I needed some help in coming up with a study plan to specifically train for Google's interview process. I currently have 4yoe, so I think the interviews will be for SDE2 role. There will be 3 DSA rounds, 1 Googleyness, and 1 Leadership round. I already have experience in DSA and have solved most of Neetcode 150 (except DP, Bit Manipulation, and some hard problems). If any of you have given Google (or any FAANG) interview before, I would love to get some guidance on how to prepare in 30 days. I already know most of the common algorithms like DFS, BFS, Sliding window, Binary search, etc so I won't have to start from scratch.
Also, the recruiter mentioned that I will have only 45 mins to solve two questions: mostly 1 hard and 1 medium. So I basically have around 20 mins per problem, which I feel is very difficult to solve a Leetcode Hard problem unless you have seen it before. Did I misunderstand the recruiter? Are there any tips on how to get good at this?
You probably misunderstood, maybe recruiter gave you target to practice and bring down your avg solve time to 20 min so you are comfortable in actual interview.
In Google interview you have to solve only one problem. Total interview time is 1 hr so you can take longer than 45 min too, But it's ideal to solve it within 45 minutes so that there is enough time in end for any follow-up question or if you need to ask some question to interviewer.
Source: done it before
Got it, thanks!
@Razer adding some more things since above comment is not completely clear.
Even though there is just one question there could be multiple followups to it, i.e. question that adds extra conditions on top of the base question. If you take all the time to answer base question itself, there might not be enough time for followup and can reflect badly.
Also you may not get full 1hr since interviewer would like to end early to answer any questions you have
Go crazy man, all the best I'd suggest buying a leetcode pro membership and grinding on all google questions. Have heard a lot from youtubers/on linkedin that it works. By YouTubers I don't mean the India bhaiya didi channel, I mean genuine intelligent guys
@necro Got it, thanks a lot for your advice!
Google recruiter called you? Lucky chap! Listen, don't get your knickers in a twist. You've got DSA down pat, now focus on the tricky bits - DP, Bit Manipulation, the hard ones. Time yourself while solving Leetcode problems. System Design? Brush up on it. Googleyness and Leadership? Reflect on your past experiences. Mock interviews? Do them. And for heaven's sake, relax! You're not defusing a bomb. Now, tell me, have you ever solved a problem under pressure before?
Yeah I have given a lot of interviews last year so have experience in that. Currently reviewing all the main concepts and solving as many questions as possible, but still feel that there’s just too much to cover and it’s impossible to feel ready. Thanks for the advice!
Hey folks, I got reached out by a recruiter from Google reg an open position
I just wanted to know what would the ideal prep strategy look like. I like to think I'm below average in leetcode. I can solve a lc mediums maybe under 30 mins...
Have upcoming dsa rounds at Google for staff software engineer position at Google. Any suggestions on the type or topic of questions to expect. Any prep guide or study material would also help a lot.
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