Google Phone Screening Round Interview Experience [India]

I recently had the incredible opportunity to interview for a Software Engineer role at Google India, Bangalore. My journey began when a recruiter reached out via email regarding an open position. Being an aspiring FAANG candidate, I quickly responded with my updated CV and scheduled an introductory call.

The recruiter call, conducted over Google Meet, lasted about 20 minutes. We discussed my resume, focusing on my full-time experience and frontend-heavy skill set. The recruiter then detailed the interview process, emphasizing that all rounds would be DSA-focused, not domain-specific.

Initially, I was offered two weeks to prepare, but I requested three weeks as I needed to start from scratch with DSA, having primarily worked on frontend technologies.

For my first phone screen interview, I was asked a problem similar to "Generate Parentheses". Luckily, I had practiced this backtracking problem before. However, due to a lack of interview experience and confidence in backtracking, I second-guessed my approach and couldn’t complete the code within the allotted time.

An important note: Google's coding interview platform is a blank page without auto-suggestions, syntax highlighting, or debugging tools. Being comfortable coding in a plain text environment is crucial, and something I need to improve on.

Currently, I'm in the waiting phase for feedback, fingers crossed!

My Key Takeaways:

• Confidence matters: Even with a known solution, self-doubt can hinder performance.
• Time management: Practicing under timed conditions is essential.
• Clear communication: Articulating my thought process effectively is vital.
• Plain text coding: I need to get comfortable coding without IDE features.

Regardless of the outcome, this experience has been a valuable learning opportunity, and I'm committed to continuous improvement.