Google

Getting shortlisted for Google was already a big step for me because the process is heavily centered around problem solving. After the initial screening, I went through two technical interviews. Unlike some other companies where the interview covers OS, DBMS or OOP along with coding, my Google interviews were almost entirely focused on DSA. Recent candidates have reported a similar pattern, with two technical rounds concentrating on algorithms and problem solving. The first round started with a short introduction and then moved straight into the coding problem. I was given an array-based problem where the obvious solution was not efficient enough for the given constraints. I first explained the brute-force idea and its complexity, then worked towards optimizing it. The interviewer kept asking about edge cases and why the optimized approach would work rather than simply accepting the final code. The second part of the round was based on trees. I had to think about the traversal carefully and explain how I would handle different tree structures. I used DFS and walked through the solution with a few examples before writing the implementation. This round felt reasonably good because I was able to communicate my thought process instead of jumping directly into code. Similar Google intern reports mention tree/graph problems and follow-up questions where the explanation, complexity analysis and dry run are important. The second technical interview was more challenging. The problem initially looked manageable, but the constraints made the straightforward approach unusable. I could explain a brute-force solution and had a direction for optimization, but I couldn't reach the expected optimized solution within the interview time. I spent too much time exploring different approaches, and by the time I narrowed it down, there wasn't enough time left to implement and properly test everything. There were no major questions from DBMS, OS or OOP. The emphasis was clearly on DSA, complexity analysis, problem-solving ability and how I communicated my reasoning. This matches several recent Google SWE internship reports where the technical rounds are described as medium-to-hard DSA interviews. After completing the interviews, I waited for the final update. I eventually received a rejection. There was no detailed technical feedback, so I couldn't point to one particular mistake that caused the result. For me, the biggest takeaway was that being comfortable with DSA is not enough for this type of interview. I needed to get better at quickly identifying the intended pattern, handling follow-ups, and communicating a clean solution while coding under time pressure.