Overview

I was approached by a recruiter for an L4 position at Google India. After discussing the process and location options, a phone screening was scheduled for me. I had been grinding LeetCode for about a month, and the interview went smoothly—I coded the follow-up well within time and even had some time left for chit-chat. I felt confident I’d be called for onsites soon.

However, I was met with radio silence for almost 3 months.

After 3 months, the recruiter reached out saying they had “missed” giving me feedback earlier. They told me it was a Strong Hire and invited me to proceed with onsites. They gave me a little over 3 weeks, saying the position might close soon, so the process needed to be wrapped up quickly. I agreed, and 3 onsite rounds were scheduled across consecutive days.

The first onsite didn’t go very well, as I rushed through the solution. The recruiter later told me the interviewer had flagged missed test cases and asked me to be more careful in the next rounds.

The second onsite didn’t even happen—the interviewer didn’t show up. When I contacted the recruiter, they promised to reschedule.

The third onsite did happen and went very well—I solved everything optimally, including the follow-up. Feedback was positive, which gave me some hope.

But the rescheduled second onsite was a disaster: the interviewer didn’t show up again. It got rescheduled twice more, and both times the interviewer didn’t show up. After three no-shows, I was frustrated and asked for a break before trying again.

Finally, the second onsite happened after three reschedules. It was tough—I couldn’t complete the follow-up, though the interviewer assured me completion wasn’t expected. I was doubtful about feedback, but the interviewer appreciated my critical thinking and gave positive feedback.

Then came the G/L round, which went average. I stumbled on a question about handling cultural diversity and couldn’t give a strong example. Feedback: Lean Hire.

Next, I went through Hiring Manager / Team Matching rounds, which both went very well. I matched with two teams, and both managers gave positive feedback. After the first HM round, the recruiter even told me my packet was “very good” and ready for the Hiring Committee (HC).

HC, however, flagged concerns about my first coding round and suggested another round for certainty.

I did the additional coding round and it went well. I coded the follow-ups on time, and we even discussed some Java intricacies afterward. The recruiter told me feedback was positive.

When I asked about my chances, the recruiter replied: “100%—we’ll close the offer next week.”

But from here things went downhill. No updates for over a week, then suddenly I was told my packet had been down-leveled to L3. I asked if I could do more rounds to bring it back to L4, but got no response. After a month of silence, I finally received a rejection email.

This entire experience left me physically and emotionally drained—so much so that I delayed writing this post for almost a year and a half. The lesson: until the offer is in your hands, don’t get your hopes up when interviewing at Google.