I had a phone screen and proceeded directly to the onsite interviews because I already had other strong offers on the table. The onsite consisted of four one-hour technical interviews. Some tested my straight algorithm programming skills, while others focused on system design questions.

As is common with most companies, all interviews are introduced as "conversations" where you collaborate with the interviewers to find a solution. I found this to be largely true, with one notable exception.

My last interviewer for the day seemed to be having a bad day. He clearly didn't want to be there and expressed obvious dislike towards me. His question was: "Tell me how you would build Google Maps, and what technical decision-making you would go through?"

That question is straightforward enough for a system design problem. The issue arose during the process. Typically, in these types of interviews, you avoid making assumptions and ask several clarifying questions to approach the problem in a focused manner. This interviewer refused to answer my questions and spent most of the interview on his phone, apparently texting. When I finished the system design portion, he asked me to "Implement part of Google Maps with actual code." I requested clarifying questions about this, as Google Maps is a massive undertaking. His exact words were: "I'm not here to try to help you pass this interview."

When my recruiter contacted me, she delivered the good news that I had advanced to the stage where Google was deciding on an offer, and that I was being pre-allocated to the Daydream team, which was the team I had expressed interest in.

A couple of weeks later, I received a phone call stating that I was not being given an offer after all. When I inquired about the reason, she explained that one of my interviewers provided strong negative feedback and argued to the reviewing panel that I should not be hired. This feedback overruled the otherwise glowing feedback from my other three interviewers. I mentioned my experience with the "Google Maps guy," but she said her hands were tied. I believed her, as I know large companies typically give their recruiters limited influence in hiring decisions.

I understand. There will be bad interviewers at every company, especially a corporate giant like Google where many can slip through the cracks. It's just unfortunate that I had to be on the receiving end of one, and that one negative individual in the entire process can derail a potential offer.

Tell me how you would make Google Maps and what technical decision-making you would go through.