The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Google (New York, NY) in May 2010
Interview
Took ages after I applied, but they finally contacted me and set up a phone interview. There was a very nice guy who sort of coordinated the whole process online. I spent a lot of time studying, thinking about product design, reading about the company and its competitors. The phone interview was mainly about product design, which google products do I like and why, And some questions about my background, like what work was I most proud of. Then I was invited for an on-site interview. I did a lot of studying again, to be able to talk about basic computer science concepts and algorithms. There were four interviewers and one lunch buddy who provided a more informal interview. Everyone was extremely nice, and very interesting. The questions were some of the typical ones (testing ability to estimate values) and some more product design ones. The engineer interview was fun, we talked about data.
But, I didn't get an offer, and I was very disappointed I still really enjoyed the experience and found it very interesting and positive.
Interview questions [2]
Question 1
Describe a website that you think doesn't work well, why don't you like it, how would you improve it.
The process was straightforward and moved quickly. After applying online, a recruiter reached out within a few days for a brief phone screen. That was followed by two video interviews, one with the hiring manager and one with a panel of team members focused on project planning and stakeholder communication. The whole thing wrapped up in about two weeks, and the team was responsive and clear about next steps throughout.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
I walked through a specific project where a key vendor delivery slipped. I explained how I flagged the risk early in our weekly status review, reset expectations with stakeholders, re-sequenced dependent tasks, and brought the timeline back within an acceptable range by negotiating a partial early delivery.
standard 1st round digital interview, they are asking about your experience, background, some behavioural questions and technical questions. and they also share a bit more about the role, culture and expectation
Very self-driven, first of multiple rounds, where I had to take the initiative to arrive at the problem, constraints, approach, solutions, tradeoffs and reasoning behind it in a matter of 30 minutes.