Applications Engineer Interview Experience - Sunnyvale, California
Process
It lasts for about three weeks.
I was lucky to get the phone interview without having an OA, but I failed at the onsite interview.
It was really unlucky. I had two remote interviews out of four during the onsite.
For the first remote interview, I didn't even have a laptop to work on, and the interviewer couldn't see my handwriting clearly through the camera. It wasn't a difficult problem, but I was so nervous from writing and rewriting to fix the font size all the time.
The third interview was remote too. Apparently, the interviewer didn't get in the room on time, or some mistake happened. So, they found someone else at home to interview me. I was watching his bedroom all the time during the interview. Anyway, I think I solved the problem, but I didn't have much left for the follow-up.
Questions
3 coding and 1 system design.
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 4 interview experiences for the Google Applications Engineer role in Sunnyvale, California.
Success Rate
Google's interview process for their Applications Engineer roles in Sunnyvale, California is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.
Experience Rating
Candidates reported having very negative feelings for Google's Applications Engineer interview process in Sunnyvale, California.
Google Work Experiences
- 5.0Lots of benefits, good WLBApplications Engineer • Former EmployeeSunnyvale, California, United StatesJune 23, 2025Pros: Google provides a lot of benefits to its employees, like free food, gym, swimming pool, sleeping pods, massage, comprehensive health insurance, and 401K. Work is mostly chill, although you need to have some launches in each 6-monthly perf review and be in the good books of your manager and TL to get a good rating. Annual bonus, base increment, and stock refresher are tied to your perf rating.Cons: You need to have two interview rounds if you want to switch to an SWE role. The company has grown very big now, with 150k+ employees. This has brought with it a lot of bureaucracy and politics. So it would be great if you know how to navigate some of this. There is this thing called golden handcuffs. You can become very attached to the benefits and work-life balance at the cost of not growing at a pace that you would at a startup.
- 5.0Full stack developerApplications Engineer • Current EmployeeSunnyvale, California, United StatesMay 26, 2022Pros: Good benefits and medical plan.Cons: New members have no great impact.
- 5.0Best Culture, Smart PeopleApplications Engineer • Former EmployeeSunnyvale, California, United StatesOctober 3, 2016Pros: The company culture is the best in the industry. Ultra-smart people. I would love to go back there again.Cons: The Bay Area is expensive. There is no negative thing about the company as such. It is one of the best companies to work for.
Google Interview Questions
