Google

Software Engineer Interview Experience

February 14, 2018

Positive ExperienceNo Offer

Process

45-minute interview.

Interviewer was friendly and asked basic coding questions. One question was about joining two sorted arrays, and a second question was about reversing a linked list.

The interview also included a couple of behavioral questions at the end.

Questions

Reverse a linked list

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Interview Statistics

The following metrics were computed from 3,728 interview experiences for the Google Software Engineer role in United States.

Success Rate

12%

Pass Rate

Google's interview process for their Software Engineer roles in the United States is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.

Experience Rating

Positive59%

Neutral29%

Negative12%

Candidates reported having very good feelings for Google's Software Engineer interview process in United States.

Google Work Experiences

Rewarding Work, Crowded Office

Software Engineer • Current Employee

Mountain View, California, United States

October 20, 2015

Pros: Work/life balance. Feel like you are part of the company. Hard to be affected by cliques. Good abstraction of the promo process. Rewarded for good work.

Cons: Gained 20 lbs. Everyone is smart, so it's not so easy to stand out. Headcount has not slowed for 5 years. It's overcrowded.

Rewarding Work, Crowded Office

Software Engineer • Current Employee

Mountain View, California, United States

October 20, 2015

Pros: Work/life balance. Feel like you are part of the company. Hard to be affected by cliques. Good abstraction of the promo process. Rewarded for good work.

Cons: Gained 20 lbs. Everyone is smart, so it's not so easy to stand out. Headcount has not slowed for 5 years. It's overcrowded.

Good Work, Slow Promotions

Software Engineer • Current Employee

Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

Pros: Good work, good WLB, and generally good managers.

Cons: Bad perf cycle and promos too slow.

Good Work, Slow Promotions

Software Engineer • Current Employee

Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

Pros: Good work, good WLB, and generally good managers.

Cons: Bad perf cycle and promos too slow.

Be prepared to have no hobbies

Software Engineer • Former Employee

Sydney, Australia

January 5, 2022

Pros: You'll be surrounded by interesting, clever colleagues, and get to contribute to systems used by thousands of people. Comfortable chairs. Freedom to wear what you like.

Cons: Too much work: They expect a very large amount of work output. The work-life balance leaves much to be desired. A very interesting and exciting environment within which to develop a stress disorder.

Be prepared to have no hobbies

Software Engineer • Former Employee

Sydney, Australia

January 5, 2022

Pros: You'll be surrounded by interesting, clever colleagues, and get to contribute to systems used by thousands of people. Comfortable chairs. Freedom to wear what you like.

Cons: Too much work: They expect a very large amount of work output. The work-life balance leaves much to be desired. A very interesting and exciting environment within which to develop a stress disorder.

Rewarding Work, Crowded Office

Software Engineer • Current Employee

Mountain View, California, United States

October 20, 2015

Pros: Work/life balance. Feel like you are part of the company. Hard to be affected by cliques. Good abstraction of the promo process. Rewarded for good work.

Cons: Gained 20 lbs. Everyone is smart, so it's not so easy to stand out. Headcount has not slowed for 5 years. It's overcrowded.

5.0
Rewarding Work, Crowded Office
Software Engineer • Current Employee
Mountain View, California, United States
October 20, 2015
Pros: Work/life balance. Feel like you are part of the company. Hard to be affected by cliques. Good abstraction of the promo process. Rewarded for good work.
Cons: Gained 20 lbs. Everyone is smart, so it's not so easy to stand out. Headcount has not slowed for 5 years. It's overcrowded.

Good Work, Slow Promotions

Software Engineer • Current Employee

Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

Pros: Good work, good WLB, and generally good managers.

Cons: Bad perf cycle and promos too slow.

4.0
Good Work, Slow Promotions
Software Engineer • Current Employee
Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
May 19, 2025
Pros: Good work, good WLB, and generally good managers.
Cons: Bad perf cycle and promos too slow.

Be prepared to have no hobbies

Software Engineer • Former Employee

Sydney, Australia

January 5, 2022

Pros: You'll be surrounded by interesting, clever colleagues, and get to contribute to systems used by thousands of people. Comfortable chairs. Freedom to wear what you like.

Cons: Too much work: They expect a very large amount of work output. The work-life balance leaves much to be desired. A very interesting and exciting environment within which to develop a stress disorder.

3.0
Be prepared to have no hobbies
Software Engineer • Former Employee
Sydney, Australia
January 5, 2022
Pros: You'll be surrounded by interesting, clever colleagues, and get to contribute to systems used by thousands of people. Comfortable chairs. Freedom to wear what you like.
Cons: Too much work: They expect a very large amount of work output. The work-life balance leaves much to be desired. A very interesting and exciting environment within which to develop a stress disorder.

Google Interview Questions

Two Sum

Find two numbers in a given array that add up to a specific target value, and return their indices. Essentially, you need to efficiently locate the pair that satisfies the sum requirement.

Palindrome Number

Determine whether an integer is a palindrome. That is, it reads the same forwards and backward.

Bit Manipulation

Add Two Numbers

You are given two linked lists, each representing a non-negative integer. Add the two numbers and return the sum as a linked list.

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