Google is among the most sought-after employers for software engineers, renowned for its high engineering standards. The company emphasizes problem-solving ability, coding proficiency, system design expertise, and cultural alignment (often referred to as 'Googliness'). This guide provides a clear overview of the interview process, role expectations, and effective preparation strategies.
Thank you so much for sharing this. I really appreciate it.
I have one doubt regarding the last line you mentioned: “If you are able to solve 2 medium or 1 hard new (you haven’t seen yet) problem in 1 hour.”
In my case, sometimes I am able to solve such problems, but sometimes the question is completely new and I am not able to relate it to any of the problems I’ve solved before. In those situations, I’m unable to solve it within an hour.
What should I do in such cases? Thanks again for the great share.*
That’s completely normal, and you’re not alone in feeling this way.
In interviews, most problems are solved using intuition that we develop through consistent practice. When a problem is completely new and you haven’t seen a similar pattern before, it’s totally possible that you won’t be able to solve it within an hour — and that’s okay.
For such cases, the right approach is to treat it as a learning opportunity. Once you understand the solution, try to solve as many similar problems as possible. This helps you build the intuition so that when a similar pattern appears again, you can recognize it quickly and solve it with confidence.
Also, during interviews, even if you don’t immediately know the solution, don’t go silent. Think out loud. Share your thought process, assumptions, and partial ideas. Interviewers often care more about how you think than whether you reach the final answer. Communicating your reasoning helps them gauge your problem-solving ability and mindset.
You’re on the right track — keep practicing consistently, and the intuition will come naturally.
System design interview expectations vary based on the candidate’s experience and role level. Interviewers follow specific rubrics to collect signals, and these may differ across levels. I’ll outline what is typically expected from a Senior Software Engineer.
In a system design interview, you are expected to propose a solution and defend your design through cross-questioning.
For a Senior Software Engineer, the key expectations include:
- Clearly understanding the problem and asking the most critical functional and non-functional requirements.
- Explicitly stating your assumptions.
- Presenting a high-level architecture diagram.
- Defining a few API contracts.
- Explaining the database choice along with a basic schema design.
- Walking through the end-to-end flow once (“one complete run”).
- Discussing the trade-offs behind your design decisions.
- Effectively handling follow-up and cross-questions.
You are evaluated not only on the quality of questions you ask, but also on the depth and clarity of your technical reasoning, especially during the trade-off discussion.
I’m currently interning as a software engineering intern and will be graduating later this year. I wanted to understand what opportunities might be available for someone in my position and whether switching to Google with internship experience is a possible path.
I’d love to learn more about how I can best prepare myself and explore potential opportunities at Google.
My question is around the Interview Hiring Process.
So i have been working as an FE engineer for 4.8+ years (Tech Stack: Typescript, JS, React.js, Next.js - i am really good at), now started DSA, improving little by little daily.
So my question is companies like google care about the work i did in past, or they just follow there pre made template of the hiring process?
- Also google has dedicated job roles like FE engineer or it's general SDE(I, II, III).
Thank you so much for sharing this. I really appreciate it.
I have one doubt regarding the last line you mentioned: “If you are able to solve 2 medium or 1 hard new (you haven’t seen yet) problem in 1 hour.”
In my case, sometimes I am able to solve such problems, but sometimes the question is completely new and I am not able to relate it to any of the problems I’ve solved before. In those situations, I’m unable to solve it within an hour.
What should I do in such cases? Thanks again for the great share.*
That’s completely normal, and you’re not alone in feeling this way.
In interviews, most problems are solved using intuition that we develop through consistent practice. When a problem is completely new and you haven’t seen a similar pattern before, it’s totally possible that you won’t be able to solve it within an hour — and that’s okay.
For such cases, the right approach is to treat it as a learning opportunity. Once you understand the solution, try to solve as many similar problems as possible. This helps you build the intuition so that when a similar pattern appears again, you can recognize it quickly and solve it with confidence.
Also, during interviews, even if you don’t immediately know the solution, don’t go silent. Think out loud. Share your thought process, assumptions, and partial ideas. Interviewers often care more about how you think than whether you reach the final answer. Communicating your reasoning helps them gauge your problem-solving ability and mindset.
You’re on the right track — keep practicing consistently, and the intuition will come naturally.
ok thanks
Thank you for this resource, it is very useful and upto the point.
Can you please elaborate the system design interview expectations.
System design interview expectations vary based on the candidate’s experience and role level. Interviewers follow specific rubrics to collect signals, and these may differ across levels. I’ll outline what is typically expected from a Senior Software Engineer.
In a system design interview, you are expected to propose a solution and defend your design through cross-questioning.
For a Senior Software Engineer, the key expectations include:
- Clearly understanding the problem and asking the most critical functional and non-functional requirements.
- Explicitly stating your assumptions.
- Presenting a high-level architecture diagram.
- Defining a few API contracts.
- Explaining the database choice along with a basic schema design.
- Walking through the end-to-end flow once (“one complete run”).
- Discussing the trade-offs behind your design decisions.
- Effectively handling follow-up and cross-questions.
You are evaluated not only on the quality of questions you ask, but also on the depth and clarity of your technical reasoning, especially during the trade-off discussion.
hi, it was an amazing read.
I’m currently interning as a software engineering intern and will be graduating later this year. I wanted to understand what opportunities might be available for someone in my position and whether switching to Google with internship experience is a possible path.
I’d love to learn more about how I can best prepare myself and explore potential opportunities at Google.
Hi Ravi,
Thanks for this amazing share.
My question is around the Interview Hiring Process.
So i have been working as an FE engineer for 4.8+ years (Tech Stack: Typescript, JS, React.js, Next.js - i am really good at), now started DSA, improving little by little daily.
So my question is companies like google care about the work i did in past, or they just follow there pre made template of the hiring process?
- Also google has dedicated job roles like FE engineer or it's general SDE(I, II, III).
Thank you