The whole process took two months. The timeframe of the process is up to you, depending on when you schedule your phone and onsite interviews.

The phone interview started with a 5-minute intro, followed by a single coding question for 35 minutes, with follow-ups. The question was presented in a very general, abstract manner, and it was up to me to ask questions and make assumptions to translate that into an actual function. The last 5 minutes of the interview involved asking the software engineer questions about working at Google.

The onsite interviews were very similar to the phone interviews, with the key difference being that they were face-to-face. You had a choice of using a whiteboard, a Chromebook, or even both to help you answer the coding questions.

All interviews were back-to-back, ranging from 45 minutes each, with a lunch break after the third interview. All of the interviewers dove straight into the coding problem and assessed your entire performance from there.

Overall, the recruiters and schedule coordinators were amazing. They responded really quickly and were very supportive and accommodating. I was able to reschedule my phone interview twice due to not feeling prepared, and they were totally fine with that.

The free lunch was totally awesome, and I would do another interview there again if I failed, just for the sake of it. Currently waiting on the HC approval.

Typical data structures and algorithms are key for new grads or engineers with little experience. The topic of the questions depends on the interview, so be prepared for anything.

Definitely prepare using LeetCode and CTCI. Focus on thinking on your feet and not relying on seeing the problem before, as Google has a blacklist of problems that have been leaked. Therefore, always assume the questions you get can never be found anywhere.