926 questions · from 298 interviews · 18 asked more than once
Google interview questions
Every question candidates reported from their Google interviews, most frequently asked first. Each links to the write-up it came from, so you can see the round and how it went.
Google coding and DSA questions
- 01
Find Triplet in Stream with Threshold
You’re given an endless stream of integers and a non-negative threshold d; your job is to pull off three numbers as soon as they “fit together,” meaning the difference between the smallest and largest of the three is at most d, discard those three so they…
Asked 3 times · From Google Early Career II (US) Onsite
- 02
Top K Frequent Elements
Given a non-empty integer array, return the k elements with the highest frequency. One solution is to use a HashMap to count frequencies and then maintain a min‑heap of size k. Another solution is to use bucket sort. The interviewer asked whether the time…
Medium · Asked 2 times · From Google R1 two-round interview experience
- 03
Shortest Time to Any Favorite City
Given graph of cities and time taken to travel between them. You have given source city A and list of favourite cities. Output the smallest time taken to reach any of the favourite cities from city A.
Asked 2 times · From Google L3 Interview Experience
- 04
Stack-Based Problem
A stack-based problem (LeetCode Medium) that required implementing a solution without follow-up questions. The problem involved using stack operations to solve a specific task.
Medium · Asked 2 times · From Google L4 | Interview Experience | India | Fullstack
- 05
Group Buddy Strings
Given an array of strings, I needed to group strings that are 'buddies' to each other. Two strings are considered buddies if they have equal length and each character has the same distance from its corresponding character (for example, 'aab' and 'bbc' are…
Asked 2 times · From Google | Interview Experience onsite | Rejected
- 06
BST Inorder Successor and Predecessor with Parent Pointer
Given a node in a Binary Search Tree (BST), find the next largest (inorder successor) and next smallest (inorder predecessor) node. It is guaranteed that these nodes always exist (i.e. the input node will never be the smallest or largest node in the BST). You…
Asked 2 times · From Google L3-L4 Question Compilation from Discussion
- 07
Move Pieces to Obtain a String
LeetCode problem: Move Pieces to Obtain a String.
Medium · Asked 2 times · From Google L3-L4 Question Compilation from Discussion
- 08
Merge Overlapping Intervals with Names
For given intervals inputs [from, to, name], return non-overlapping intervals [from, to, name(s)]. Example: Input [10, 100, David], [50, 150, Alex], [200, 300, Joe]. Output [10,50, David], [50, 100, (David, Alex)], [100, 150, Alex], [200, 300, Joe].
Asked 2 times · From Google L3-L4 Question Compilation from Discussion
- 09
Maximum Matching Prefix Between Files
Given multiple files (represented as arrays of strings/words), find the maximum length of a common prefix between any two files. Sample input: String[] file1 = {"hello", "world", "abc", "xyz"}; String[] file2 = {"hello", "world", "abc", "xyz1"}; String[]…
Medium · Asked 2 times · From Google L3-L4 Question Compilation from Discussion
- 10
Minimum Hand Raises on Piano
Given a piano where you can only use one hand to play. You will place your hand on the piano and can play the five keys. In order to play a key which is not in range you will have to raise your hand. Find the minimum number of hand raises to play all the keys…
Medium · Asked 2 times · From Google SWE III ML - L4 interview experience - May - 2025
- 11
Minimum Strokes to Paint Fence
Given a fence with different heights and width of 1 meter. Also given a brush with width 1 meter. I can colour the fence either horizontally and vertically with the brush in one stroke. Return the minimum amount of strokes needed to paint the fence input = 1…
Hard · Asked 2 times · From Google | L4 Bangalore | Reject
- 12
Validate Organic Molecule Structure
We define an organic molecule by a list of atoms, and a list of bonds between any two of them. For example, the following formaldehyde molecule: $H-C(-H)=O$ and is represented as atoms: {1: 'C', 2: 'H', 3: 'H', 4: 'O'} bonds: [[1, 2], [1, 3], [1, 4], [1, 4]].…
Medium · Asked 2 times · From Google New Grad Off Campus Interview Questions 2025 | India
- 13
Router Broadcast & Shut Down
Let's define a kind of message called "Broadcast & Shut Down." When a router receives this message, it broadcasts the same message to all other routers within its wireless range. Then, that router shuts down, and can no longer send or receive messages. For…
Hard · Asked 2 times · From Google L4 interview expereince
- 14
Merge Employee Shift Timeline
Given a list of employee shifts, each represented as [name, startTime, endTime] , build a merged timeline that breaks the overall time range into non‑overlapping segments. Each segment should list every employee who is on shift during that exact window.…
- 15
Satellite Image Grid - BFS / Flood Fill
Given an N x M grid representing a satellite image where X denotes land/islands and . denotes water, and a coordinate (r, c): - Part 1: Find and implement a BFS solution similar to the classic Number of Islands problem to determine the number of islands. -…
Medium · From Google L4 Interview Experience Date October 5th 2026
- 16
Count Number of Squares from Points
Given N points in the plane, count how many distinct squares can be formed using these points as vertices. Squares may be axis-aligned or rotated.
Hard · From L3 | Google | Chances
- 17
Rat's Safest Path
You are given an N x N grid where each cell is either land (1) or water (0). A rat starts at a given source cell (sx, sy) and must reach a target cell (tx, ty) by moving one step at a time in the four cardinal directions (up, down, left, right). A cat is…
- 18
Two Sum
Given an array of integers nums and an integer target, return indices of the two numbers such that they add up to target. You may assume that each input would have exactly one solution, and you may not use the same element twice. Return the answer in any…
Easy · From Google | L4 | Software Engineer | India | Aug 2026 | Reject
- 19
Count Squares from Points
Given N points, count the number of squares that can be formed, including rotated squares. The solution should handle any orientation of squares and avoid double‑counting the same square.
- 20
Maximum Good Subarray Pair Indices
Given an array, find any pair of indices {i, j} such that the subarray from i to j (inclusive) has the maximum good subarray sum as defined in the LeetCode problem "Maximum Good Subarray Sum". Instead of returning the sum, return the indices i and j.
From Google India L3 || Interview Experience || Offer Accepted
- 21
Equal Split of a/b String with Two Cuts
Given a string consisting only of the characters 'a' and 'b' where the total count of 'a' and the total count of 'b' are both even, you may make at most two cuts to divide the string into substrings that are distributed between Alice and Bob. The distribution…
From Google India L3 || Interview Experience || Offer Accepted
- 22
Array Split After Removing One Element
Given an array of integers, you may perform a single operation where you select any element and remove it from the array. After this removal, determine whether it is possible to partition the remaining array into two subarrays whose sums are equal.
From Google India L3 || Interview Experience || Offer Accepted
- 23
Longest Increasing Subsequence with Difference 1
Given an integer array, find the length of the longest increasing subsequence where the difference between consecutive elements is exactly 1.
- 24
Longest Increasing Subsequence with Difference up to d
Find the longest increasing subsequence where the difference between consecutive elements can be any integer from 1 to d.
- 25
Minimum Security Level to Reach a Node
Given a directed graph where each edge has a security level, find the minimum value S needed to travel from node u to node v. An edge can be traversed only if its security level is less than S.
687 more in the Google write-ups.
Google system design questions
- 01
Movie Recommendation System with Transitive Similarity
Design a movie recommendation system. Each movie has a title and a rating. If movie A is similar to movie B, and movie B is similar to movie C, we will also consider movie A as similar to movie C (transitive property). Given a movie from the list, return its…
Asked 2 times · From Google L3-L4 Question Compilation from Discussion
- 02
Ad Ranking System with Cool‑down
Design APIs insertAd(string content, int score) and getAd(). getAd() must always return the highest‑scored ad, decrease its score after returning, and ensure consecutive identical ads are not shown. A follow‑up requires introducing a cooldown period before…
From Google L4 | Banglore
- 03
Design multi‑task system for varying domains
How would you design a multi‑task system that handles varying domains? Constraints include limited resources, business pressure, and access to a new model from the Gemini team. Consider using golden datasets for evaluation, prompt enhancements instead of…
From Google | Hiring Manager Round | Gemini Applications | SWE III ML | Bengaluru
- 04
Develop or improve the model over time
How would you develop or improve the model over time?
From Google | Hiring Manager Round | Gemini Applications | SWE III ML | Bengaluru
- 05
Handling lack of additional data
What would you do if no additional data is available?
From Google | Hiring Manager Round | Gemini Applications | SWE III ML | Bengaluru
- 06
Implement a Rate Limiter
Design a rate limiter that can control the number of requests allowed over time. Discuss approaches like fixed window, sliding window, token bucket, and leaky bucket, and evaluate their trade‑offs.
From Google L5 Frontend Interview Experience (Bangalore) — Rejected
- 07
Design YouTube Closed Captioning System
Design a system that provides closed captioning for YouTube videos, covering high‑level architecture, data ingestion, storage, real‑time processing, and delivery to clients.
From Google L5 Frontend Interview Experience (Bangalore) — Rejected
- 08
URL Shortener Design with Unique Strings and Frequency Threshold
Design a class that generates unique strings to be used for URL shortening . Each generated string must follow the constraints below: Strings consist only of lowercase characters a-z . A threshold value T is provided. The frequency of any character in a…
From Google Interview L4
- 09
Google Maps Business Recommendation Feature Design
He then asked me to come up with a new feature for Google Maps in which we will show businesses the user would find interesting. I was supposed to come up with the Google platforms which could be used to do this and/or what features would be useful to make…
Hard · From Google Web Solutions Engineer | L3
- 10
- 11
Design Google Employee Cab Transportation Service
Design an end-to-end system for Google’s employee cab transportation service. The goal was to optimize cab allocation, routing, and scheduling in order to improve efficiency, reduce wait and travel time, and enhance the overall employee experience at scale.
Hard · From Google system design rounds
- 12
GetTotalCount with Concurrent API Calls
Implement the function "GetTotalCount(numdocs: int)", which returns the total number of words in documents with ID numbers in the range [0, numdocs). E.g. GetTotalCount(5) - words for docIds 0,1,2,3 and 4 return the sum of those words. Candidates have the…
- 13
Online Match-Making Algorithm (OOP Design)
Based on OOPs concepts Create an online match-making algorithm that receives players and dispatches a call to a game server when it finds players with close enough skill ratings to play against each other. Specifically, the candidate should create a class…
- 14
Optimize JSON Document Diff/Save
You are designing a JSON webpage viewer with the ability for users to save and load previously viewed JSON documents. The website sends/receives the complete state of the world from the webpage to the backend server on each update/save. The state of the world…
- 15
Design Search Autocomplete System
LeetCode problem: Design Search Autocomplete System.
Hard · From Google L3-L4 Question Compilation from Discussion
- 16
Callback Scheduler with Concurrent Calls
API that is responsible to calculate a callback function after relativetimestampinmills from the time of the call setCallBackHandler. void setCallBackHandler(int relativetimestampinmills); API that gives current system time in mills. int getSysTime(); You…
From Google SSE Interview
- 17
Email Retrieval and Ranking System Design
Given an email, a query, and user profile. Retrieve the relevant emails based on the query. The results should be ranked. Follow-up: Personalise the results based on user profile as well.
- 18
Collatz Sequence Scalable System Design
Design a scalable system for the Collatz sequence problem, handling overflows, and a low-level system design.
- 19
File System Total Space Consumption
On my disk, I have a file system. The file system contains files which have a known size and directories that either contain files or directories. And I want to know, given any point in this file system, what's the total space it's consuming as I got a bit…
Medium · From Google SWE III ML - L4 interview experience - May - 2025
- 20
Content Server Design with getContent() and addContent()
I was asked to design an content server and had to implement 2 APIs: getContent() and addContent(contentContent, contentScore) . getContent() should return content and reduce its score by 1. Also, we cannot return back the same content twice. The statement…
- 21
Design Library to Check 'Good' or 'Bad' Function
I had to design a library which can check whether a given function (which only takes in boolean parameter(s)) is a good or bad function. There was a condition given according to which we had to evaluate if it was good or bad. For completeness, I would mention…
- 22
Design Central Elevator Management System
1. you have x elevator and f floors. 2. commands will come in the form {timeStamp, controlpanelid, targetfloor}. 3. design central elevator management system
- 23
Image/Gifs/Video Hosting Platform (No Sign-up)
Design a small image/gifs/video hosting platform which does not require sign up.
From Google India - Sr Software Eng (L5) [Hired] | Interview Experience, Preparation Strategy and tips
- 24
File Chunk Management System
Given some chunks of files(1 to c), implement 3 functions: → join(user, vector ownedchunks) - Give the smallest missing positive number as userld to the user and store the given chunks under this user and return userId. → leave(userId) - Remove this user by…
Medium · From Google New Grad Off Campus Interview Questions 2025 | India
- 25
Order Book Design (Min Price, Max Timestamp)
There are sellers selling a product named "ABC". Every seller has their own price to sell this product for. You have to arrange the sellers in the orderbook based on the ascending order of the price and if the price is the same then based on the timestamp in…
Hard · From Google New Grad Off Campus Interview Questions 2025 | India
15 more in the Google write-ups.
Google behavioural and HR questions
- 01
Googlyness / Behavioral Questions
I think most of the questions I got are mentioned in this post by a fellow Leetcoder: https://leetcode.com/discuss/post/5963463/googlyness-frequently-asked-questions-by-55sh/
Asked 3 times · From Google (India) | L4 | 4YOE | Rejected
- 02
Googliness / Behavioral Interview
Focused on behavioral aspects — leadership, pressure handling, communication, and ethics.
Asked 3 times · From how i got into Google my full story - Part - 2
- 03
Positive Impact on Team
Share an experience where my actions or behavior positively influenced my team.
Asked 2 times · From Google Warsaw | SRE-2 | Offer
- 04
Most challenging project
What is the most challenging project you’ve worked on? Follow up: If you will see similar problem in future how will you approach it now?
- 05
Positive leadership style
Describe a positive leadership or managerial style you liked from one of your previous managers. How did it influence your work style?
- 06
Advocacy example
Tell me about a time you advocated for yourself or someone on your team.
- 07
Lead project proposal
Any project that you have lead and you have proposed it and how you worked on it.
- 08
Future learnings
What are new learnings that you will implement in yourself, so that you perform better in future.
- 09
Tell me about your experience
Tell me about your experience
From Google L3 Team Match — 2 weeks with no update. Is this normal?
- 10
How do you use AI in your work?
How do you use AI in your work?
From Google L3 Team Match — 2 weeks with no update. Is this normal?
- 11
What are you looking for in a manager?
What are you looking for in a manager?
From Google L3 Team Match — 2 weeks with no update. Is this normal?
- 12
Handling Credit Conflict
How would you handle a conflict where someone is taking credit for your work?
- 13
Prioritization and Multitasking
Standard questions on juggling multiple tasks and priorities.
- 14
Critical Feedback Experience
Have you ever given critical feedback to someone? How did they take it? What was the situation?
- 15
Technical Problem Example
Give an example of a challenging technical problem you faced recently. How did you solve it, and what was the result?
- 16
Handling Disagreement on Non‑Work Matter
How would you handle people who disagree with the majority decision on a non-work-related matter?
- 17
Reasonable vs Unreasonable Manager Demands
Tell me about a time when your manager set reasonable demands. Follow‑up: Describe a situation with unreasonable demands.
- 18
Conflict Resolution with Colleague or Manager
Describe a situation where you had a disagreement with a colleague or manager. How did you resolve the conflict, and what was the outcome?
- 19
Improving Underperforming Team Member
Describe a situation where you helped an underperforming team member improve.
- 20
Disagreement with a team member
Tell me about a time you disagreed with a team member and how you resolved it.
From Google Doesn't Just Want Answers, They Want Every Detail - My HR Round Breakdown
- 21
Deliver under tight deadline
Describe a situation where you had to deliver under a very tight deadline.
From Google Doesn't Just Want Answers, They Want Every Detail - My HR Round Breakdown
- 22
Project you are most proud of
Tell me about a project you are most proud of and why.
From Google Doesn't Just Want Answers, They Want Every Detail - My HR Round Breakdown
- 23
Handling critical feedback
How do you handle receiving critical feedback?
From Google Doesn't Just Want Answers, They Want Every Detail - My HR Round Breakdown
- 24
Ownership outside responsibility
Give an example of when you took ownership of a problem outside your responsibility.
From Google Doesn't Just Want Answers, They Want Every Detail - My HR Round Breakdown
- 25
Tell me about a time you failed (Behavioral)
Interviewers asked me to describe a situation where I failed, focusing on what I learned and how I handled it.
From Google L5 Frontend Interview Experience (Bangalore) — Rejected
135 more in the Google write-ups.
Google other questions
- 01
Extend Rhyme Scheme
Each poem has a Rhyme Scheme. Where the last words of each line are- Specialiazation (A) Location (A) Compile (B) Trial (B) Immolation (A) 3line poem-AAA, AAB, ABB, ABA, ABC. Write a function which takes a short rhyme scheme and a long rhyme scheme and if…
Medium · Asked 2 times · From Google New Grad Off Campus Interview Questions 2025 | India
- 02
Best Advertisement Selection Puzzle
You have two functions: F returns the 4 best advertisements for a user, while G returns the worst advertisement from any given set. You must devise a strategy to output the best advertisement using at most one call to each function. Provide a method that…
From Google | L4 | Software Engineer | India | Aug 2026 | Reject
- 03
Query Integer Array Classification
Given two array of integers, find out in which array a given query integer should lie.
- 04
Implement Swap Function for Two Numbers
How would you implement a function to swap two numbers?
Easy · From Google Software Development Intern 2026, Round-1(Question & Answer)
- 05
Priority Queue Implementation
The problem was based on Priority Queue (LeetCode Medium level). I first discussed my brute force and optimal approach, then implemented the optimal one.
Medium · From My Recent Google Interview Experience: University Graduate 2026
- 06
Graph-based Problem
The problem set was Graph-based. I solved both the main problem and the follow-up within the given time.
From My Recent Google Interview Experience: University Graduate 2026
- 07
Code Output Analysis for String Comparison
The interviewer provided a piece of code that compared characters from two strings. If characters did not match, it returned the index. I was asked to determine the expected output and name the function.
- 08
Difference between Substring and Subsequence
Explain the difference between a substring and a subsequence.
From Google SDE L3/L4 interview | Virtual Onsite II, III, IV | Taipei, Taiwan
- 09
C++ Node Merge Function Overloading/Signature Analysis
Interviewer asked language (cpp) specific questions. He wrote down these method signatures and asked multiple questions around the same: 1. Node Merge(const Node& n1, const Node& n2) 2. Node Merge(const Node n1, const Node n2) 3. Node Merge(const Node n1,…
- 10
Simplify Algebraic Equation
You should simplify an algebraic equation given like string $Ex: (a-b)+(b-c)=a-c$
Hard · From Google New Grad Off Campus Interview Questions 2025 | India
- 11
Internal Working of Hash-map
Discussed the internal mechanisms and working principles of a hash-map data structure.
- 12
FCFS Job Scheduling
Given a list of jobs, with their arrival time and execution time, return the sequence of execution and the starting time of each job, on a First Come First Serve(FCFS) basis. Follow up question: If priority is associated with each job, how will the algo…
Medium · From Google | Interview Experience | SE - Full Stack | Virtual Interview
- 13
Design a Survey
How would you design a survey, considering statistical principles and potential biases? This question was mostly statistics-based.
- 14
Count Computers on a Network
I am sitting on a computer (Main-computer) on a network. The network has a few computers, connected directly or indirectly to me. Each computer has a 'unique' string identifying it (like MAC address), but for simplicity, these MAC addresses can be assumed to…
Hard · From Google | L3 | On-site | Bangalore | Offer
Google interview questions FAQ
What questions are asked in Google interviews?
Candidates reported 926 distinct questions across 298 Google interviews. 712 coding and DSA questions, 40 system design questions, 160 behavioural and HR questions, 14 other questions.
Which Google interview questions are asked most often?
The most repeated are "Find Triplet in Stream with Threshold" (3 times), "Googlyness / Behavioral Questions" (3 times), "Googliness / Behavioral Interview" (3 times), "Top K Frequent Elements" (2 times), "Shortest Time to Any Favorite City" (2 times).
How difficult are Google interview questions?
Of the questions candidates rated, 8% were easy, 52% medium and 41% hard.