Google Software Engineer Interview Experience — Grid Signals and a Blocker-Removal Follow-up

Google·Software Engineer·Aug 2026
Onsitemedium

Given a grid representing a city, it contains the following kinds of entities:

Sources (S): Emit signals.

Blockers (B): Block signal propagation.

Empty cells (.): Signals can pass through freely.

Targets (T): Need to receive a signal.

Signals start simultaneously from all sources. Each unit of time, they move one cell in each of four directions: up, down, left, and right. Signals cannot pass through blockers. Find the minimum time needed for every target to receive a signal. If any target cannot be reached, return -1.

Follow-up:

  1. If you can destroy at most one blocker, which blocker should you destroy to minimize the time needed for all targets to receive a signal?

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Curated and edited by PracHub

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Interview at a glance

Company
Google
Role
Software Engineer
Rounds
Onsite
Difficulty
medium
Interview date
Aug 2026
Questions from this interview
2 questions

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