There were 5 interviews:

• 4 DSA rounds
• 1 culture fitment round

In each DSA round, you can be asked any number of questions, depending on your speed to solve the problems. In one of the rounds, I was asked 3 questions.

Some rounds were very easy, and others were rather difficult.

In easy rounds, I was asked to solve one easy to medium-level question based on array manipulation. In other rounds, I was asked to solve questions related to graphs.

One of the DSA rounds was rather difficult, in which I was asked to solve a hard problem that was a modified version of one of the hard problems from LeetCode.

The culture fitment round was also different.

I didn't get the offer because I wasn't able to solve that hard problem and also didn't perform well in the culture fitment round.

My advice for those preparing for Google is to focus on medium and hard-level problems on LeetCode and not to take the culture fitment round lightly (the mistake that I did 🥲). The culture fitment round is the most important of all, and even if you perform excellently in all DSA rounds and fail the culture fitment, you will not get the offer.

All the interviewers were really kind. My advice is to not stick to one problem if you're not able to solve it; ask the interviewer for hints. Also, don't sit silent. First, explain your approach, then implement the solution, and keep telling what you're doing step by step.