Google - interview guide

Google interview questions - a complete guide

Google looks at how you think, not only at the right answer. Here are the four things Google interviews look for, and coding and behavioural questions based on them.

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About Google

Google is a global company in search, Android, YouTube and cloud. In India, engineering work happens in cities such as Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Gurugram. Interviews look most at how you think and solve problems.

This guide covers 12 Google interview questions with answers - what each question checks and how to answer it - plus the Google interview process, round by round, a 7-day preparation plan for freshers, tips and the mistakes to avoid.

Google hiring process

  1. What Google looks for

    Google's former HR head Laszlo Bock named four things in public interviews: general cognitive ability (the capacity to learn and think), leadership, 'Googleyness' (culture fit), and role-related knowledge.

  2. Coding interviews

    Saying your thinking out loud as you solve the problem - not only the code, but the approach and trade-offs too.

  3. Behavioural

    Working in ambiguity (unclear situations), working with a team, and leading when needed and stepping back.

The four points above are based on the former HR head's public interviews (secondhand reports). Google's official hiring pages did not open in automated tools when we checked - see the current process on careers.google.com.

Sources (checked 15 October 2026): Business Insider: what Google grades interviewees on, Google Careers - how we hire. Hiring processes change - read the official notice before you apply.

Google interview questions and answers

Coding

State the approach before writing code, check it with examples, then give the complexity.

  1. 1.Find the median of a data stream at any time.

    What they're checking
    Choosing the right data structure.
    How to answer
    Two heaps: a max-heap (the smaller half) and a min-heap (the larger half). Keep them balanced; the median comes from the top elements. Insert is O(log n).

  2. 2.Course schedule: can all courses be completed given their prerequisites?

    What they're checking
    Graphs and cycle detection.
    How to answer
    Topological sort (Kahn's algorithm): start with courses that have no prerequisites. If not all get processed, there is a cycle.

  3. 3.Find the longest increasing subsequence.

    What they're checking
    Dynamic programming.
    How to answer
    Start with the O(n²) DP, then explain the O(n log n) method with binary search - simple first, then better.

  4. 4.Design autocomplete.

    What they're checking
    Practical data structure design.
    How to answer
    Store the words in a trie; cache popular suggestions at each node. Suggestions in O(length) from the prefix.

Behavioural (leadership and Googleyness)

  1. 5.Tell me about a time the problem wasn't clear at all - what did you do?

    What they're checking
    The ability to work in ambiguity.
    How to answer
    Say how you asked questions, wrote down assumptions, built a small version, and moved forward with feedback.
    Example answer
    “The project requirement was just 'make the app fast'. I first measured which page was slowest, confirmed the priority with the team, and fixed things one by one - load time fell by about half.”

  2. 6.When did you lead, and when did you step back and let someone else lead?

    What they're checking
    Leadership as Google sees it - not a title, but stepping up when needed and then stepping back.
    How to answer
    Two short examples, or two halves of one. Show the team's result, not ego.

  3. 7.How did you handle a disagreement with a team member?

    What they're checking
    Collaboration.
    How to answer
    Talking with data and respect, listening to the other person, and deciding together - in STAR.

More coding and design

  1. 8.Trapping rain water - how much water is trapped?

    What they're checking
    A classic two-pointer problem.
    How to answer
    Water at each spot = min(left max, right max) - height. Two pointers give O(n) time, O(1) space.

  2. 9.Word break: can a string be split into dictionary words?

    What they're checking
    DP.
    How to answer
    dp[i] = true if, for some j < i, dp[j] is true and s[j..i] is in the dictionary.

  3. 10.Find the kth largest element of a stream at any time.

    What they're checking
    Heap.
    How to answer
    Keep a min-heap of size k; replace the top if a new element is larger. The top = the kth largest.

  4. 11.Design a key-value cache with a TTL.

    What they're checking
    Practical design.
    How to answer
    A hash map + an expiry time per key; check expiry on get, plus a background clean-up or a heap of expiries.

  5. 12.Tell me about feedback you didn't like - what did you do?

    What they're checking
    The habit of learning.
    How to answer
    What the feedback was, how it felt at first, what you changed, and the outcome.

7-day preparation plan for the Google interview

  1. Day 1: Arrays, hashing and two pointers - medium problems.
  2. Day 2: Graphs - BFS, DFS, topological sort.
  3. Day 3: DP - LIS, word break.
  4. Day 4: Heaps and design (median, autocomplete).
  5. Day 5: A mock - thinking out loud, 45 minutes.
  6. Day 6: Behavioural - ambiguity, leadership and teamwork stories.
  7. Day 7: Revision and one more mock.

Preparation tips

  • For every coding question: clarify, give the brute force, optimise, test.
  • Don't stay silent - think out loud; the interviewer wants to see your thinking.
  • Keep 3-4 behavioural stories ready that show ambiguity, leadership and teamwork.

Mistakes to avoid

  • Writing code silently - think out loud.
  • Not asking clarifying questions.
  • Jumping to an optimised solution without stating the brute force.

Frequently asked questions

What does Google look for in an interview?

According to the former HR head's public interviews: cognitive ability, leadership, Googleyness and role-related knowledge.

What is Googleyness?

Culture fit - such as being comfortable with ambiguity, taking action and working together. It has no fixed definition.

Which language can I use in a Google coding interview?

You can usually choose the language you are comfortable with; confirm with your recruiter.

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