A former colleague made an internal referral. A Google recruiter reached out to me the next day to understand my background and what I was looking for. I explained why I was interested in the TM/PM role and how it relates to my background. The recruiter was very friendly, and she advised me to add a few things I had done in the past on my resume that I had omitted for brevity, such as co-founding a company in my undergrad.

The second round was with the hiring manager from a different team on the phone. He liked my background but probed me on my interest level. Getting your story straight – why Google, why now, and why you – is extremely important to clear the first two rounds.

The third round was a 1x1 Google Hangout with a peer product manager. It was an hour long: 45 minutes focused on a PM case study and the last 15 minutes was an easy technical algorithm question. The PM case study was: "Google wants to launch a product for X segment. What would you do?" It's a simple case study where you are tested on how you approach the problem, how you create milestones, how you validate your hypothesis, how you stage market launches, and lastly, the lifecycle management of the product.

The fourth round was a 1x1 Google Hangout with a Software Lead. TM roles require good technical depth, especially in building scalable systems. I was asked to build an online game. I didn't know the game logic, so the interviewer walked me through it. I was tested on defining the constraints of the system, front-end, back-end, scalability, and lastly, logic on the back-end system (implementing the game algorithm) along with APIs that would be consumed by the front-end devices.

The fifth round was onsite, with 3 PMs and one Software Lead. Again, there was a case study to launch a new app in the marketplace, how to define a roadmap, and lastly, forecasting revenue/pricing models for the product. The last PM interviewer asked me about a product I liked and how I would change it (three times). Google wants to test you on how you think on your feet. No preparation will help you with that, so be yourself and enjoy the conversations.

The onsite technical interview revolved around systems design of a scalable system that included APIs, database design, and optimization. I won't go into details due to NDA.

I had a lot of fun interviewing and had some great conversations with all the interviewers. Think of it this way: if you are having fun, then you would probably enjoy working with these folks and fit the culture easily. I felt that Google tests quite a bit on how fit you are with Google in general than just one team, and all that comes together in your final Google Packet.

The only downside is that the process is long, and I had cut short my previous Google interviews by taking competing offers. This time, I had a bit more time on my hand.

Best luck!

Pick an app you like. How would you bring that to market, and how would you price it?