I applied online and had a phone screening in about three weeks.

Next, a technical screening focused on data structures and algorithms. I was given a problem statement to generate code and optimize it. They intentionally missed edge cases within the problem statement to see if I could bring them up and work through them. Nothing too hard, but be well-prepared in your approach.

The onsite interview was a full day, including:

• One code review
• One system design interview
• One team leadership interview
• One behavioral/Googlyness interview
• One project management interview

The code review and system design interviews were medium to hard, with many follow-up questions and in-depth discussions expected.

The team leadership and behavioral interviews are standard, but they depend heavily on what you reveal. In my case, the interviewer talked for thirty long minutes about just one of my past projects.

Googleyness and behavioral aspects also seem to be weighed heavily. A good understanding of the culture and expectations is necessary for L6 and above.

I learned this somewhere on Reddit and then did a mock interview with a Google EM coach on Prepfully. The coach shared the same insights and helped me prepare for system design questions.

I accepted the offer because they met my total compensation expectations, or perhaps I negotiated well! lol

How would you design a system that counts the number of clicks on YouTube Shorts?