It all started with the recruiter approaching for the requirement of a Software Engineer in the SRE Team. Getting an opportunity to present yourself in Google in itself is a big opportunity that an engineer would not like to mess up.
After exploring this role and having a conversation with the recruiter, one must keep a few things in mind as follows:
- They want you to succeed.
- You have to put all your efforts to nail this opportunity.
- This is an opportunity that can change your future for a lifetime for good!
- Don’t make assumptions, talk it out, talk out loud about what is going on in your mind. That is what they are looking forward to!
- Prepare your basics really well and practice as much as you can!
- Don’t hesitate to ask for time if you feel the need to prepare.
- Their ultimate goal is to provide you with an opportunity where you can show the best you can do.
- Even if you get confused, or start to mess things up. Be calm, and make use of the interaction with the Googlers, they are really helpful and kind people. And remember they wish you to succeed.
- You will be asked to choose one programming language on which all your interviews will be based on.
- They provide ample opportunities to you so that you can improve your performance, like providing mock interview sessions (45 mins) with the Googler. It is really helpful. For me, it helped me to make a habit of talking out loud.
My Interview Experience: I had one telephonic round ( one DSA Question was asked )and 4 onsite interviews. Each round of duration is 45 mins.
Telephonic Round ( emphasis was on the DSA Concept and the ability to implement them ). I was asked one medium-level DP Problem which required knowledge of recursion, Tree structure. Question asked was asked with a lot of ambiguity, which we resolved by talking about the thought process. Syntactically, a few mistakes here and there are ignored while emphasis was purely given to the basic understanding of the problem and logical problem-solving capabilities.
After this round, half an hour discussion was done on the feedback of your performance and for the next steps.
Onsite Round (A total of 4 interviews, lasting 45 minutes each)
- Consist of 3 technical rounds (3 x Coding / DS & Algorithms ) on the same line as the telephonic round but with difficulty leveled up.
- 4th onsite round is Googleyness & Leadership round. Don’t be shy to brag about how you are proud of yourself!
You just need to keep your concepts clear, not by ratification, but with understanding.
If you are getting a similar opportunity, just make sure you prepare well before and if not, then also prepare for the future! Build your logical and problem-solving abilities!
All the very best! You can do it!