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
Data ScientistSenior+

How would you use propensity score matching here

You want to estimate the causal effect of a new recommender feature on 7-day retention. The feature was not randomized: users “opt in” after seeing a ...

Analytics & Experimentation
20
0
155 people solved
Nov 24, 2025
Google logo
Google
Easy
Data Scientist

Answer Google Behavioral Questions

Question In a behavioral interview for a Data Scientist role at Google, how would you answer the following questions? A strong answer should be specif...

Behavioral & Leadership
13
0
159 people solved
Feb 8, 2026
Google logo
Google
Hard
Software Engineer

Handle two teams duplicating work

If you discover that two different teams are independently working on the same project or solving the same problem, how would you handle the situation...

Behavioral & Leadership
9
0
186 people solved
Mar 6, 2026
Google logo
Google
Hard
Data Scientist Locked

Compute Company Suggestion Funnels

This question evaluates a candidate's ability to perform event-level funnel analysis including distinct aggregation, joins to a dimension table, time-...

Data Manipulation (SQL/Python)
3
0
20 people solved
May 18, 2026
Google logo
Google
Hard
Machine Learning Engineer

Design a real-time recommendation system

You are asked to design a real-time recommendation system for a large-scale consumer product (for example, recommending items or content to users in a...

ML System Design
19
0
188 people solved
Dec 8, 2025
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Google
Medium
Software Engineer Locked

Solve Rooms and Top-K Streams

This question evaluates algorithmic problem-solving skills across interval scheduling/resource allocation and streaming top-k maintenance, testing com...

Coding & Algorithms
6
0
43 people solved
Jun 5, 2026
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Google
Medium
Machine Learning Engineer

Design a Product or Video Recommendation System

Design a recommendation system for a large consumer platform. The platform may recommend either products in an e-commerce feed or videos in a media fe...

ML System Design
21
1
147 people solved
Dec 24, 2025
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Google
Hard
Software Engineer Locked

Design street-view image ingestion and storage system

This question evaluates understanding of large-scale system design for media ingestion, covering distributed ingestion pipelines, durable storage and ...

System Design
24
0
260 people solved
Jan 22, 2026
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Google
Medium
Software Engineer Locked

Process Sharded Login Logs

This question evaluates understanding of distributed systems, stream processing, and reliable data engineering concepts related to ingestion, ordering...

Software Engineering Fundamentals
38
0
427 people solved
Apr 12, 2026
Google logo
Google
Hard
Data Scientist Locked

Explain Bootstrap and Prove Uniformity

This question evaluates mastery of statistical inference and probability theory, testing knowledge of resampling methods (bootstrap), interpretation o...

Statistics & Math
14
0
147 people solved
Dec 3, 2025
Google logo
Google
Hard
Machine Learning Engineer

Design multi-GPU matrix multiplication

Multi-GPU MatMul (2 GPUs): Design and Implementation You are given two GPUs connected via NVLink or PCIe. You must compute C = A × B where: - A is sha...

ML System Design
9
1
140 people solved
Sep 6, 2025
Google logo
Google
Medium
Data ScientistSenior+

How do you diagnose a ratio metric change

In an A/B test, the treatment group shows a statistically significant increase in a ratio metric: - CTR = clicks / impressions increased by +1.2% rela...

Analytics & Experimentation
26
0
206 people solved
Nov 24, 2025
Google logo
Google
Medium
Software EngineerNew Grad

Describe teamwork and personal achievements

The interview included several behavioral questions: 1. Tell me about a time you helped a teammate who was underperforming. 2. Describe the most chall...

Behavioral & Leadership
21
0
223 people solved
Apr 1, 2026
Google logo
Google
Medium
Software Engineer

Prepare Behavioral Stories for Stakeholders, Mistakes, and Ownership

Prepare behavioral stories for stakeholders, simplifying systems, mistakes, learning new technology, disagreement, and ownership. `hint Hint 1 Start b...

Behavioral & Leadership
4
0
39 people solved
Apr 28, 2026
Google logo
Google
Medium
Software Engineer

Handle conflict, priorities, and ownership scenarios

Behavioral interview prompts Answer the following behavioral questions. Use concrete examples from your experience. 1) Disagreement / conflict - Descr...

Behavioral & Leadership
4
0
72 people solved
Jan 22, 2026
Google logo
Google
Medium
Software Engineer

Design a multi-timer using single underlying timer

You are given a Timer class that has access to a single underlying system timer API that can only keep one active timer at a time. Underlying single-t...

Software Engineering Fundamentals
17
0
130 people solved
Dec 4, 2025
Google logo
Google
Hard
Data Scientist Locked

Model Soccer Shot Conversion

This question evaluates probabilistic predictive modeling, spatial-temporal feature engineering, model calibration and evaluation, and identification ...

Machine Learning
11
0
150 people solved
Dec 29, 2025
Google logo
Google
Medium
Software EngineerSenior+ Locked

Design a global real-time notification system

This question evaluates competency in designing large-scale distributed systems for global real-time notifications, covering scalability, multi-region...

System Design
19
0
207 people solved
Jan 12, 2026
Google logo
Google
Hard
Software Engineer

Design distributed message queue service

Design a Distributed Message Queue Service Problem Statement Design a distributed message queue system that supports very high throughput for both pro...

System Design
32
0
245 people solved
Sep 6, 2025
Google logo
Google
Medium
Software Engineer

Build Prefix Lookup with a Trie

Build prefix lookup for repeated queries. Given words and query prefixes, return matching words for each query in lexicographic order. Implement: `pyt...

Coding & Algorithms
3
1
12 people solved
Jul 3, 2026

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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