After a short discussion on skills, the recruiter scheduled a phone screen. The recruiter was very professional and sent all the details beforehand.

For the phone screen, I focused on hard questions like algorithms, data structures, and LeetCode problems. When the interviewer called, I was quite nervous.

We started with testing questions, covering test plan design, test cases, and so on. Then, we moved to the coding part. I was expecting a complex problem, but it turned out to be a simple string problem, which caught me off guard. I explained my approach and refined the output expectations. I typed in the code, but I apparently missed adding a condition for a specific type of string input. Google expects candidates to cover most common cases in the code.

However, we ran out of time, and I was asked to write some test cases for the code.

Even though it was a simple problem, running against the clock and my nerves got to me. The preparation for a Google interview truly pays off due to the high standards. If one can control their nerves and think clearly against a running clock, they can pull it off. Good luck!

NDA. But I can say be prepared with testing approaches and clear basics on data structures/algorithms.