CONTEXT:

I had been contacted by different Google recruiters over the past few years (and had been referred internally, but I didn't know about that). I had consistently asked them to contact me later.

FIRST CONTACT:

I was again contacted for an SRE position. The recruiter conducted a mini 5-10 minute interview about time complexities and some Linux systems questions, which they expected candidates to be well-versed in. The recruiter was somewhat misleading about the position, making it sound much closer to SWE than it actually was. I did my research and spoke with people who had interviewed for SRE. I then insisted that I wanted to interview for SWE. The recruiter tried hard to convince me to apply for SRE, but my heart wasn't in it.

EVENTUAL CONTACT:

After one to two conversations with the recruiter, I was handed over to another recruiter for SWE. I had multiple conversations so that they could ascertain which team would be a good fit for me. They genuinely try to set you up for success; I can assure you of that. They were unable to precisely identify a suitable team initially. So, they suggested that I at least do the phone interview (which would be reasonably generic), and that would give them some clues.

PHONE INTERVIEW STAGE:

I completed the phone interview and the next day received an email stating they wanted to move forward. I then spoke with a different recruiter who was supposed to handle my case. I had some clarifying conversations with her about my strengths and interests, ensuring my onsite interview would align with my expectations. This recruiter was fantastic and very detail-oriented.

I had limited time because I had two existing offers with approaching deadlines. They scheduled my interview on a day of my choosing.

ONSITE INTERVIEW STAGE:

The onsite interview went well. The interviewers were friendly and polite, with a mix of ages. They seemed excited to be part of Google. I had a great time talking and solving problems.

The interview questions were not very difficult. I concentrated on code organization, cleanliness, and correctness. Debugging my code during the interviews and convincing myself and the interviewer of its absolute correctness was very important.

If you are comfortable with recursion, dynamic programming, arrays, trees, etc., that should be sufficient. I don't believe they were testing knowledge of advanced concepts. They focused more on basic fundamentals, good solutions, and clean, correct code.

There were five technical interviews and one lunch interview. The lunch interview was not technical. I was the one asking most of the questions during that time.

POST INTERVIEW STAGE:

Since I was on a tight timeline, things moved at lightning speed. I couldn't imagine it would be possible to complete the process so quickly.

On the same day of my interview, I received a positive response, and my packet for the Hiring Committee was being prepared. They checked my references the next day, and by nightfall, I knew I had been approved by the hiring committee.

OFFER PHASE:

The verbal offer was extended two days later. There were two days of negotiation. I received the final written offer within a week of my interview, which I then signed.

Overall:

The recruiter was diligent and fast. I couldn't keep up; it was that quick. I consider myself very lucky to have worked with the right people. I made sure I myself was prompt at every stage.

I cannot disclose the questions.

Some system programming and fact-based questions were unexpected.