Google Interview Questions

Google Coding & Algorithms Interview Questions

Practice 514 real Google interview questions for 2026. Covers Coding & Algorithms, Behavioral & Leadership, Analytics & Experimentation, Machine Learning, and System Design across Software Engineer, Data Scientist, Machine Learning Engineer, Product Manager, and Data Engineer roles — real questions from actual interviews with detailed solutions to accelerate interview preparation. This collection highlights the coding-first bar Google uses: expect heavy algorithmic work, role-related data and ML problems, a Googleyness/leadership round, and level-specific differences in what’s decisive. What’s distinctive: for Software Engineers you’ll see spatial and streaming algorithms, concurrency and async primitives, LLM-foundations and GPU-job scheduling, plus object-design problems like room assignment; Data Scientists are weighted toward causal experiments, funnel and product-metric diagnostics, bootstrap inference, and percentile/sampling algorithms; ML Engineers focus on transformer blocks, recommendation design and ranking cold-starts; PMs get Maps/Android and product-ideation tradeoffs plus throughput and revenue sizing. New-grad and intern tracks emphasize phone screens and virtual onsites; Google L4 typically keeps the loop coding-heavy while Google L5 expects stronger system-design and cross-team leadership signals. Use focused practice, mock interviews, and level-specific stories to prepare.

514 Questions 1 Company08.01.2026
Showing 20 results
Role
Google logo
Google
Medium
Software Engineer

Return dictionary words matching a prefix

You are given a list of strings words (a dictionary) and a string prefix. Return all words in words that start with prefix. Clarifications/constraints...

Coding & Algorithms
26
0
192 people solved
Mar 9, 2026
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Google
Medium
Data Scientist

Estimate percentile from buckets

You are given an approximate histogram of search-query frequencies. Each bucket i is represented as (left_bd_i, right_bd_i, bucket_count_i), where buc...

Statistics & Math
10
0
72 people solved
Feb 5, 2025
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Google
Medium
Software Engineer

Return Words Matching a Typed Prefix

Given words and a query prefix, return all words starting with that prefix in lexicographic order. Implement: `python def prefix_matches(words: list[s...

Coding & Algorithms
0
0
8 people solved
Mar 6, 2026
Google logo
Google
Hard
Software Engineer

Find safe travel intervals between planet influences

You are planning a space route along a one-dimensional line (the x-axis). You are given a list of planets. Each planet is represented by an integer pa...

Coding & Algorithms
12
2
88 people solved
Nov 22, 2025
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Google
Medium
Software Engineer Locked

Solve several coding interview problems

This set of problems evaluates proficiency in string processing and combinatorial parsing, arbitrary-precision arithmetic using string representations...

Coding & Algorithms
10
0
99 people solved
Mar 4, 2026
Google logo
Google
Hard
Machine Learning Engineer

Compute winning probability on 1D dice walk

You are on an infinite 1D number line starting at position 0. Repeatedly roll a fair die that returns an integer uniformly at random from 1 to K (incl...

Coding & Algorithms
17
1
166 people solved
Mar 2, 2026
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Google
Medium
Data EngineerIntern

Describe building and improving a dashboard

Describe a past project where you built a dashboard for business or product stakeholders. Explain the business goal, audience, metrics, data-quality w...

Behavioral & Leadership
2
0
45 people solved
Mar 9, 2025
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Google
Medium
Software Engineer

Find largest subset sharing a common digit

You are given an array nums of length N (1 ≤ N ≤ 100). Every element is a two-digit integer between 10 and 99 (inclusive). Select as many elements as ...

Coding & Algorithms
9
0
103 people solved
Feb 25, 2026
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Google
Medium
Software Engineer

Handle overwhelmed team as senior manager

Handle overwhelmed team as senior manager Behavioral: Leading an Overloaded Engineering Team Context You are a senior engineering leader. Your softwar...

Behavioral & Leadership
2
0
42 people solved
Aug 8, 2025
Google logo
Google
Hard
Machine Learning Engineer

Can you reach target with distance-threshold edges?

You are given a set of unordered 2D points points[], a start point and an end point (both are included in points), and a function: `text getDistance(p...

Coding & Algorithms
11
1
181 people solved
Feb 22, 2026
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Google
Medium
Software Engineer

Validate course catalog dependencies

Design a function to validate an e-learning course catalog. You are given: ( 1) a set of course IDs, and ( 2) a list of prerequisite pairs (u, v) mean...

Coding & Algorithms
4
0
62 people solved
Aug 1, 2025
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Google
Medium
Software Engineer Locked

Solve array-sum and city-community problems

This question evaluates array-processing and grid/graph connectivity skills, covering counting subarrays with a target sum and identifying connected b...

Coding & Algorithms
6
0
62 people solved
Feb 20, 2026
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Google
Medium
Software Engineer Locked

Compute minimum servers for cyclic tasks

This question evaluates understanding of interval scheduling, overlap detection, and handling cyclic time via modular arithmetic for tasks that wrap p...

Coding & Algorithms
20
1
192 people solved
Feb 12, 2026
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Google
Medium
Software Engineer Locked

Min boards to cover roof holes

This question evaluates competency in combinatorial optimization and problem modeling for coverage constraints, testing algorithmic reasoning, complex...

Coding & Algorithms
16
1
161 people solved
Feb 12, 2026
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Google
Medium
Data Scientist

Describe Your Research and Cross-Functional Collaboration Experience

Behavioral Interview: Research Rigor and Cross-functional Collaboration You are interviewing for a Data Scientist role in a technical phone screen. Th...

Behavioral & Leadership
13
0
60 people solved
Jul 12, 2025
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Google
Medium
Software Engineer Locked

Decompress encoded string with nested repeats

This question evaluates string parsing and manipulation skills, particularly handling nested repetition encodings and reasoning about output growth, a...

Coding & Algorithms
27
0
196 people solved
Feb 11, 2026
Google logo
Google
Hard
Software Engineer Locked

Find minimum threshold enabling grid path

This question evaluates a candidate's understanding of grid pathfinding, reachability under constraints, and algorithmic optimization, focusing on ski...

Coding & Algorithms
10
0
153 people solved
Feb 11, 2026
Google logo
Google
Medium
Product ManagerIntern

Explain your PM transition and growth

You are interviewing for a Product Manager internship. Prepare a coherent behavioral narrative that can answer this cluster of prompts: - Introduce yo...

Behavioral & Leadership
6
0
73 people solved
Jul 1, 2023
Google logo
Google
Medium
Data Scientist

Find most co‑purchased product pairs in SQL

Given the schema and sample data below, write ANSI-SQL to return the top 5 unordered product pairs most frequently purchased together across distinct ...

Data Manipulation (SQL/Python)
19
1
133 people solved
Oct 13, 2025
Google logo
Google
Medium
Data Scientist

Design a scalable video platform database

Design the relational database for a YouTube-like video company. Deliverables: 1) list the core tables with key columns, types, and constraints (users...

Data Manipulation (SQL/Python)
12
0
79 people solved
Oct 13, 2025

Frequently Asked Questions

How hard are Google interview questions and how does difficulty vary by level?
Google interview questions are challenging but predictable: they range from medium algorithmic problems for new grads to hard, system- and architecture-focused problems at senior levels. L3/new-grad interviews emphasize correct, clean code with solid complexity and edge-case handling; expect two to three coding rounds plus a Googleyness/leadership conversation. L4 requires optimal solutions, clearer trade-off communication, and sometimes a system-design or domain round. L5 raises the bar on system design, scalability, ownership, and leadership impact. Non-SWE roles shift emphasis toward statistics, experiment design, or model-building depending on the job.
What does the Google interview process look like and where do these 514 questions appear?
The typical loop starts with a recruiter screen, one or more phone or virtual coding screens, then a virtual or in-person onsite loop of 3–5 forty-five minute interviews: mostly coding, plus a Googleyness/leadership behavioral round and usually one domain or system-design session for mid and senior roles. The 514-question corpus covers those stages: phone-screen style coding, onsite deep-coding, system-design prompts, analytics/experiment questions for data roles, ML implementation prompts, and product-spec behavioral cases. Hiring committee review, level calibration, and team match happen after the loop and extend timelines by several weeks.
How should I schedule my preparation and how much time do I need to prepare effectively?
Plan prep based on level and role: new grads should spend 4–6 weeks focused on core data structures, algorithm patterns, and 4–6 polished STAR stories. Mid-level L4 candidates should budget 6–10 weeks, adding system design and production-readiness topics plus mock interviews. L5 and above need 8–12+ weeks emphasizing architecture, trade-offs, and leadership narratives. Break weeks into coding practice, timed mocks, system-design sprints, and role-specific work (experiments for DS, model lifecycle for MLE). Run at least 6–10 realistic mock interviews and iterate on communication and edge-case testing.
What specific subtopics and recurring themes should I expect by role at Google?
For Software Engineer interviews expect spatial and streaming geometry problems (counting or removing points within distance), concurrency and async primitives, deterministic task ordering and schedulers, calendar/free-slot algorithms, boolean-expression fixes, array/subarray patterns, and small-system OOD prompts like dorm room assignment. Data Scientist questions concentrate on causal and experiment design, funnel and product-metric computation, unbiased upgrade experiments, bootstrap and percentile estimation from buckets, sampling algorithms, and applied modeling like shot-conversion. Machine Learning Engineer rounds emphasize transformer/LLM building blocks and trade-offs, recommendation and ranking cold-start strategies, weighted sampling, and implementation details.
Any standout tips and common pitfalls, including level-specific advice (L3, L4, L5) and intern/new-grad notes?
Start by matching preparation to level: L3/new-grad must deliver correct, well-tested code and clear complexity; L4 must reach optimal solutions, explain trade-offs, and show production thinking; L5 must demonstrate architecture, scaling trade-offs, and cross-team impact. For interns/new-grads expect a phone coding screen followed by a virtual onsite; practice timed screens and basic system thinking. Across levels, talk through examples, define constraints, test edge cases, and avoid premature optimization or vague assumptions. Prepare 4–6 STAR stories for Googleyness, and don’t overlook clear, testable code and thought-out system trade-offs.

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