Before this interview, I had an interview with Google but did not receive an offer two years ago. I was contacted by HR, who asked if I would like to try again.

During the phone screen with HR, I expressed my interest in the role that I am good at (though I wasn't sure if he cared about it). He transferred me to another HR representative and scheduled me for an onsite interview directly. When I expressed my interest again, the second HR representative said I would go through the general process to see if I could reach the average bar, not for a specific team. (Hmm... okay, not the same as last time.)

On the onsite day, I arrived on campus 30 minutes early, but it was not helpful. The first interviewer came to pick me up 10 minutes late instead of HR. She wanted to bring me to the interview room but was totally lost on campus, so we wasted 10-15 minutes finding the way. Therefore, the first interview began in a very hurried manner, which even affected the start time of the second interview. The only good time during the interview was lunch. (Of course.) The person who brought me to lunch was really nice and talkative; we chatted a lot about life and culture at Google. However, the first interviewer after lunch was late as well, even worse (20 minutes late).

The questions they asked were not difficult; they were general questions. I basically answered all the questions about what I thought, trade-offs, etc. But every interview felt hurried. I don't think they were relaxed during the interviews; they just wanted to finish their interview task within the limited time. This also forced me to answer in a hurry.

After the whole day of onsite interviews, I found that every interviewer was from the same team (there was no one from the team I was interested in). I did not even see my HR representative that day.

Two weeks later, I followed up with HR. He said he was still collecting feedback. Two to three days later, I received an email stating that the team thought I was not a fit and decided not to move forward.

First, I felt sad receiving this notification by email instead of phone. Second, OF COURSE, the team who interviewed me did not match my background. I thought they were just helping with the general interview process, but not for a specific role (which is what HR said). I was speechless.

In comparison with the interview two years ago, I had a great time throughout the entire interview process (phone, onsite). HR was really nice, hosted the onsite, and allowed me to interview with people from the team I was interested in. Besides, the people I interviewed with were very professional and asked relevant questions about the specific field. After several days (not within a week), I received a call from HR informing me that they had decided not to move forward and wished me luck. Although I did not get the offer, I still wanted to provide positive feedback for the whole experience because they did really well, and I felt respected by them.

However, I felt really bad about this time. I kept expressing my interest in the role (I wanted to ensure HR would help process my application for an interview with the correct team), but no one seemed to care. Furthermore, some interviewers were late and unprepared. I felt bad about Google. I hope no one has the same experience as me in the future.

Basic C++ question