Application / First Contact:

I applied with a friend's referral and received an email the next day. We scheduled a chat for the following week. We discussed my current situation and what I was looking for. Afterward, my recruiter scheduled a phone screening.

Phone Screening:

I scheduled the screening for a few weeks out, allowing me time to prepare. The screening was a phone call with an engineer in New York, during which I coded on a Google Doc. He asked me two questions, which I answered relatively quickly within about 50 minutes. I then asked him about his work. Less than 12 hours later, I received an email stating I had positive results and would proceed to the on-site interviews.

On-site:

This was also something I scheduled a few weeks in advance. I was flown in from out of state and stayed near their campus. The interview itself consisted of five 45-minute sessions: three in the morning, lunch, and then two in the afternoon. The questions were typical of those found on coding question websites, except for my last question, which was unlike anything I had ever encountered. Overall, I felt the interviews went well, but not exceptionally. Based on my research, exceptional performance is required, so I anticipated being turned down.

Results:

Five days later, my recruiter called to inform me I had missed the bar by a small margin. She mentioned that for my first on-site experience, my scores were very high and advised me not to feel discouraged, as most engineers go through the process multiple times before succeeding. The feedback provided was generic and not particularly helpful, though I suspect this is to prevent gaming the system. She encouraged me to contact her again in a year to reapply.

Impression:

Everyone I met during the process was extremely friendly and seemed genuinely happy in their roles. Having interviewed at other major tech firms, the engineers at Google appeared comparatively more wholesome. Google is known to prioritize weeding out false positives, even at the risk of some false negatives. Their recruitment process reflects this philosophy, clearly indicating they expect candidates to go through it multiple times to ensure a thorough assessment. I will certainly apply again in the future.

Signed an NDA