Google India L5

Applied via referral

Initially the recruiter shared invites for three coding rounds. There was no phone screen.

Round 1:
https://leetcode.com/problems/zero-array-transformation-i

This was the initial problem.
As a follow up I was asked what is the minimum number of queries to take from start using which the zero array transformation could be achieved.

Follow up problem link: https://leetcode.com/problems/zero-array-transformation-ii

Approach: I solved the initial problem quickly but didn't get the follow-up. The interviewer hinted at q log n approach which made me realize thinking about Binary search.

Verdict: Leaning No-hire

Round 2:

https://leetcode.com/problems/range-module/solutions/

The problem was similar to above but instead of finding if a range of numbers was present, I was asked to check if a number was present.

Approach: I gave the solution using traversing the set. The interviewer seemed satisfied although the feedback was of only Leaning hire

Verdict: Leaning Hire

Round 3:

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 in given order.

Approach: Used dp with memoization to solve the problem

Verdict: Leaning Hire

Currently I am getting signs from recruiter that I might be downleveled. I won't be going ahead with L4 as I am already SDE-2 at a good company with pay close to L4 google.

With two leaning hire and a leaning no-hire getting L5 isn't easy.

Hope this article helps!