I've interviewed for two different SWE positions at Google, one year apart. The process involves a screening coding interview, followed by five more stages: three LeetCode-style coding interviews, one behavioral interview, and one system design interview. The recruiter then provides feedback.

For me, I scored 3/5 both times, meaning three areas were strong and two "could be better." The first time, it was system design and coding. The second time, two coding interviews "didn't go too well." Following these, I was offered one to two more interviews to be considered for a lower level than the one I applied for.

Google is well known for downplaying interviews. Coding rounds are 45 minutes long, with only 30 minutes allocated for actual coding (the rest is for introductions and questions). During this time, they expect you to come up with the most optimal solution to a problem.

There's always someone who dislikes aspects like variable naming, code structure, or the computational complexity of your code after you've spent 20-25 minutes understanding the problem and explaining your thought process. After the first round, I thought it was just bad luck. However, after experiencing the same thing again, I can honestly say their process is either flawed or designed to undermine your skills and lowball offers.

Coding tasks are entirely dependent on the interviewer. Standard system design and behavioral rounds.