Google

I applied for the Software Engineering Intern role at Google through the off-campus process. The interview process was heavily focused on DSA and problem solving, with no lengthy discussions around core CS subjects. The first technical round lasted around 45–60 minutes and started with a brief introduction before moving directly into coding. I was given a problem that initially looked like a standard array-based question, but the interviewer added a few follow-ups that changed the constraints and required me to rethink the approach. I first explained the brute-force solution and its complexity, then worked towards an optimized approach. The interviewer asked me to justify why the optimization worked and tested the solution against different edge cases. After discussing the approach, I implemented it and walked through the code with the interviewer. The second problem involved a more complex data-structure scenario. I spent some time identifying the right approach before explaining my observations. The interviewer gave a couple of hints during the discussion, and I was able to use them to reach the intended solution. I also discussed the time and space complexity and handled a few follow-up cases. Overall, I felt reasonably confident about the first round. A few days later, I received the update that I had cleared Round 1 and was moving forward to the second technical interview. Round 2 was again heavily DSA-oriented and was somewhat more challenging. The first problem involved a tree-based structure and required me to derive the solution rather than immediately applying a familiar pattern. I discussed different possibilities with the interviewer before settling on a recursive approach and explained the required state information. The second problem required more analytical thinking. I initially considered a solution that turned out to be too expensive for the given constraints. After discussing the complexity with the interviewer, I revised the approach and arrived at a more efficient solution. I was able to explain the main idea and work through the implementation, although I had to be careful with a few edge cases. There was also a brief discussion about my projects and competitive-programming experience. The interviewer asked about some of the technical decisions in my projects, but the majority of the conversation remained centered around DSA, optimization, and problem solving. One thing I particularly noticed throughout both rounds was that the interviewer was interested in the thought process, not just the final answer. I had to explain why I was choosing a particular data structure, analyze the complexity, consider alternative approaches, and respond to follow-up changes. As of now, Round 1 has been cleared and Round 2 has been completed, but the result of Round 2 has not been announced yet. So the final status is still pending. The experience so far has been one of the more challenging interview processes I've gone through. It reinforced the importance of being comfortable with unfamiliar DSA problems and, more importantly, being able to reason through them clearly while communicating every step.