Google L4 Interview Experience Date October 5th 2026

Google L4 SWE Interview Experience - Rejected After Technical and Googliness Rounds (October 2026)

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share my recent Google L4 SWE interview experience and get some feedback from the community.

Interview Timeline

• September 2026: Connected with a recruiter for an L4 SWE position.
• Completed the GHA and coding assessment and was shortlisted.
• October 5, 2026: Attended the virtual technical and Googliness interviews.
• Final result: Rejected.

Technical Interview - Grid / BFS / Flood Fill

The problem involved a satellite image represented as an N × M grid, where:

• X represents land/islands.
• . represents water.
• A coordinate (r, c) is provided.

Part 1: I proposed a BFS approach similar to Number of Islands. The interviewer confirmed that my approach was correct and asked me to implement it. I completed the code.

Part 2: The follow-up was related to identifying/counting lakes enclosed by islands.

I found the follow-up question difficult to understand. I asked for clarification multiple times, but the interviewer mostly nodded and repeated the explanation in a similar way. I didn't receive any specific hints that helped clarify what was expected.

Based on my understanding, I proposed checking for lakes while traversing the islands using BFS.

The interviewer said, "Yes, we can also do it that way," but mentioned that there was no need to implement the code and moved to the Q&A portion.

I later realized that the problem may have involved a boundary-based flood-fill approach, although I'm still not completely sure what the interviewer expected.

Googliness Round

I was asked standard behavioral questions with follow-ups.

One question I struggled with was:

"If a project is unclear or there is ambiguity, how would you handle it?"

I couldn't structure my response properly. I stumbled over my words and went in a different direction instead of answering the question clearly.

I recognize that I could have communicated my approach better in this round.

Final Feedback

Unfortunately, I received a rejection.

The recruiter mentioned that I needed to strengthen my technical concepts and practice more LeetCode problems.

My Thoughts

I'm a little confused about the technical feedback because:

• My Part 1 BFS approach and implementation were accepted.
• For Part 2, I struggled to understand the question despite asking for clarification.
• The interviewer acknowledged that my proposed approach could work but didn't ask me to implement it.
• I also recognize that my communication during one Googliness question could have been better.

I understand that an accepted approach doesn't necessarily mean the overall interview met the L4 bar.

Has anyone experienced something similar in a Google L4 interview? How much do ambiguous follow-ups, incomplete implementation of Part 2, and communication during Googliness affect the final decision?

I'd appreciate any feedback or suggestions for improving before my next attempt.

All the best for your interview !!!