Google staff software engineer interview reddit g. What We Look For In a Resume. You are a key person in your org. See the interview process breakdown, 29 Google coding interview questions with solutions, and links to high-quality prep materials. I was pretty confident that basic array, strings, etc questions I will be able to tackle in interviews. At trading firms, you very well could be doing web, but there’s a much higher chance of doing lower level work (closer to the system level) I have some questions regarding the senior software engineer interview process that I am hoping some engineer / technical managers, hiring managers, or senior software engineers / developers can answer! Context: I am starting to prepare to interview for Senior Software Engineer / Developer positions. Jan 30, 2024 · Ace your Google software engineer interviews with this preparation guide. Software engineering interviews are getting out of hand. Register; Sign In; Terms And Conditions; Privacy Policy; DMCA; Contact Us Make sure the examples you choose are level appropriate. Dev -> Senior dev Engineering manager -> Senior engineering manager. Google gives out positions after interview evaluations (not just google). Meanwhile, as an actual Software Engineer, I try to read up on all the latest programming practices, do programming challenges for fun, keep a few side-projects to test ideas and explore new fields, and attempt to give good thought and reasoning In 2022, I got a chance to interview at Google. Mar 9, 2025 · Coding - Blind75 through neetcode and google tagged recent questions. Interviewer for Google here. My engineers have 20 days budgeted and allocated to learning, but I have to force them to take it. L6 - Staff Software Engineer: 9+ years of experience and an expectation that you have extremely strong interpersonal skills. I interviewed onsite for senior software engineer roles at seven top tech companies like Apple and Twitter in August through November of 2018. Hi! One of my close friend, with few years job experience and a moderate to good level interview at Google US, got down-leveled to L3 from L4. Recommended Templates: Google Docs, LaTeX. Did you guys have a 30-day plan that worked for you? We usually skim out on interview practices while solving leetcode. So, we all know that not every candidate is perfect, and not every company is perfect (and might not know exactly what they're looking for). How I normally set it up depends a bit on the level of the interviewee (I typically interview senior devs). Your impact extends beyond yourself. A promotion from L5 to L6 is more exponential in nature and it’s rare that candidates Hello! I have 30 days to prepare for my Google interview. Share your tips, ask your questions, and help each other. Negative 35%. You find problems within products they didn't know they had, and rally engineers via earned authority to go fix them. Guide to Software Engineer Bullet Points. Like, if you're hiring embedded software engineers, looking at a portfolio won't be the right way to determine their skill. For UN staff, personnel, consultants and interns, and those looking to start and develop a career in the United Nations System. I have interviewed at Microsoft before but for an internship and I am sure Google will be tougher. js and expressjs . Software Engineer or SWE-II (Level 3) is an entry-level full-time software engineer. Google tends to be very flexible throughout the entire process, so give yourself the time you need. Tech Industry. . I wish this was a fake post but it really has been my life over the last 2 months. Google Staff, Sr Staff engineer interview prep. You influence the rest of your team of 3-12 engineers. In Google, the interview duration is exactly 45 minutes, and I believe, in this time, everyone shares Some third party software is restricted, and there are strict limits on where Google internal code can be stored. 29% Positive. I’ve been jumping around lots, but I started with all the data structures course things on leetcode (arrays, strings, linked lists, binary search, sorting Algos, stack and queue, hash table, binary tree, n-ary tree, binary search tree, recursion 1 and 2, to be specific. I recently got the following question in a system design interview: Design Google Calendar I stumbled since all the resources online were for LLD, however the interviewer was looking for something more high level. You can finally relax somewhat, as engineers can reach their final plateau here. To put it simply, Googliness is a set of personal attributes that, when combined with the right technical or hard skills, make software engineers the right Dec 7, 2020 · Gone are the days of job offers delivered over handshakes. He leads teams of teams, the company doesn't know how to do it but relies on your to establish what is needed to get it done. Certain software is on the no-go list due to keeping copies of whatever you're working on in third party cloud servers or locally to your laptop, I'd imagine this is the real reason Evernote was problematic. If you're out of touch with DS and Algos, then frankly I think you should push the interview back. Choose from Google's most frequent list. That means if you excel in your itv you'll most likely get a +1 position. Would be great if you guys could please share the right resources for interview prep. ” “you are interviewing me for a senior software engineer position in node. Hey Leetcode Fam,I'm reaching out for advice on reapplying to Google's Software Engineer (SWE) position. I prepared with a combination of neetcode and leetcode For experienced developers. Get the Reddit app Scan this QR code to download the app now Google Staff Software Engineer (L6) Interview Experience & Tips to Succeed Video Share Add a Comment Those who have interviewed at Google before, I am interviewing for a University Grad role for a software engineer in mid-May and I am not sure what difficulty should I expect the technical problems to be. I didn't interview with Google, but I did multiple interviews for Amazon and Microsoft, and I can say for sure that the hype is real when it comes to resources like Leetcode. , if you were standard but did clear, you might get -1 as well. Received interview scheduling email 11/03/21 Back to back phone technical interviews 11/15/21 Notified of moving onto The Project Search Stage 12/09/21 Received host match interview request 01/27/22 Completed host match interview 02/01/22 Received offer 02/04/22 L5 - Senior Software Engineer: 6-9 years of industry experience. During these 2 months, I grinded LC to about 100 questions (for the first time). 36 Resume Rules for Software Engineers. 2d. At this level, there are 4 or 5 onsite rounds and people on the cusp of L3 and L4 (below), they may throw in a design question, but usually not. I received Google’s hiring assessment on last Friday. this year. For example, a staff engineer should not have a story about a conflict with a junior eng about code review. The more important interviews we hold are the system design interviews. It requires a good mix of skill, hard work, and luck (right opportunity to show impact). It has no real standardization, and is different between companies. A week passes and I'm told by the engineer that they're not hiring anyone, AND that I should apply for another role within the company. Need help with Senior Software Engineer Interview with Visa Hi, I have my first round scheduled with Visa for Senior Software Engineer Position with 45 min duration on Tuesday. One of my friends got -1. Questions are loosely based off Chip Huyen's ML Interviews Book. It might go “Staff Engineer”, “Senior Staff Engineer”, “Principal Engineer”, “Senior Principal Engineer”. The non-technical part of an interview is mostly a conversation to see if someone is a good fit for the position. 77. The part that they say they don't ask LC makes it very interesting but also leaves me with a less structur So I went through the lovely recruitment process for a software engineer new grad with Visa Inc. It ran over time because I enjoyed talking to the guys but was scheduled for an hour. My language of preference is Python for the coding rounds. This is fundamentally part of the problem. Hey all, just trying to pay it forward by sharing my interview experience at Meta in case anyone finds it's useful. Creating them helped me get ML Engineer offers from several companies in 2022 (including Google, Tesla, Samsung, Motional, UiPath, and TikTok). Part of it is the culture fit, how do you see your role type conversation. At least for Facebook and Google, there's no hard limit on 6+; they'd prefer to have more. In the third interview (graph, LC medium) I got the question correct but was a bit more quiet Well, 5 yrs huh, while I can't speak with absolutely certainty, I will use the next 5 years to grow myself as a detail oriented software engineering with focus on designs and cross team collaborations. I gave my availability for the next 7 days. I told him no. I'm at Google, and I've seen a few cases of people climbing to senior/staff quite fast (e. But my question is for much higher level roles (Staff/Principal/etc), expectations for these ICs are much larger than just say even a Senior candidate (whatever you think those titles mean) It’s an umbrella term for all titles higher than “senior software engineer”. Looking for mock interview prep for Staff. For experienced developers. I was wondering if anyone can tell me what are the steps in google’s software engineering interview (is there an OA? 665 votes, 106 comments. Dec 23, 2024 · Software Engineer Interview: “Googleyness” or “Googliness” is a quality that defines a Google employee or shows interviewers that you’re the right candidate for a Google interview. In the first interview I got the first question (linked list, LC medium) and follow ups correct. I hope it helps anyone preparing for a similar set of interviews! Microsoft Role: Senior Software Engineer (Azure) Hiring Quota: 5 spots available; My Demographics: White // Male // Millennial // 6 Years of Experience // US Citizen I have a non-IT Engineering background with a PhD, currently working as an MLOps Engineer (which is pretty much a DevOps role focused on ML workflow and Lifecycle). To give some context, I'm a Java Software Engineer with ~ 2 years of experience from Romania, worked at a couple of big companies, and I've recently changed my job to a Fortune500 company, so I'm pretty familiar with the corporate environment, however the economical and political climate of the country is troublesome, and I'm willing to move to another country in like a year or so and I've Apr 21, 2025 · Difficulty level of the interview depends on the level of software engineering role you are applying in Google. 5 days go by nothing. Practice solving problems exactly like interviews (i. I was shortlisted and interviewed in July 2024, but unfortunately, didn't get selected. They are a bit confused as they don’t see any calls for L3 currently at Google US, there’s a lot in Google India though. I think these are separate points, the first of which is true (there aren't a lot of software engineers making $300k+, at least compared to the industry as a while), while the second is not (you don't have to be that 10x At google you have a very high chance of being a web (or maybe mobile) full stack engineer. 4 /5 difficulty. Updated Dec 19, 2024. The interviews were always at least 4 hours long. Unless you have a PhD and 10 years or more of experience in the field (i. 5d. The general approach we take is: do a whiteboard interview to see if you like working with them and they have solid fundamentals for algorithms/data structures. Overall, I have DevOps and Data/AI experience. In the second question (2d array, graphs, LC medium) I messed up a few lines of code which is why I think they wanted a third interview. e. Also, not necessary if that interview will be last or in between. It's really not common. This is the level most engineers are at internally within Google. For candidates interviewing at technology companies, expect multistep interview processes that span weeks (four to six) and occasionally months. 3. After all, the major delta between a senior engineer and a staff engineer (assuming high bars for both of these levels) is the scope of their work. Account. I correctly answered the first interview question and explained my thought process/pseudo code for the follow up before running out of time. I stumbled through the second interview and approached it incorrectly at first, rerouted, and finally solved it with a hint from the interviewer. Group leader - Principal SDE - You influence the entire group of 12-80 engineers. Cracking the Coding Interview. Members Online This community should be specialized subreddit facilitating discussion amongst individuals who have gained some ground in the software engineering world. At my company we do coding tests for all levels of engineers, including staff engineers. I still have not heard anything official from them. Applied in October, aced the code signal, and they requested a first-round interview. If you're hiring for web designers? Probably! This idea that we should have a singular flow that serves to interview every vertical is part of the problem with the current system. Defining those ladders, loosely: 6+: maybe 1-in-6 of all engineers at a FAANG will ever make it here. I am confused with what to expect from the first round. Aside from that; it's hard to give a direct answer. I interviewed for Google SWE new grad 2022 position today and I want to share my thoughts. Normally Staff engineer means manager. Ideally, at the end of year 5, I aim to be a Senior Software Engineer. There's not actually that many software engineers making $300k+ (you have to be a mythical "10x engineer" with an IQ of 130). I interviewed in 2023 and all coding questions were leetcode hard, based on either graph algorithms, dynamic programming, intervals or some combination of these System design - DDIA is really good for general understanding of concepts but not so directed towards interviews. I have not touched data structures and algorithms in my 6 years of work experience. For example, “you are interviewing me for a senior software engineer position in react. senior in 2, staff in another 2-2. The virtual onsite interview was for the entire day with 1 behavioral and 4 technical You gun for the Google interview, that's the only thing you can do, practice interviewing at Google. Neetcode. Interview experience. I made 200+ flashcards to review everything from my years of ML research, classes, and independent study. I spent my entire winter break preparing for the interview. Ask me a question that would appear during a technical round. The recruiter was impressed with my profile, academics, a The interview for my current role (senior engineer) was an hour long interview that was some personal questions, career questions, technical questions and a very short coding exercise. For System Design (L5+, Senior + at most places), on top of knowing the material its super important to have a strategy and approach to them. Like it's too embarrassing to say "yo, I'm gonna learn this feature of CMAKE". Here's a detailed breakdown of my recent interview experience with Microsoft. Google interview process. This community should be specialized subreddit facilitating discussion amongst individuals who have gained some ground in the software engineering world. So it's more like a Senior Engineering Manager. I wrote a whole blog on this topic a couple months ago. you are coming in at a principal or staff engineering position), you will be going through the standard engineering interview process: First is a 30-45 minute phone screen with an engineer, intended to weed out the completely unqualified. It depends on a lot of other factors like the interviewer, for instance, in my second round, I frequently had to make the interviewer respond to make sure that he was still there and listening, and also, luck matters a lot in an interview. Sounds good. I interviewed two weeks ago for a software engineer product role. Something I've noticed as a manager is that engineers will often pass up on learning opportunities to satisfy sales/product/other managers. After going through the initial coding round I asked the recruiter to give me just over a month to prepare. Google will very likely ask about resolving conflict with manager, senior/staff engineer, teammate, etc. 5 years). true. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns. This is pretty true for most big tech companies. Interviews at Google. I also use ChatGPT to create me problems to solve. 172. Dec 19, 2024 · Google Staff Software Engineer interview questions. Narrowing the scope of technology companies, here's an in-depth look at Google's interview process for Software Engineers. Hey folks, long time lurker, first time poster! I have a tech screen coming up with Stripe next week for a mid-level Backend engineer role and I have been reading about their interview process. 7: 1-in-6 of 6s will ever make it here. My friend had his first interview as behavioral. I'm curious about the technical round and data pipeline designing interviews in your experience. If Google is similar, expect a blend of behavioral questions and situation-based coding exercises. My behavioral round got rescheduled, earlier it was scheduled as the 3rd interview in 5 onsite interviews, but the interviewer was unavailable, so my recruiter rescheduled it at the end. following every good habit of asking questions, writing pseudo code, dry run, double checking approach) because your brain falls into muscle memory zone during the interview. It was first technical, I was asked one easy question and one medium (dm if you want to know which ones). Second interview with other engineers (how much do I want to start my career as a software engineer), Third interview with the C-level user (how well fit I am with the company). I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. So, like a normal person I asked for 2 months to prepare. Writing Good Bullet Points: STAR/CAR/XYZ Methods. By this level, it's often the "how do I have bigger impact/expand my charter" rather than the tactical question of "how do I execute better" that many start to have trouble with. Nov 7, 2021 · Software Engineering Career. Comparing yourself to other people will drive you insane. Any posts or comments that are made by inexperienced individuals (outside of the weekly Ask thread) should be reported. We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us. Senior Engineering manager (E) == Staff engineer (IC). I would aim to have at least 75 LC problems (mostly medium level) in time for the phone interview. Honestly, don't worry about it. Previously I worked as a Data Engineer so I have a very good grasp of Data Architecture and Integration schemes. Instead, it should be a cross-org conflict or story about you convincing a VP/Director about your teams value, etc. kyhpguz qngxxr zav ebmp sobmn xxytxq ejz jmijlm zirrn xbzxr knib uzyuglm rszj hbewt yzpla