Your Inbox Will Blow Up
Getting hired by Google means your inbox will immediately explode with requests from friends, family, school mates, neighbors, your barber, your accountant’s son, strangers, and plenty of others who are trying to get their “foot in the door” at Google. With 80 percent of all jobs gotten via referral, your popularity is going to skyrocket–and so will the inquiries about how you got your job. You’ll need to adopt a comprehensive networking strategy. Keep in mind, every person you blow off or say something negative to will remember it.
Studies Say Google Gets Over 2000000 Applications Each Year
Research shows it’s harder to get hired at Google than it is to get into Harvard. Google deserves huge kudos for creating such a powerful employment brand. They figured out quickly that the more they showed the world what it was like to work at Google, the easier it was to get people knocking down the doors applying for jobs. Their strategy was simple yet brilliant. Today, it’s easy to search social media and find endless pictures, videos, and articles about “life at Google.”
Who Do You Believe Are Googles Main Competitors How Does Google Stand Apart
With this question, the hiring manager can determine whether you have a solid idea of which other companies dominate spaces where Google also sits. This can be especially relevant in product-oriented roles, including everything from product manager positions to software developer jobs, where finding opportunities to outshine other companies comes with the territory.
EXAMPLE ANSWER:
Google has several main competitors, including Microsoft, Facebook, Netflix, Waze, and several others, depending on the specific space. One of the main differentiators is Googles ability to integrate its services, creating a cohesive cross-platform experience. Additionally, Google has such a wide range of offerings. It promotes a degree of familiarity you dont necessarily get with some of the competitors, making using the products and platforms feel like a natural part of daily life.
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Getting Noticed By Google
Google receives more than two million resumes but hires only around 4000 employees every year so its not easy to get noticed by recruiters for interview calls. Take the referrals through some connections working in these companies or you can take the help of LinkedIn and online coding platforms to increase your chances for interview calls. Below are some points that will help you in getting the call for interviews
You Will Set An Expectation Bar For Yourself That Will Likely Never Be Met Again
As soon as you get a job at a place like Google, you can pretty much forget ever finding another work experience like it. The benefits, perks, etc. will set a new employment standard for you that will be almost impossible to match. It’s like playing a pro sport. Once you’re called up to the big leagues, you don’t want to go back down to the minors.
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Learn About Google’s Culture
Most candidates fail to do this. But before investing tens of hours preparing for an interview at Google, you should take some time to make sure it’s actually the right company for you.
Google is prestigious and it’s therefore tempting to assume that you should apply, without considering things more carefully. But, it’s important to remember that the prestige of a job won’t make you happy in your day-to-day work. It’s the type of work and the people you work with that will.
If you know engineers who work at Google or used to work there it’s a good idea to talk to them to understand what the culture is like. In addition, we would recommend reading the following resources:
How Is The Google Interview Different From Other Companies
Google isnt shy about sharing their hiring practices. In fact they have a whole page dedicated to exactly that.
The interview process begins with at least one phone screen and, if successful, a series of onsite interviews. The Google phone screen and onsite portions are fairly typical across the board of technical interviewing, but the process at Google is unique in a couple specific details:
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Google Can Be Picky Because Of How Many Applications They Receive
Because Google receives 2 million applications a year, theyre able to be very selective across all teams, and for all types of roles from engineering positions to customer support.
No matter what type of job you apply for at Google, youre going to be going up against people coming out of other great technology companies
Youll be going against people with very impressive educational backgrounds, too. Google receives hundreds of applicants from graduates of Harvard, MIT, and other top tech/computer science programs.
However, you CAN get a job at Google, and its still worth applying if you think youd like to work there.
In the next part of this article, Im going to share how YOU can maximize your chance of getting a job at Google.
The Google Onsite Interview
The Google onsite round involves speaking to a number of Googlers. Usually this will include four to six separate interviews, including one lunch interview.
Generally, you will be asked primarily coding interview questions and potentially one or two system design questions as well.
The more experience you have, the higher proportion of system design and topic-specific questions you can expect to be asked. Google rarely asks any system design questions to engineers with less than 5 years of experience.
Each interviewer collects feedback on how well you performed during the one-on-one interview with you. This feedback is collected by each interviewer independently as to eliminate cross-chatter and biases between your interviewers. If you felt as if you performed subpar in one of the interviews, that baggage stays there and does not follow you into the next interview.
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What Is The Highest Salary In Google India
The highest–paying jobs at Google
- Senior product manager. …
- Staff software engineer. Salary: $201,565. …
- Lead software engineer. Salary: $207,211. …
- Senior staff software engineer. Salary: $210,462. …
- Group product manager. Salary: $243,299. …
- Business operations principal. Salary: $252,423. …
- Engineering director. Salary: $272,370. …
Seeking A Career Change
Remember the part where I didnt get a computer science degree? It has made a difference.
A few years ago, I thought I could get hired anywhere. I thought I was hot stuff: the elusive full-stack web developer. But during my job search in 2013, I realized my skills were lacking. I had spent so much time chasing dollars by running startups in my spare time, that I had let my skills atrophy. I hadnt kept up with technology.
For years, I had learned just enough to get by. I had a wide skill set but wasnt an expert in anything.
Dont get me wrong, I could still get hired, but not in the technologies or areas I wanted to work in. I could get hired for areas where the tech stack was somewhat outdated, like me. Theres big money in there, but I didnt see exciting prospects.
The realization reached its peak last year at a career fair. I was interested in perhaps working for one of the local companies that were startup labs run by venture capital firms. However, the fact that I lacked a computer science degree, and the skills and knowledge that accompany such a degree, meant I didnt have a chance.
I was working full-time on my businesses at the time, and still am today.
At the beginning of 2016, I decided it was time to make a career change from web developer to software engineer. I would need to study hard and practice in order to compress a computer science degree into a few months, but once I did, I could start a new career.
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Coding Problems Become Harder And Harder
If candidates are sheep, then interviewers are wolves. The sheep learn to run faster and faster because they want to survive, and so are the wolves.
Years ago, there werent any interview practice materials. New grads would review their Data Structure and Algorithm textbooks to prepare for coding interviews. And we would turn to senior students who have been through some interview process to pick up some wisdom.
In 2008, Cracking the Coding Interview: 150 Programming Interview Questions and Solutions was published. It quickly became the bible for candidates, and likely interviewers too. Soon after, interviewers learned to avoid problems from this book since they were all so well-known.
Around 2016, LeetCode became a popular coding interview preparation platform. The problem set is constantly growing too, from a bit over a hundred, to a few hundred, now over two thousand!
Problems are tagged on these practicing platforms too. Not only would we know which companies ask which problems, but also know when they are asked and how often. Candidates that know to use this information end up having an unfair advantage over those that do not.
At this point, it is hard to imagine anyone able to land a job offer at a good tech company without practicing for interviewers rigorously.
Not only are the problems are getting harder and harder, but the requirement for completeness and correctness also becomes higher.
Dont Study As Much As I Did
Yes, I took 8 months. But I could have abbreviated the process. Like any startup with a big goal, you make mistakes and do things that waste time. There are many things I wish I go back and do differently.
I studied topics I didnt need to, some because I thought I would need them for the interview, and some because I wanted to have the knowledge on hand for when I started working. I didnt want to be a burden on the team Im assigned to. It turns out I simply over-prepared.
I spent 3 weeks reading a 1,000-page book on C++. I dont remember 1,000 pages worth, but I know a good bit about C++ now. As it turns out, Im using Python for the interview, not C++. I had assumed I needed C++, C, or Java, but I was wrong. Its good to ask, not assume.
I read way more books than I needed to. There are only 3 or 4 books I should have read.
I have a code catalog of dozens of algorithms that I review, most of which I wouldnt expect in an interview. You dont need to do that.
I watched many hours of YouTube videos but could have watched far less, and spread out topics over time.
I should have stopped reading books and watching videos earlier and started on coding problems sooner. I would have been able to spend more time applying the topics I learned.
My sense of fear led me to study far more topics than I needed to.
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What Interviews To Expect
What’s the Google software engineering interview process and timeline? It usually takes more than eight weeks and follows these steps:
Note that the exact process varies slightly from position to position. Your recruiter will send you a PDF at the beginning of the process which details what interviews you can expect. Here are a few example PDFs you might receive: software engineer, engineering manager, and front-end mobile engineer.
1.1.1 Google online assessment – new graduates and interns only
If you’re applying for a new graduate or intern position your process will often start with a coding sample test to take online. The coding sample includes two questions that you have to complete in less than 90 minutes in total.
The questions are similar to the ones you’ll be asked in your interviews . Note that you’ll need to write your own test cases as you won’t be provided with any. You can do that in your own IDE before submitting your solution. To pass to the next round you usually need to solve both of the questions correctly.
Check out the archives of to get an idea of the type of questions you’ll come across. We recommend looking at the Code Jam competition in particular. Leetcode also maintains a thread on what questions to expect in Google’s sample coding test. You can also find a list of preparation tips in our .
- Coding interviews
Top 30 Google Interview Questions
Every year, Google receives about 3 million applications. Thats only a little less than the entire population of Silicon Valley, which comes in just above 3.1 million.
Holy cow, right?
You know what makes that statistic even more intimidating only about 0.2 percent of those applicants are hired. Now, that doesnt mean you should panic. After all, 0.2 percent of 3 million is 6,000 people. Thats a ton of hiring. Plus, not every applicant is actually qualified. If you are, your odds are probably much better than that statistic shows.
Beating the odds isnt something youll do by accident. You have to be ready to nail any interview question they throw at you. If you fail to impress, youll probably get passed by.
But youre here, right? So, that means you dont want to be complacent. Youre looking for an edge, and thats a great thing. Without any further ado, come with us as we explore what it takes to stand out during your Google interview.
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The Rocky Road To Become A Coding Interviewer
Compared to the other two types of interviews, coding interviews are certainly easier to learn.
If you want to become an interviewer for coding interviews, the training process is more or less the following:
Coming up with a new interview problem is the trickiest and most time-consuming.
- The problems complexity needs to be just right. If it is too hard, then no one can pass. If it is too easy, then everybody can pass. In either case, it is hard to tell the good candidates apart from the bad.
- The problem needs to be creative. Ideally, it should be a problem that cannot be found on the internet directly. Otherwise, well be hiring people that have seen the problems beforehand instead of those that are smart.
- The problem should be interesting. It is a huge commitment for candidates to participate in an interview, especially for those who already have a job and need to use their vacation time. We want to be respectful and grateful. And we want the candidates to have fun and have a good interview experience.
- The problem is relevant to the nature of the work. Ideally, the problem should originate from the day-to-day work and can test the skills that a candidate needs to do well in the job. Thats why most companies have banded brain teasers, dynamic programming problems, or NP-hard problems.
First Lets Look In More Detail At Why Its So Hard To Get A Job At Google
Google wants to hire brilliant, motivated, accomplished people. Theres no sugar-coating it.
Whether youre applying to be a software engineer or work in a different area within Google, they only want to hire the best of the best.
Theyre going to look at what companies youve worked for in the past, and are unlikely to hire you and interview you if youre coming from no-name companies that arent tackling big challenges like Google is.
Theyre going to look at your educational background, especially if youre looking to get a job as a Software Engineer or Programmer at Google.
(While there are many dev bootcamps and quick ways to learn programming, Google is still going to favor a traditional 4-year Computer Science degree or more for many of their engineering positions, data engineering roles, etc.
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New Candidate Same Questions
To determine who gets hired, Google interviewers use a scientifically proven method called “structured interviewing,” where employees prepare a list of rigorous and relevant questions, and then come up with a scoring rubric to match.
What separates this method from typical job interviews is that instead of asking questions catered specifically to a candidate’s resume, the same set of questions are used to assess every candidate interviewing for the same job.
In a , Lisa Stern Haynes, Google’s Global Staffing Lead and Senior Recruiter, says structured interviewing helps HR personnel anticipate what they think “a good versus a mediocre versus a poor answer is going to look like. It makes assessing candidates so much easier and so much more consistent.”
When drafting questions, interviewers must take into account Google’s four core attributes:
Long story short, interviewing at Google is now less stressful than it used to be â at least for Google, it is.
