Google L5 screening : Reject
Summary
I completed a screening interview at Google that included a DSA round and a Googliness round, but I was ultimately rejected.
Full Experience
I recently got a call directly from a recruiter at Google since I had interviewed with them in the past (and declined an offer back then).
This was a screening stage with:
1 DSA round 1 Googliness round Followed by onsite rounds (if cleared)
Round 1: DSA
Problem:
A user has a faulty keyboard where some keys get stuck, causing characters to repeat more than intended.
Given a dictionary of valid words, return all possible words the user intended to type.
Approach:
Built a Trie from the dictionary Used backtracking to explore valid matches by collapsing repeated characters
The idea was:
Treat repeated characters as a flexible match (e.g., "heeellooo" → "hello") Traverse the Trie while deciding whether to: Consume multiple same chars Or move forward
Verdict: Rejected
Reason:
I solved the main problem But the interviewer wanted to go deeper with follow-ups Unfortunately, we ran out of time before that
Solving the base problem is not enough — always leave time for follow-ups
Round 2: Googliness
Question:
Give an instance of self-improvement
I talked about a real example from my experience where I: Identified a gap Took structured steps to improve Measured the impact
Verdict: Hire
Overall: Rejected
Interview Questions (2)
Faulty Keyboard Word Reconstruction
A user has a faulty keyboard where some keys get stuck, causing characters to repeat more than intended. Given a dictionary of valid words, return all possible words the user intended to type.
Approach used:
- Built a Trie from the dictionary.
- Used backtracking to explore valid matches by collapsing repeated characters.
- Treated repeated characters as a flexible match (e.g., "heeellooo" → "hello").
- Traversed the Trie while deciding whether to consume multiple same chars or move forward.
Self-Improvement Instance
Give an instance of self-improvement.