Notes for Technical Interviews at Google Part 2

This is the second part of my notes for technical interviews at Google. The first part covered the specifics of the Google interview, such as what happened and what time is allotted for each part. This second part will cover more tips and tricks to the interview questions.

What to do

• Verbalize your thoughts

When you verbalize your thoughts, the interviewer will be better able to confirm your understanding. If you restate the interview question, any misconceptions or mistakes can be fixed on the fly from the interviewer. Showing your work and thinking out loud will confirm to the interviewer what steps you have completed and if you are on the same track. If you are prone to silence, you can say so, but summarize your thoughts periodically

• Listen to the interviewer

The interviewer is only trying to help. These sessions are considered a discussion, not a strict interview with a question/answer format. They may be giving you hints, redirecting you away from mistakes, mentioning edge cases. Listen to the interviewer when you are moving along the interviewer.

• Prepare for the interview

Review your fundamentals. Practice in your strongest coding language. Google interviews are written in real code, not pseudo-code. It will be conducted in a Google doc, so practice in a Google doc with time pressure and a friend. There may be accommodations available for disabilities and special needs, so feel free to ask. Use sites like leetcode and pramp.

Common Interview Mistakes

• Do not immediately jump into the code.

If you do, the interviewer may not be able to help you as much, such as in correcting misconceptions or with any advice. You may waste time starting over and may end up with unfinished or incorrect code.

• Do not forget to test/run through an example

Go with simple examples before running through edge cases. This will help catch errors and show a thorough mindset. However, don’t waste too much time running through too many examples.

• Do not forget to write real and runnable code

Pseudo code is ok to start, but real code is needed for the Google interview. However, please note that you MAY BE ABLE TO use helper functions (functions that you did not code, but may do something). Ask if the helper function needs to be coded out.

• Do not force fit a solution

Draw from experience and practice problems, but do not assume that any Google interview is asking to regurgitate known solutions. Go through the question step by step and be thorough.

• Do not prematurely optimize

Do not assume brute force is unacceptable. Start with brute force and verbalize to see if you can improve upon it. Taking it step by step will be beneficial to show your understanding, instead of automatically optimizing the solution. Be prepared to explain the complexity and explain why the complexity is or isn’t able to be improved.

Sample Interview Questions

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