Software Engineer PhD applicants have rated the interview process at Google with 3.5 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 62% positive. To compare, the company-average is 61.5% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Software Engineer PhD roles take an average of 47 days to get hired, when considering 13 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at Google overall takes an average of 38 days.
Common stages of the interview process at Google as a Software Engineer PhD according to 13 Glassdoor interviews include:
Phone interview: 37%
Skills test: 27%
One on one interview: 17%
Background check: 10%
Personality test: 7%
Presentation: 3%
Here are the most commonly searched roles for interview reports -
I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Google (Austin, TX) in Oct 2014
Interview
Applied online on August 2014. Contacted by a recruiter on early September 2014, telling me there were two technical phone screens. I chose early October to do the interviews since I required extra time to prepare for my PhD proposal defense at the end of September. The first interview went relatively smoothly. The interviewer asked basic Python questions like what list comprehension is; what the time complexity of a very algorithm. Then he asked me to write some simple modules. I think anyone who are familiar with computer science could do it in minutes. The second interviewer did not call me in time so we rescheduled for another day in the same week. The interviewer asked me a trial algorithm question in the first round; then he extend it to a general case which required candidate must have a deep understanding of recursion. I did not make it within the time limit. Overall, it's a great experience.
I applied online. I interviewed at Google in Dec 2025
Interview
One or two rounds of virtual interviewing including behavioral, research discussion, and technical interview. Then was flown out to one of their campuses for two in-person interviews including a technical interview and a research discussion. I was rejected after this phase but the next steps would have included meetings with team leaders for team placement.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
In-person technical interview problem involved clever usage of hashmaps and hashsets.
I applied online. The process took 6 months. I interviewed at Google in Jun 2025
Interview
Smooth and nice. Interviewers were listening and engaging.
The recruiter is helpful and informative.
First round: One phone interview.
Second round: Three technical interviews and one BQ interview, scheduled over two days, all remote.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Got one question on mono-stack, one on binary search, one on binary tree traverse, and one one dynamic programing
I applied online. I interviewed at Google in Feb 2024
Interview
The interviewer called while I was working on a Google Doc. Initially, I was stuck. During the conversation, he provided helpful hints, and at the end, I was allowed to ask any questions.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
It was very much similar to LeetCode Random Pick with Weight