Google - Senior Software Engineer | Bengaluru | April'25
Summary
I interviewed for a Senior Software Engineer role at Google in Bengaluru, which resulted in a rejection after two DSA rounds. Despite a negative outcome, I've gained valuable learning from the experience.
Full Experience
After sharing my SDE-2 interview experience at Amazon and Groww (and receiving some great feedback — thank you!), I thought I’d post another one — this time from a recent Google interview.
Hope you find it useful! As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback. Let’s dive in 👇
📌 Background B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from one of the Top 10 IITs
10 months at a large service-based MNC
3 years at a product-based company
Current Role: SDE-2 in a product-based company
🧠 Interview Timeline 📞 Initial Call Got a call in the first week of February from the recruiter. I was given one month to prepare.
🔁 Round 1 (Originally Scheduled on March 25th)
Type: DSA Round (45 mins)
Interviewer: Engineering Manager from Germany
Problem: A Quad Tree based image problem.
Given an image represented by a quad tree, where:
Leaf nodes can be black or white,
Black leaf = block of pixels are all black
White leaf = block of pixels are all white
Non-leaf nodes = gray
The task was to calculate the area of black pixels in the image.
The starter code was in Python, but I told him I preferred C++. He kindly offered to reschedule the round so I could be more comfortable with the setup. 🙌
💻 Round 1 (Rescheduled to April 2nd) Type: DSA Round (45 mins) Interviewer: Senior SDE from Europe
Problem: Given a 2D grid of 0s and 1s, find the area of the largest triangle formed by 1s. You had to count the number of 1s inside the triangle.
Example:
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1 0 0 0 0 0
1 0 1 1 1 0
0 0 1 1 0 0
0 0 1 0 0 1
1 0 0 0 1 1
Expected Answer: 6
I explained a BFS-based approach and began implementing it. After nearly completing the code, the interviewer asked if I could think of a different solution. I began exploring a DP-based approach, but time ran out before I could finish or dry-run my older bfs code.
🧾 Final Update A week later, the HR called to check in. I told her the round went “okayish.” Unfortunately, she informed me that the feedback was not positive.
Final Verdict: ❌ Rejection Rejection #11 in the past year 🥲 Proudly added to my growing “Hall of Fame: No Offer” wall 😂
Failures hurt — but every round adds to the learning curve. Onward and upward 🚀
Interview Questions (2)
Given an image represented by a quad tree, where: Leaf nodes can be black or white, Black leaf = block of pixels are all black, White leaf = block of pixels are all white, Non-leaf nodes = gray. The task was to calculate the area of black pixels in the image.
Given a 2D grid of 0s and 1s, find the area of the largest triangle formed by 1s. You had to count the number of 1s inside the triangle.
Example:
1 0 0 0 0 0
1 0 1 1 1 0
0 0 1 1 0 0
0 0 1 0 0 1
1 0 0 0 1 1
Expected Answer: 6