algorithm style questions, runtime analysis is very important here. Then I had one onsite interview, consisting of 4 interviews. Again these questions were about data structures and algorithms (blocking queue, a heap like structure, string serialization). I liked all the interviewers, they were friendly to me and we had some great dialog. Seemed like a great place to work. They knew I had interest from other companies, so they rushed the offer process. The recruiters were very friendly, but definitely were a bit pushy wanting a decision from me quickly.
Interview Questions
Reason for Declining
The offer was strong, but the position wasn't in one of their core products. I went with another tech company (a startup) which had a much better offer and a chance to work on their core product.
Other Details
I Applied Online and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview and a 1:1 Interview.
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Helpful Interview?
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Senior Product Manager at Google
Posted Feb 6, 2012
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4.0
Difficult Interview
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Overall Neutral Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Jan 2012 in Mountain View, CA (took 3 months)
The whole process took about 3 months, from the original conversation with the recruiter. I got a call from the recruiter and had a phone screen. After the phone screen, I heard back the next day, inviting me to come onsite to Mountain View. However, it took about 2 weeks to just schedule the on-site, which was then about 2 weeks off. In Mountain View, I interviewed with 4 people, and one for lunch. After the on-site interview, I sent thank you letters, but did not hear anything back for weeks. Then I followed up with a phone call, and again, and learned that the recruiter has not yet received feedback from people I interviewed with (this is now weeks past). When I followed up again, they said still no review, but they'd like to ask me to come out to Mountain View the second time, so that, as the recruiter has put it, she can get the required number of interviews in. This made me curious as to the whole review process. The candidate takes the time to prepare for the interview, fly to a different city, do their best, and the reviewer does not bother to submit their feedback (and is not pushed by Google to do so). Strange.
Second round on campus was with 2 people. After that, heard back in 2 weeks. All in all took 3 months.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I Applied Online and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview and a 1:1 Interview.
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Helpful Interview?
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Web Developer at Google
Posted Jan 30, 2012
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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 2011 in Mountain View, CA (took 2 weeks)
I was very fortunate and had a laid back crew that interviewed me. It was very much about fitting into the culture first, with technical know how being a strong second. Be prepared to cover some basic academic concepts in regards to programming fundamentals, coding practices, and talk about testing, debugging and code reviews.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I got the interview through a Recruiter and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview and a 1:1 Interview.
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