Google Onsites L4 | India
Summary
I interviewed for an L4 SDE position at Google in India, completing a phone screen and three onsite rounds. While I solved most problems, I have mixed feelings about the outcome, especially after struggling with a follow-up question, and I'm not expecting positive feedback.
Full Experience
Hi, I appeared for the 3 onsite rounds for L4 position. Currently working as an SDE 2 at Amazon.
Phone Screen: Oncall schedule problem. Given a list of items {name, startTime, endTime} find out the oncall schedule.
Experience: Solved it but I took my sweet time. So, I think I got "bad-positive" rating.
Anyways, moved to the onsites.
Onsite R1: Similar to range module question. The difference is: support only union queries, search queries but for a number rather than a range
Experience: Solved it. Interviewer pointed a bug and I fixed it immediately. He asked if the run-time analysis is going to be same after fixing the same. I verified and said yes. But, not sure, if that was the answer he was looking for. Expecting LH / LNH here.
Onsite R2: Swap adjacent in LR string but worded differently.
Experience: Solved it. Interviewer asked me to write some corner cases I can think of. Wrote a few. Then he said he was done with the questions. I asked him if there will not be any follow-ups / another question but he said he had prepared only 1. Expecting H here (I might be feeling ambitious though.)
Onsite R3: Given edges and a list of vertices, find all the nodes that you can go to from the given vertex.
Follow up 1: What if there are redundant searches. Follow up 2: Given a list of vertices return only the minimum set of vertices that you need in a way that using those you can traverse the rest of nodes from your input list.
Experience: Solved Q1 and the first follow up. For the second approach, interviewer gave me a hint but I couldn't catch it. Also, they were rushing me to arrive at a solution. So couldn't answer this.
They said that Google has the smartest bunch compared to companies like Amazon or Apple. So I have a feeling that they might be thinking that I am not smart enough / cut for google. So might not be receiving a positive feedback. Expecting LNH.
Googlyness was not yet scheduled. I am not expecting anything either for some reason.
Hoping for the best.
Thanks and good luck guys!
Interview Questions (6)
Given a list of items {name, startTime, endTime} find out the oncall schedule.
Similar to range module question. The difference is: support only union queries, search queries but for a number rather than a range
Swap adjacent in LR string but worded differently.
Given edges and a list of vertices, find all the nodes that you can go to from the given vertex.
What if there are redundant searches.
Given a list of vertices return only the minimum set of vertices that you need in a way that using those you can traverse the rest of nodes from your input list.