I prepared by reading many parts of Skiena’s Algorithm Design Manual and watching MIT algorithm lectures. I was already good at algorithms, considering my previous class performances, so I was just brushing up my knowledge. I paid particular attention to graph theory, following the advice of a Steve Yegge blog post on the same topic. I solved as many algorithm problems as I could; I would say I spent a total of 30 hours preparing for my interview over one month, especially graphs. I figured graphs were important at Google, and if I could dazzle them with my ability to solve graph problems, then I was in.

The day started gray and went downhill from there. The recruiter arrived 15 minutes later than our scheduled meeting time, and in the meantime, I went from being mildly nervous to almost hysterical. When we met the first interviewer, who was visibly annoyed because of the delay (or perhaps that was just my perception), the recruiter blamed me for being late. That’s right. I was so shocked it took me some seconds to actually realize he was saying this, and after that, I didn’t know what to do to make it right (pathetic, I know).

I had five interviews back-to-back, with one additional lunch interview in between. During my first interview, it was as if I had a block in place of my brain. I must have asked the poor engineer 10 times to explain the question to me. It was as if he was speaking gibberish. I couldn't focus; I was too nervous and pissed off at the recruiter. Needless to say, I couldn't write even one single line of code; I mainly stared at the whiteboard. I still don’t remember what the question was. I was so embarrassed.

No algorithm questions were asked. Yes, you heard it right. Not even something involving a binary tree or search; nothing. There was one design question and three coding questions.

In short, there were things that were under my control. I didn’t do any whiteboard coding (a big mistake) and didn’t have time for mock interviews (another big mistake). Given all that happened at the beginning to unhinge me (I am skipping something else that happened on the morning of the interview), had I practiced solving questions on the whiteboard and had I done mock interviews, I should have been able to handle it beautifully. The engineers who conducted the interviews were all so nice and smart. The recruiters, oh well.

A question about playing a game of two players.