在 San Bruno onsite
BS Unrelated Engineering from Public Ivy
MS Unrelated Engineering from HYPMS
1 YoE [FAANG, contract]
(Probably considered for L4 just because i have MS in engineering, though unrelated)
Due to NDA, I won’t share the details of problems but I can definitely give you advices on how to prepare for Google Front End interviews.
- Some algo problem involving 2d grid and use of hash table. There was a follow up and wasn’t required to write it up
- Algo problem but something you can turn into a design problem depending on how you approach it. Involved Trie and Tree (don’t just write what you think is the answer. work with your interviewer as he’s your manager giving you this problem to figure out)
- DFS problem with interesting conditions for traversal and termination + minor follow ups
- Front End problem involving async logic, scope, closure, etc… + minor follow ups. For the warm up, some trivia about react.
- Standard Behavioral
My Advice for Front End people:
-I heard mixed things ranging from “it’s all algo/ds” to “it’s all javascript, html, css”. My advice is prepare for algo/ds and make sure to do a quick refresher on common js related interview problems at big companies (more on async, obj oriented, scope, closure. less on tedious know-how skills like css and styling (rightfully so lol. i probably won’t have enough respect for companies that look for these skills in interview to work for them anyways)). FE stuff really comes from your experience and it only needs a quick refresher on those topics so just focus your energy on algo/ds.
-On behavioral, choose at least 2 or 3 of the googliness traits and somehow manage to relate all of your answers to those in a VERY obvious ways (like explicitly mention those traits. i know it can be cheezy but interviewers actually liked that)
Personally, I was able to solve all problems + follow ups and 3 of 4 tech interviews had 5~10 minutes left for me ask questions. I did a minor hiccup on first problem on what seems to be an easy implementation. I think I had a brain freeze for 2~4 mins and mixed up on variables and column and row (I think HC might actually look into this seriously, because it’s something that should have been 2nd nature). snapped out of it and finished the problem. I think it went well but I guess If I get a rejection, this should tell you that just solving problems (optimally or at least better than naive. I think one of four, my answer could have been improved but interviewer was impressed with creative approach) + follow up and having time left won’t be enough to get a “hire” recommendation.
On fourth one i struggled to answer warm up question about how react is processed and rendered but honestly I’m quite positive HC won’t hold it against me too much. It would be ridiculous if google HC decided i wasn’t a fit because i didn’t know specifics of a tech which they don’t even use.
Overall, it felt easier than generalist interview I had last year but that may not be true if you don’t have a strong understanding on javascript (so overall i guess it was similar difficulty to prepare, but algo/ds felt a bit easier).
I expect to find out in next 2 weeks and will keep you guys updated.