A recruiter contacted me after I completed Level 3 of Foobar and scheduled a phone chat. I was able to skip the phone screen and go directly to the onsite. The onsite was in Mountain View with five interviewers.

I felt very good about three interviews, okay about one, and not great about one. However, I was able to come up with working solutions for all problems. One of my solutions was far less than optimal, but other than that, I was able to come up with optimal solutions.

I had one OOP interview and four data structure/algorithms interviews. There were no trick questions or surprises. The difficulty was challenging but still accessible. The interviews that went best were cooperative, discussion-based, and felt much like a pair programming exercise where I was doing the driving but being told the destination we needed to reach.

I was nervous at first, but the interviewers did a great job setting me at ease. I left the interview feeling good about how I did, but you never know with Google; they interview a lot of talented people.

Two days later, my recruiter contacted me and said my interview feedback was mostly positive and my application would be moving to the hiring committee. Two weeks after I interviewed, I cleared hiring committee and had some team match interviews. I received an official offer two days after team matching.

I had a competing offer, which Google beat in every area. The total time from interview to offer was just under three weeks. The total time from the initial recruiter chat to offer was just under two months.

Overall, I was extremely impressed with everyone I had contact with at Google. There was not a single bad interaction, and I felt welcomed everywhere and was made to feel like I belonged. I'm counting down the days until I start. It was an excellent experience. Even before I had the offer, I was more than happy with the overall experience. Truly an impressive company. Definitely interview if you have the chance.

Out of respect for the NDA, I won't give specifics, but nothing should be a surprise. I found "Elements of Programming Interviews" to be the most valuable book for prep. Actual whiteboard practice was also invaluable.