Google Software Engineers Share Interview Secrets and Advice

Successful software engineers excel by clearly communicating their thought processes during interviews.

### Secrets to Cracking Google Interviews: Insights from Software Engineers
* 👨 "The better you are at cracking coding interviews, there's no way that **Google can reject you**."
* 💼 With 15 years in tech, the speaker reflects on their past interviews at Facebook and Google, emphasizing the **importance of preparation**.
* 🏢 At Google headquarters, engineers share their experiences and tips for aspiring candidates, revealing that most have **over a decade of experience**.
* 🍽 Engineers highlight perks like **free food** and **international office locations**, contributing to a **positive work environment**.
* 📝 Successful candidates are encouraged to **articulate their thought processes during interviews**, demonstrating their approach to **problem-solving**.
* 📚 Preparation strategies include practicing on platforms like **LeetCode** and studying resources like **"Cracking the Coding Interview."**
* 🔑 Fundamentals are crucial, as interviewers focus on **core knowledge**, and candidates are advised to think about **scalability and long-term solutions**.
* 🌍 The process of applying to Google varies, but candidates with **strong communication skills** and the ability to **bridge technical and business requirements** tend to excel.

I think the most important thing is the better you are at cracking coding interviews, there's no way that you know, Google can reject you. So I've been working in tech for about 15 years. Something I regret I didn't really do well when I look back is I

interviewed at Facebook and Google. Now that you're on the other side interviewing software engineers, what do the successful ones do? That's a good question. Uh hey, what's up? Today we're at Google headquarters asking software engineers how they got into Google and

how you can too. Let's get into it and make sure you watch till the end because most of these engineers have over 10 years of experience and interview candidates like you every single day. Today they finally reveal all their secrets. Thanks to GPD bot for

sponsoring this video. Hey, what's your name? Shivam. Shivam, yeah, nice to meet you. How long have you been at Google and what is your title? I'm a manager of system development engineering. I've been part of Google for three and a half years. Hi,

I'm Kate. Kate, nice to meet you. Um, I'm a little under two years and I'm a software engineer at Google. The I am an engineering manager here. I have been two years and then what is your favorite benefit or perk? Food, free food, yeah.

lunches, breakfast. I love it. Okay, nice. Oh, I like that there are a lot of offices internationally so when I travel I can work from different cities. And then what has been your favorite memory so far? I guess my uh teammate hosted a really nice team dinner recently. Um, he's from a

Greece, so it was like all sorts of Greek food. Building products, so mostly I mean everything is memorable according to me. Like every day is memorable. So and how did you how did you get into Google? So I was part of a startup called Cloud Simple and it got acquired by Google in

late 2019. Mhm. So got here as part of the acquisition. So I studied computer science in college, um and then I actually interned at Google, uh first through the STEP program. It used to be called Engineering Practicum, and then I became a software engineering intern and

I continued on as a student researcher, and then afterwards, uh I decided to just come back. So I went through the uh returning intern and like conversion pipeline. I got interviewed, I qualified, and that's how I am. What what did like where did you apply? What were the

interviews like? They reached out to me. I was uh at a startup company uh before Google, and then after a year of conversation I thought okay, I'll interview. And I interviewed at Facebook and Google, got through both of them, and chose Google. And now that you're at Google,

probably interviewing prospective Googlers, what do you look for and what do successful applicants do? Um, I think the most important thing is to be able to talk through your thought process as you're interviewing. So you need to make sure to be able to convey what you're

thinking at each point and to communicate that clearly, so that interviewers can see not just like whether or not you're able to solve a problem, but also how you approach an ambiguous problem. Got it. And then what did you use to prepare, like what types of stuff did you do to

Get ready for the interviews. Um, personally I did uh LeetCode and then um also uh Cracking the Coding Interview. Have you ever interviewed people like while you were at Google? Yeah, and what do those interviews look like? Do you have any tips? Uh, so mostly we focus on the

basic stuff. Uh, so we dig deeper into the core of uh everything. Like, you should be well-versed with basics and we feel that your basics should be strong enough so that you can work on anything at the advanced layer. So that's what we focus on. Got it.

And then last question, do you have any advice for someone aspiring to be a software engineer and get into Google? Think about reliability, scalability, and long-term solutions rather than focusing on short-term and small solutions. So think about a large user base for a particular problem. I think that's

what I would suggest. Yeah, I guess I mean the usual things, you know, data structures, algorithms, system design. I think you just need to be better at it and crack the interview. I I think it's it's not very secret anymore, but the better you are at cracking those, there's no way to

you know, Google can reject you. Any advice on passing the resume screen? Like how to differentiate yourself? You're a manager, you might be looking at applicants. Yeah, yeah, I mean just just be yourself, you know, put your put your best way forward, best face forward, right? Uh

that's all they know about you. They can't know everything about you, so put the best things what you have in their resume so that when somebody looks at it, they want to talk to you. Jimmy, Jimmy, nice to meet you. Five years I am a just a

Senior software engineer, uh, my name is [NAME], I've been at Google a little more than four years now, so I'm a software engineer. How did you get into Google? Well, so at college, I actually worked at another company called MathWorks for

a while. They make like MATLAB and stuff, and then I was looking around like a year and a half after that, and then I passed the interviews, and here I am. I just started, sort of started my career at, I was at Cisco, uh, it was like 2 years

out, yeah. I just needed a little bit of change and move into general software. I was like doing a lot of networking stuff over there, so I wanted to come more into general software. And now that you're on the other side interviewing software engineers, what do the

successful ones do? It comes down to communication a lot, being able to explain your thought process. And I, I do think that there's something to be said for practicing, at least in my experience, it definitely helped the interview process to do practice problems on my own beforehand, so I would recommend

doing that for sure. Oh, um, I, I like uh, candidates who kind of build the solution like slowly, uh, you know, like, not delve, like obviously clarify like the bigger perspective of the problem, uh, but come up with the solution and see if that works because a lot of the times

you don't need a complicated solution. And then last question, do you have any advice for people trying to become software engineers, maybe at a big-time company like Google? There's no specific advice I'd offer other than I think it is easier to go like the traditional

like the college route, I know that like a lot of the boot camp stuff is big these days and that's a great way to do it too. The easiest path is through college and through, you know, relevant internship experience I'd say, but I would also say that's not the only way

to do it. So I think there are people who get interested in it when they're 35 or later as well, and I think that's great too. You can do it either way. Getting into Google is more of like basics again, okay? The only thing that worked is like

having fundamentals right, so that's like one advice I think Google values like fundamental. The best engineers stay on top of the latest and greatest technologies, the biggest one these days being ChatGPT and other LLM AI models. Today's sponsor GPT Bot, not only

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world to use. Check out GPT Bots using my special link in the description now. Let's get back to some more advice from Google software engineers. Hi, what's your name? Hi Ken, nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. How long have you been at

Google and what is your title? I have been at Google for about a year and a half, and my title is product manager in Vertex Cloud AI, so I work on our AIML platform. Been at Google for almost two years, and what is your title? Uh, software engineer. And how did you actually get

the job? What did that look like? Uh, so I applied during, you know, end of 2021, so it's still pandemic. So you know, at that time all the tech companies kind of like over hiring. Yeah, so a lot of other people, including me, got hired during

that period. How did you get into Google and then maybe PM? Um, so I've been working in tech for about 15 years. Originally, I was working at startups, um, actually more on the sales and customer success side, um, and then I got kind of burned out on that and went back to

school for computer science. Okay. And then um, I transitioned over to product about 5 years ago, was at a couple startups for a while, and then uh, went to Google. What has been your favorite software engineering memory so far? You have quite a lot of support both in terms of

Uh, you can always reach out to your colleagues whenever you need help, or you have a huge database of documents that you can just search through and find solutions. Something I regret I didn't really do well when I look back is that finding your passion early on is always

beneficial. Technical skills and all the other things you can acquire them after. Maybe you start late compared to others, but it's okay. I think that good PMs are really good at bridging the uh constraints and possibilities on the technical side versus the business requirements. Okay, essentially sort of

frame that up in a way that the business teams can actually sell it. Do you have any advice for aspiring people trying to break into Google, especially maybe women in tech? Yeah, I, I think that on the technical side, actually the people in my experience that are the most successful

tech, technical practitioners are usually also good at um working with non-technical stakeholders. I think this is sort of an under-heralded skill, um, because if you are not a good communicator and you're not good at communicating with people that do not know as much as you do as a technical

expert, you're going to have a really hard time translating those ideas into like products that get shipped into the world. So it's like great to you know how to code and be you know awesome at technical things, but um being able to actually communicate those things to

people that don't know much about the technology behind them is really important. Hey, what's up? Today we're asking

I Asked Googlers How To Get Hired

Namanh Kapur

Importance of Cracking Coding Interviews and Initial Experiences at Google

The better one is at coding interviews, the less likely Google will reject them.

Interviewing software engineers at Google headquarters to understand their paths.

Engineers share their roles, tenure, and favorite perks at Google.

One engineer joined through a startup acquisition.

Another engineer's path involved internships and a student researcher role.

Insights from Google Interviewers on Successful Applicants

Interviewers value the ability to clearly communicate one's thought process while solving problems.

Preparation methods include LeetCode and Cracking the Coding Interview.

Interviewers focus on assessing fundamental knowledge and problem-solving skills.

Advice for aspiring software engineers: consider reliability, scalability, and long-term solutions.

Mastering data structures, algorithms, and system design is crucial for success.

Resume Tips and Further Interview Experiences

Advice on resume screening: present oneself authentically and highlight strengths.

Engineers share their paths to Google, including prior work experiences.

Successful interviewees demonstrate strong communication and problem-solving skills.

Interviewers appreciate candidates who build solutions incrementally and clarify the problem's scope.

Advice for aspiring software engineers: traditional college route with internships is helpful, but not the only path.

GPT Bot supports various LLM AI models and allows creation of custom AI bots for businesses.

Users can train bots on specific data, enabling tailored AI interactions.

GPT Bot offers a plugin marketplace and supports private, enterprise-level plugins.

The platform features an easy-to-use interface for bot creation and training.

Additional Google Employee Experiences and Advice

More Google employees share their roles, tenures, and hiring experiences.

One employee highlights the increased hiring during the pandemic.

An employee transitioned from sales and customer success to product management after a career change.

Advice: Finding one's passion early is beneficial, technical skills can be acquired later.

Advice for women in tech: strong communication skills are crucial for translating technical ideas to non-technical stakeholders.