4 weeks passed from first contact from the recruiter until the offer was extended.

The process began with a phone screen where coding was expected in Google Docs. A suggestion for Google: please consider building a dedicated code editor or using a third-party tool, as most other companies do. The issue with Google Docs is that it tends to auto-correct and auto-format text as if it were "natural language," which code is not. This often leads to a lot of time being wasted on fiddling with formatting.

Two days later, my recruiter informed me they wanted to bring me on-site to their New York City office.

The on-site visit included 5 technical interviews and a lunch "interview." They insisted the lunch session was not an interview, but other individuals I know have indicated otherwise.

I cannot share specific details of the questions, but here is what I can say:

• Interview #1: A standard graph traversal problem. It wasn't as straightforward as "Do a BFS," but involved some variations with additional requirements. However, the core problem was identifiable, and the rest were essentially add-ons.
• Interview #2: List manipulation. You were expected to devise an algorithm for this. It wasn't a matter of applying a well-known algorithm but rather inventing a new one.
• Interview #3: Tree traversals/variations. Similar to interview #1, the key was to identify the core concept, after which it became easier.
• Interview #4: Number theory. This felt somewhat hit-or-miss. Unless you are a mathematician capable of devising a solution on the spot or have encountered the problem before, I found this one very challenging.
• Interview #5: Binary search variations. This was not extremely difficult. If you have a good understanding of search and sort algorithms, you could apply them to this problem.

For all these questions, you were expected to provide the time complexities of your solutions and comprehensive test cases, as well as discuss potential optimizations.

One day after the on-site interviews, I was informed that the feedback was positive and that I was being submitted to the hiring committee for a decision, which was expected in 4 days (Tuesday).

Around 3 PM that day, I was so anxious that I decided to email my recruiter. This was my second time interviewing at Google, and I typically didn't reach out preemptively for updates, assuming they would share news if they had any. However, this time was an exception. She informed me that I had been "cleared" for hire by the committee and that they would begin scheduling phone interviews with potential managers to help me find a team.

Three phone calls were scheduled over the next two days, during which I was asked about my preferences.

A couple of days later, I was told that they were moving forward with an executive review. Then, after approximately three more days (and a total of four weeks), I was officially presented with an offer.

The salary negotiation was somewhat unusual. They insisted that I provide an expected number first. After I did, they presented an offer with a base pay that was about $30,000 short of my expectation. When I contested this, they stated that the bonus and stock grants would bring the total compensation to significantly more than what I had requested. I found this a bit sneaky, as when I stated my number, I was clearly referring to the base pay, not including bonuses. My recruiter seemed very anxious for me to accept the offer that same day, which I told her I couldn't do. A couple of hours later, they called back and said they would add an additional $20,000 cash bonus if I could accept it immediately. With little room left for negotiation, I accepted the offer.

Graph Tree Sort Search String manipulations Queue