Skip to contentSkip to footer
  • Community
  • Jobs
  • Companies
  • Salaries
  • For Employers
      Notifications

      Loading...

      Elevate your career

      Discover your earning potential, land dream jobs, and share work-life insights anonymously.

      employer cover photo
      employer logo
      employer logo

      Google

      Engaged Employer

      About
      Reviews
      Pay & benefits
      Jobs
      Interviews
      Interviews
      Related searches: Google reviews | Google jobs | Google salaries | Google benefits | Google conversations
      Google interviewsGoogle Software Engineering interviewsGoogle interview


      Glassdoor

      • About / Press
      • Awards
      • Blog
      • Research
      • Contact Us
      • Guides

      Employers

      • Free Employer Account
      • Employer Center
      • Employers Blog

      Information

      • Help
      • Guidelines
      • Terms of Use
      • Privacy & Ad Choices
      • Do Not Sell Or Share My Information
      • Cookie Consent Tool
      • Security

      Work With Us

      • Advertisers
      • Careers
      Download the App

      • Browse by:
      • Companies
      • Jobs
      • Locations
      • Communities
      • Recent Posts

      Copyright © 2008-2026. Glassdoor LLC. "Glassdoor," "Worklife Pro," "Bowls," and logo are proprietary trademarks of Glassdoor LLC.

      Company Bowl sample

      Want the inside scoop on your own company?

      Check out your Company Bowl for anonymous work chats.

      Bowls

      Get actionable career advice tailored to you by joining more bowls.

      Followed companies

      Stay ahead in opportunities and insider tips by following your dream companies.

      Job searches

      Get personalized job recommendations and updates by starting your searches.

      Software Engineering Interview

      Mar 18, 2013
      Anonymous Interview Candidate
      London, England
      No offer
      Positive experience
      Difficult interview

      Application

      I applied through an employee referral. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Google (London, England) in Feb 2013

      Interview

      I was contacted by a recruiting contact from HR. From there I was passed off to another contact who scheduled two back to back, 45 minute coding interviews. The first interviewer was very pleasant. After initially asking a question on which I fumbled, we spent the remaining time working on one question. The question itself wasn't terribly difficult, but it was intentionally ambiguous, to make sure I asked the right questions. After clearing up details we discussed optimizations, etc. This is probably the part of the interview that was most enjoyable as it didn't really feel like I was getting grilled. It felt as if we were discussing a problem and different approaches we could take. The second interviewer had a bit of an accent and seemed a bit less engaged/helpful. Also, the questions he asked were significantly tougher. All in all the process went very smoothly.

      Interview questions [1]

      Question 1

      I was asked to write an algorithm to solve a crossword-like puzzle (I forget the name, but started with a 'B'). As opposed to simply vertical, horizontal, and diagonal placement of words, they were allowed to snake around the grid in any way. I immediately thought "recursion" since you have to check every adjacent grid space to make a possible word. Needless to say, I didn't completely finish coding, but I did have the thought process correct.
      Answer question
      3