Google L4 Interview || Reject
Summary
I interviewed for an L4 role at Google in Bengaluru, completed four rounds (two online and two onsite), but was ultimately rejected.
Full Experience
Google L4 Interview
Location : Bengaluru Role : L4 YOE : 2.9 yrs
Round 1 :
Standard Topo Sort Question very similar to the below problems.
Question 1 : https://leetcode.com/problems/course-schedule/description/ Question 2 : https://leetcode.com/problems/course-schedule-ii/description/
Round 2 :
Standard Behavioral questions. The below link helped me a lot. Hope this helps you too.
https://leetcode.com/discuss/post/5963463/googlyness-frequently-asked-questions-by-55sh/
The recruiter reached out to me in mid March. My R1 and R2 were scheduled after 1 month. 3 days after my R2, my recruiter reached out to me again and she said the response is +ve and she would like to move ahead with the next rounds.
Round 3 [Onsite]
A question very similar to designing LFU cache was asked. The only difference was there were changes in key-value eviction property. Keys were numbers. Values were in the format [ Content : String, Score : INT]. Once we have accessed a key-value pair, the score was supposed to increase by 1. While evicting I need to follow the standard pattern but I was supposed to evict only those values whose score was even.
Round 4 [Onsite]
I have already explained the question here. Please do checkout this link.
https://leetcode.com/discuss/post/8218498/google-l4-in-person-interview-by-anonymo-eqbq/
Result :
Though I was expecting a positive response, the recruiter told me after considering the feedback from all the rounds, she can't move ahead with my applicaiton. My round 3 went excellent but when I asked her what went wrong in R3 and R4 she said, in R3 I wasn't able to consider all the edge cases and didn't make proper use of Classes.
Please do upvote this if you think it might help you or someone else.
Interview Questions (3)
Course Schedule
Given the total number of courses and a list of prerequisite pairs, determine if it is possible to finish all courses. This is a classic topological sort problem.
Course Schedule II
Given the total number of courses and a list of prerequisite pairs, return an ordering of courses you can take to finish all courses. If there are multiple valid orderings, any is acceptable. This extends the topological sort problem.
Modified LFU Cache with Even Score Eviction
Design a cache where each entry has a numeric key and a value consisting of a string content and an integer score. Accessing a key increments its score by 1. When eviction is required, follow LFU policy but evict only entries whose score is even.
Preparation Tips
I prepared by reviewing standard topological sort problems (Course Schedule and Course Schedule II) and studying behavioral interview guides such as the linked LeetCode discuss post.