Google Software Engineer Interview (Questions, Process, Prep)

We’ve gathered insights from ex-Google PM interviewers on our platform, successful candidates we've worked with, hundreds of reports from Google candidates on Glassdoor, as well as information from official Google sources, in order to put together this guide.

And by the way, Graphs and Trees questions are the most common type of Google coding interview questions, so you’ll want to make sure that you’re ready for them.  

Below you’ll find a detailed overview of the interview process, example Google interview questions, how to answer, and a preparation plan.

Let’s get started.

Here's an overview of what we'll cover:

• Role and Salary
• Process and Timeline
• Example Google Interview Questions
  • Coding Interview
  • System Design Interview
  • Leadership Interview
• Interviewing Tips
• Preparation Plan

Note that we have separate guides for Google engineering managers, data engineers, and machine learning software engineers, so take a look at those articles if they are more relevant to you.

Click here to practice 1-on-1 with ex-Google SWE interviewers

1. Role and Salary ↑

Before we dive into the interview process and questions, let’s quickly cover some basics about the role you’re applying for.

1.1 What Does a Google Software Engineer Do?

The software engineer position at Google stands out from SWE roles at other FAANG companies in two key ways:
 

First, Google’s software engineering processes are more cautious than they are at a “Move fast” environment such as Meta. You first have to present your idea in a design review and have it approved before you can start working. This often means it takes longer to get things done, but ensures a high-quality product.

“The quality of a product is better in Google than Meta. It’s mainly due to the slow processes, urging engineers to obey strict processes. With the amazing test coverages, more than enough comments, internal documentations, cautious approval processes, it’s very hard to break production.”

                        - Mary Zhang, Google SWE
 

Second, the tools available to you at Google and the standard of coding are second to none. The success of Google as an organization is driven by its strong engineering culture and being a part of that is considered to be a career pinnacle for many engineers. 

That also means it’s probably the hardest FAANG company to interview for. But don’t worry, follow the advice in this article and you can give yourself an excellent chance.

1.2 Google Software Engineer Salary and Compensation

A great salary is probaby one of the reasons you're interested in working at Google, so let's take a look at how much you could potentially earn.

Google Software Engineers make 44% higher than the average salary of other software engineers in the US, according to Glassdoor.  

Here are the average salaries and compensations for the different software engineer levels at Google. This is based on the reported data from Levels.fyi.

 

Compensation mainly depends on two key factors: location and level. 

Location: Google SWEs make 70.5% higher than their counterparts in India. This is based on computations from Levels.fyi data. 

Level: The base salary and total compensation go up with each SWE level. Its entry-level position salary is actually the highest among the FAANG companies. But when it comes to L8, Google’s annual salary is surpassed by Meta and Amazon. 

If you’re unsure what level you’re being considered for, ask your recruiter. 

And remember, compensation packages are always negotiable, even at Google. So if you do get an offer, don’t be afraid to ask for more. Use this Google offer negotiation guide to help you.

2. Interview Process and Timeline ↑

2.1 What interviews to expect

What's the Google software engineering interview process and timeline? It usually takes more than eight weeks and follows these steps:

1. Resume, cover letter, and referrals
2. Online assessment (new graduates and interns only)
3. Technical phone screen: one to two interviews
4. Onsite interviews: four to six interviews

Note that the exact process varies slightly from position to position. Your recruiter will send you a PDF at the beginning of the process which details what interviews you can expect. Here are a few example PDFs you might receive: software engineer, engineering manager, and front-end mobile engineer.

2.1.1 Resume screening

First, recruiters will look at your resume and assess if your experience matches the open position. This is the most competitive step in the process—we’ve found that ~90% of candidates don’t make it past this stage.

So take extra care to tailor your resume to the specific position you're applying to (see our tech resume guide and examples).

If you’re looking for expert feedback, get input from our team of ex-FAANG recruiters, who will cover what achievements to focus on (or ignore), how to fine tune your bullet points, and more.

2.1.2 Google online assessment (90 minutes) - new graduates and interns only

If you're applying for a new graduate or intern position your process will often start with a coding sample test to take online. The coding sample includes two questions that you have to complete in less than 90 minutes in total.

The questions are similar to the ones you'll be asked in your interviews (i.e. data structures and algorithms). Note that you'll need to write your own test cases as you won't be provided with any. You can do that in your own IDE before submitting your solution. To pass to the next round you usually need to solve both of the questions correctly.

Check out the archives of coding competitions Google organizes to get an idea of the type of questions you'll come across. We recommend looking at the Code Jam competition in particular. Leetcode also maintains a thread on what questions to expect in Google's sample coding test. You can also find a list of preparation tips in our Google online assessment guide.

2.1.3 Technical phone screen

If you're an experienced hire, or if you are a new graduate who has passed the coding sample test, you'll be invited to one or two technical phone screens. This step is called the "phone screen", but most of the time it takes place over video chat on Google Hangouts / Google Meet. Each interview will last 30 to 60 minutes. You'll speak to a peer or a potential manager and they'll ask you to solve data structure and algorithm questions.

You'll share a Google Doc with your interviewer, write your solution directly in the document and won't have access to syntax highlighting or auto-completion like you would in a regular IDE. It's therefore a good idea to practice writing code in Google Docs before your interview.

Finally, in addition to coding questions, you should also be ready to answer a few typical behavioral questions including "Tell me about yourself," "Why Google?" or, "Tell me about a recent project you worked on." These questions are less frequent than they are in engineering interviews at Facebook or Amazon but it's still a good idea to think through the main ones ahead of time.

2.1.4 Onsite interviews

Onsite interviews are the real test. You'll typically spend a full day at a Google office and do four to six interviews in total. Each interview will last about 45 minutes and cover one of the following topics:

• Coding interviews
• System design interviews (Level 5 and above)
• Leadership interviews (management positions only)

You'll typically get three coding interviews with data structure and algorithm questions, and one or two system design interviews if you're level 5 or above. If you're applying for a leadership role like the engineering manager position, you'll be given the option to choose between coding and code review for your technical round.

For more information about the Google system design interview, take a look at our complete guide.

You'll use a whiteboard to write your code in most onsite interviews at Google. But the company has also started offering Chromebooks for coding interviews at some locations. These laptops come with an interview app that lets you choose the coding language you want to use.

In addition, if you're applying for a management position (e.g. Engineering Manager) then you'll also have leadership interviews where you'll be asked behavioral questions about leading teams and projects.

Finally, in addition to interviews, you'll also have lunch with a fellow engineer while you are onsite. The lunch interview is meant to be your time to ask questions about what it's like to work at Google. The company won't be evaluating you during this time, but we recommend that you behave as if they are.

2.2 What exactly is Google looking for?

 

2.3 What happens behind the scenes

3. Google Software Engineer Interview Questions ↑

We believe in data-driven interview preparation and have used Glassdoor data to identify the types of questions which are most frequently asked at Google.

For coding interviews, we've broken down the questions you'll be asked by subcategories (e.g. Arrays / Strings , Graphs / Trees , etc.) so that you can prioritize what to study and practice first. For system design and behavioral questions, we've listed questions that were frequently reported on Glassdoor and other resources.

3.1 Google coding interview questions

Google software engineers solve some of the most difficult problems the company faces with code. It's therefore essential that they have strong problem-solving skills. This is the part of the interview where you want to show that you think in a structured way and write code that's accurate, bug-free, and fast.

Here are the most common question types asked in Google coding interviews and their frequency. Please note the list below excludes system design and behavioral questions, which we'll cover later in this article.

1. Graphs / Trees (39% of questions, most frequent)
2. Arrays / Strings (26%)
3. Dynamic programming (12%)
4. Recursion (12%)
5. Geometry / Maths (11% of questions, least frequent)

Below, we've listed common examples used at Google for each of these different question types. To make these questions easier to study, we've modified the phrasing to match the closest problem on Leetcode or another resource, and we've linked to a free solution.

Finally, we recommend reading this guide on how to answer coding interview questions and practicing with this list of coding interview examples in addition to those listed below.

3.2 System design interview questions

Google Search, GMail, Google Docs, Android, and YouTube all have 1bn+ monthly active users. Google engineers therefore need to be able to design systems that are highly scalable and performant.

The coding questions we've covered above usually have a single optimal solution. But the system design questions you'll be asked are typically more open-ended and feel more like a conversation.

This is the part of the interview where you want to show that you can both be creative and structured at the same time. In most cases, your interviewer will adapt the question to your background. For instance, if you've worked on an API product they'll ask you to design an API. But that won't always be the case so you should be ready to design any type of product or system at a high level.

For certain roles (e.g. infrastructure, security, etc.) you will likely have several system design interviews instead of just one.

Here are the most common system design questions asked in the Google interview reports which can be found on Glassdoor. For more information, we recommend reading our list of common system design questions.

3.3 Leadership interview questions

All candidates should be prepared to answer standard behavioral questions in their interviews (e.g. "Tell me about yourself", "Why Google", etc.) These questions tend to be asked as an ice-breaker at the beginning of coding and system design interviews.

In addition, if you're interviewing for management or senior positions (e.g. engineering manager) you'll also usually have leadership interviews where you'll be assessed on your ability to lead people and projects.

People management interviews tend to dive into how you would support and grow your team. You should expect questions about your approach to developing and retaining team members, your ability to lead teams through difficult situations, and why you think Google is the right culture for you.

Project management interviews tend to dive into how you would effectively lead projects end-to-end. You should expect questions about your overall project management philosophy, your ability to deal with complex and ambiguous situations, and your experience delivering results.

You'll be asked a mix of behavioral questions and hypothetical questions. Behavioral questions are about how you handled certain circumstances in the past. For instance, "Tell me about a time you lead a team through a difficult situation" is a behavioral question. Hypothetical questions are about how you would handle a hypothetical situation. For instance, "How would you build a diverse and inclusive team" is a hypothetical question.

We've listed five standard non-coding interview questions that Google tends to ask to all software engineers below, and an additional 20 you should prepare for if you're targeting a management or senior position. For more information, check out our article on how to answer behavioral interview questions and the "Why Google?" question.

To read example answers to typical behavioral questions for SWEs at Google, see our guide to Google interview questions.

4. Google Interviewing Tips ↑

You might be a fantastic software engineer, but unfortunately, that’s not necessarily enough to ace your interviews at Google. Interviewing is a skill in itself that you need to learn. 

Let’s look at some key tips to make sure you approach your interviews in the right way.  

4.1 Ask clarifying questions

Often, the questions you’ll be asked will be ambiguous, so make sure you ask questions that can help you clarify and understand the problem. 

4.2 Think out loud

You need to walk your interviewer through your thought process before you actually start coding or designing a system.  Your interviewer may give you hints about whether you’re on the right track or not. 

4.3 State and check assumptions

You need to explicitly state assumptions and check with your interviewer to see if those assumptions are reasonable. 

4.4 Be honest and authentic

Be genuine in your responses. Google interviewers appreciate authenticity and honesty. If you faced challenges or setbacks, discuss how you improved and learned from them.

4.5 Center on Google’s values

Familiarize yourself with Google’s core values and align your behavioral responses with them. Google values certain attributes such as passion for technology, collaboration, and focus on the user.

4.6 Practice system design

Even more than with coding problems, answering system design questions is a skill in itself. You should start with a high-level design and then drill down on the system component of the design. Use our Google system design interview guide to prepare. 

4.7 Brute force, then iterate.

When coding, don’t necessarily go for the perfect solution straight away. Google recommends that you first try and find a solution that works as quickly as you can, then iterate to refine your answer.

4.8 Get comfortable with coding on various mediums

Google now typically asks interviewees to code in a Google doc. But this can vary, it could be on a physical whiteboard or a virtual one. Check with your recruiter what it will be and practice it a lot. 

The key is to keep your code organized so your interviewer won’t have a hard time understanding what you’ve written. 

4.9 Master at least one of the recommended programming languages

You will be asked to code so make sure you’ve mastered at least one programming language. Google recommends these languages: C++, C, Python, Java, or Go. 

5. How to Prepare ↑

Now that you know what questions to expect, let's focus on how to prepare. Here are the four most important things you can do to prepare for Google's software engineer interviews.

5.1 Learn about Google's culture

Most candidates fail to do this. But before investing tens of hours preparing for an interview at Google, you should take some time to make sure it's actually the right company for you.

Google is prestigious and it's therefore tempting to assume that you should apply, without considering things more carefully. But, it's important to remember that the prestige of a job (by itself) won't make you happy in your day-to-day work. It's the type of work and the people you work with that will.

If you know engineers who work at Google or used to work there it's a good idea to talk to them to understand what the culture is like. In addition, we would recommend reading the following resources:

• Google's mission statement (by Google)
• Google's values (by Google)
• Google strategy teardown (by CBS Insights)

5.2 Practice by yourself

As mentioned above, you'll have to answer three types of questions at Google: coding, system design, and behavioral. The first step of your preparation should be to brush up on these different types of questions and to practice answering them by yourself.

For coding interviews, we recommend getting used to the step-by-step approach hinted at by Google in the video below.

Here's a summary of the approach:

1. Ask clarification questions to make sure you understand the problem correctly
2. Discuss any assumptions you're planning to make to solve the problem
3. Analyze various solutions and tradeoffs before starting to code
4. Plan and implement your solution
5. Test your solution, including corner and edge cases

To practice solving questions we recommend using our articles, 73 data structure questions and 71 algorithms questions, which have links to high quality answers to each problem. They are organized by type of data structure or algorithm as well as by difficulty level. Don't forget to practice on a whiteboard or Google Doc instead of in an editor.

For the rest of your coding preparation, we recommend using our coding interview prep article as your one-stop shop. It has a 7-step preparation plan and links to the best resources.

For system design interviews, we recommend studying our system design interview guide and learning how to answer system design interview questions. These guides cover a step-by-step method for answering system design questions, and they provide several example questions with solutions. 

For behavioral interviews, we recommend learning our step-by-step method to answer this type of question and then practicing the most common software engineer behavioral interview questions.

Finally, a great way to improve your communication for coding, system design, and behavioral questions, is to interview yourself out loud. This may sound strange, but it can significantly improve the way you communicate your answers during an interview.

But by yourself, you can’t simulate thinking on your feet or the pressure of performing in front of a stranger. Plus, there are no unexpected follow-up questions and no feedback.

That’s why many candidates try to practice with friends or peers.

5.3 Practice with peers

If you have friends or peers who can do mock interviews with you, that's an option worth trying. It’s free, but be warned, you may come up against the following problems:

• It’s hard to know if the feedback you get is accurate
• They’re unlikely to have insider knowledge of interviews at your target company
• On peer platforms, people often waste your time by not showing up

For those reasons, many candidates skip peer mock interviews and go straight to mock interviews with an expert. 

5.4 Practice with experienced SWE interviewers

In our experience, practicing real interviews with experts who can give you company-specific feedback makes a huge difference.

Find a Google software engineer interview coach so you can:

• Test yourself under real interview conditions
• Get accurate feedback from a real expert
• Build your confidence
• Get company-specific insights
• Learn how to tell the right stories, better.
• Save time by focusing your preparation

Landing a job at a big tech company often results in a $50,000 per year or more increase in total compensation. In our experience, three or four coaching sessions worth ~$500 make a significant difference in your ability to land the job. That’s an ROI of 100x!