For the most part, Google's interview process was a positive experience. Starting from the beginning, here is how the process played out for me.

I applied to a few positions at Google online. Within a few days, a Google recruiter reached out to me and asked me to do a first-round interview. This interview was over the phone, and the coding was done on a Google Doc. The interview was pretty hard, a hard-level LeetCode question, and I was able to get an answer but struggled with optimizing it. After the interview, the recruiter reached out to me within a day. The recruiter informed me that I did not pass the interview; however, I was recommended for a second first-round interview, basically meaning the first interview was inconclusive. I accepted, and a few weeks later, I did another first-round Google interview that had the same format as the one I had done previously. The second interview was about the same level of difficulty, but I was able to answer the question and provide a good solution overall. My recruiter got back to me the same day to inform me I had passed and was recommended to move to the final round.

After I passed the first round, I was handed off to a new recruiter who handles the final round of the interview process. The final round interview involved four interviews (three tech and one personality). The three tech interviews were pretty hard, but they did range from crazy difficult to more standard LeetCode hard questions. The personality interview was very laid-back and ended up mostly being a conversation between me and a developer about dealing with collaboration and setbacks. After completing the interview, my recruiter got back to me in a day and informed me that they were going to present my case to the hiring committee.

The hiring committee at Google is basically the final review before they decide to hire you or not. A panel of Google engineers gets together and reviews your total interview results and makes the decision. From what I heard and read, this is the most difficult step to get through once starting the interview process. In my case, the review was set up for about a week after my interview. I had a competing offer, so I was able to ensure my review went a little faster than normal. As soon as the review concluded, my recruiter called me and informed me that I passed.

At this point in the process, you don't actually have an offer from Google yet. Instead, they put you through team matching. This process is mostly 30-minute calls with Google managers, in which both sides determine if it is a good fit for them (the manager wants you, and you want to join that team). For me, this process felt very long. I had a competing offer, so I was trying to move quickly before it expired. Overall, it took around three weeks and four interviews before I found a team that I wanted to join and that wanted me.

Finally, after completing team matching, your 'case' is sent to the compensation team that will determine what compensation to actually offer you. In my case, I was able to leverage my existing offer to get very good compensation. It only took two days from ending team matching before I was given my official offer with compensation. This, once again, moved faster because I had deadlines. After that, my recruiter called me the next day, and I accepted the offer.

Overall, I thought the Google process was pretty fair and helpful. Google certainly challenges you a lot through the interview, so spend a lot of time preparing. My only complaint is the time it took from the recruiter first reaching out to me getting the offer. In total, it took about three months, with almost a full month between me doing my last interview and getting the offer. This was a little frustrating since I was working under some deadlines and had to ask the competing company for many extensions on my offer. I wish they could find a way to make the last few steps (team matching) move a little quicker, or at least be willing to extend an offer while you are team matching.

That is it, though. I hope this review is helpful to some. I want to mention that the Google recruiters were really awesome and helpful through the whole process. My only tips for interviewing with Google are to prepare a lot and to start earlier than for other interviews, since it will take the longest.

I don't think I can share any questions, but I will provide some overall advice.

Really study the raw computer science themes (i.e., data structures and algorithms).

Also, spend some time coding in a word document or similar experience, since you need to write pretty clean code without the help of an IDE.