Google - L4 SWE III - phone screen - Zurich
Summary
I had a phone screen with Google for the L4 SWE III role in Zurich. The interview focused on a merge interval problem, similar to LeetCode #56, but with a unique twist. Despite my best efforts, I performed poorly. However, I wanted to share the question type to help others prepare.
Full Experience
Today I had a phone screen with Google for the L4 SWE III role in Zurich. The interview was a single coding problem, which was similar to LeetCode #56, the merge intervals problem. However, there was a unique twist to the problem that made it more challenging. I rephrased the problem using GPT to avoid any conflict with Google's NDA. I performed very badly during the interview, but I wanted to share the question type so that others can use it for preparation.
Interview Questions (1)
Input: N, then N lines of c r.
Each pair blocks the closed interval [c-r, c-r] on [0, ∞).
Output: all maximal uncovered gaps in increasing order as a b; use -1 for +∞.
Notes: intervals are closed (touching ⇒ no gap); blocks may start < 0; include the gap from 0 if any.