Google Interview Questions

Google 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 Company07.27.2026
Showing 20 results
Role
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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
7 people solved
Mar 6, 2026
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Google
Easy
Software Engineer

Compute minimum rooms for time intervals

You are given a list of meeting time intervals, where each interval is represented as [start, end) (start time inclusive, end time exclusive) and star...

Coding & Algorithms
22
0
161 people solved
Mar 1, 2026
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Google
Medium
Data ScientistIntern Locked

Generate Uniform Samples and Estimate Percentiles

Solve two Google statistics questions: sample uniformly from a square using rand01 and estimate percentiles from histogram buckets using cumulative co...

Statistics & Math
6
0
56 people solved
Mar 27, 2025
Google logo
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
Data Scientist Locked

Approximate a percentile from buckets

Estimate a percentile from histogram bucket summaries by finding the cumulative-count bucket, avoiding midpoint bias, interpolating within the bucket ...

Statistics & Math
4
0
42 people solved
Mar 9, 2025
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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
40 people solved
Aug 8, 2025
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Google
Medium
Machine Learning Engineer

Discuss dissertation and supervision

Discuss dissertation and supervision Behavioral Interview: Dissertation Overview and Supervisor Collaboration Context You are in an onsite behavioral ...

Behavioral & Leadership
12
0
46 people solved
Jul 29, 2025
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Google
Medium
Software Engineer

Compute minimum number of rooms needed

Problem You are given a list of meetings, each with a start time and end time. A single room can host only one meeting at a time. Two meetings overlap...

Coding & Algorithms
25
1
398 people solved
Feb 12, 2026
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Google
Medium
Software Engineer Locked

Solve graph and linked list tasks

This question evaluates competencies in dependency graph modeling and reachability, shortest-path computation in weighted directed graphs, and space-e...

Coding & Algorithms
17
0
175 people solved
Feb 12, 2026
Google logo
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
Google logo
Google
Easy
Software Engineer Locked

Build a next-word frequency predictor

This question evaluates understanding of data structures and algorithms for frequency counting and associative lookups, including preprocessing-versus...

Coding & Algorithms
38
1
272 people solved
Feb 12, 2026
Google logo
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
Google logo
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
Software Engineer Locked

Design structure for insert and k-th largest

This question evaluates data-structure design and algorithmic efficiency for dynamic order-statistics over a multiset (duplicates allowed), focusing o...

Coding & Algorithms
11
0
85 people solved
Feb 11, 2026
Google logo
Google
Medium
Software Engineer Locked

Design a waitlist system with top/bottom K

This question evaluates object-oriented design, data structure selection, and algorithmic complexity reasoning for implementing a waitlist that suppor...

Software Engineering Fundamentals
5
0
66 people solved
Feb 11, 2026
Google logo
Google
Medium
Software Engineer

Validate parent array forms a tree

Problem You are given an integer array parent of length n describing a directed parent pointer for each node i (nodes are labeled 0..n-1). - parent[i]...

Coding & Algorithms
13
1
160 people solved
Feb 11, 2026
Google logo
Google
Medium
Data Scientist

Match payments to invoices by memo or amount

You are building a small payment-to-invoice matching utility. Data You are given: - invoices: a list of invoice records with: - invoice_id (string) ...

Coding & Algorithms
5
0
51 people solved
Oct 19, 2025
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Google
Medium
Machine Learning Engineer Locked

Minimize Fence Painting Operations

This question evaluates algorithmic problem-solving and optimization skills, focusing on minimizing painting operations on an array-modeled fence and ...

Coding & Algorithms
3
1
54 people solved
Feb 10, 2026
Google logo
Google
Medium
Data Scientist

Address Overfitting in Supervised Learning Models

Address Overfitting in Supervised Learning Models You are evaluating a supervised learning model and observe that training performance is much better ...

Machine Learning
15
0
52 people solved
Jul 12, 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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