Google interview experience Real time questions & tips from candidates to crack your interview

SDE - 1

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6 rounds | 7 Coding problems

Interview preparation journey

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Journey
My coding journey started from the class 12th. CS was my additional subject in the 12th standard and I developed my interest in my programming from there only. I took admission in B.Tech with CSE to get to my dream company Google and here I am after 4 years in Google. It had been a great journey till here.
Application story
It was the peak placement season, and every student in 4th year was waiting for any company to visit the campus. I was informed that Google would visit our campus, and it was a dream moment for me as I always wanted to be in Google. I was very confident with my skills by then which helped me during the interviews.
Why selected/rejected for the role?
I think my skills and knowledge were up to the mark that they found me as a valuable candidate. Moreover, my communication skills added up to my numbers.
Preparation
Duration: 12 Months
Topics: Java, Data Structure, Algorithms, Dynamic Programming, STL
Tip
Tip

Tip 1 : Participate in coding contests.
Tip 2 : Practice as many questions as you can.
Tip 3 : Do some good projects.

Application process
Where: Campus
Eligibility: No Criteria
Resume Tip
Resume tip

Tip 1 : Have some projects on your resume.
Tip 2 : Do not put false things on your resume.

Interview rounds

01
Round
Easy
Video Call
Duration60 Minutes
Interview date2 Jul 2020
Coding problem1

It was a hangout video call. The interviewer asked me these questions. Tell me about yourself and 1 coding question.

1. Special Numbers

Moderate
15m average time
85% success
0/80
Asked in companies
PayPalGoogleOYO

You are given an integer, ‘MAXVAL’. Your task is to determine the total number of special numbers present in the range, 1 to ‘MAXVAL’.

Note:
A special number is a number, which when rotated 180 degrees, resembles some other number in the same range. Every digit of a special number must be a valid digit.

The digits, 0,1,6,8,9, when rotated 180 degrees, become 0,1,9,8,6 respectively. While the digits, 2,3,4,5,7, when rotated do not become any valid digit.
For example:
‘8196’, when rotated 180 degrees, will become ‘9618’. We can observe that all the digits of this number are valid. So, this is a special number.
Problem approach

Tip 1:
Tip 2:
Tip 3:

Try solving now
02
Round
Easy
Video Call
Duration60 Minutes
Interview date9 Jul 2020
Coding problem1

This was an On-site (Behavioural Round) interview. He asked me these questions.

1. Basic HR Questions

1. Tell me about yourself
2. Why Google?
3. Which product of Google you like most? Why? Any competing products in the market?
4. If I asked your current organization for feedback then what will they say? Focusing on negative points.
5. If you have to improve one technical and one behavioral point then which one will you improve?
6. In your last organization or before that any leadership work have you done? Mentorship/organizer type.
7. What will you do when your work’s credit will be given to another person?
8. Any situation when your manager didn’t agree with your idea and how did you convince him?
9. Why you are leaving before 1 year?
10. What is your plan for 2 years in technical and non-technical aspects?
11. Do you have any questions for me?

03
Round
Easy
Video Call
Duration60 Minutes
Interview date11 Jul 2020
Coding problem1

This was another On-site ( DS & Algo) algorithm.

1. Covid Vaccination

Moderate
0/80
Asked in companies
GoogleCurefitMicrosoft

We are suffering from the Second wave of Covid-19. The Government is trying to increase its vaccination drives. Ninja wants to help the Government to plan an effective method to help increase vaccination following safety measures. Time is running out. Can you help the nation?

You are given two positive integers: ‘n,’ ‘maxVaccines’ denoting the number of days for which this vaccination drive will go on and the total number of vaccines available for the drive, respectively. You have to find the number of vaccines administered each day. You are also given a number ‘dayNumber,’ and we are interested to know the maximum number of vaccines that can be administered on ‘dayNumber’ th day.

The rules of the vaccination drive :

1. There should be a positive number of vaccines administered each day during the vaccination drive.

2. The absolute difference between the number of vaccines in two consecutive days should not exceed 1.

3. The sum of all the elements of the vaccines array does not exceed maxVaccines, that is, you cannot administer more vaccines than what is provided to you.

4. Vaccines administered on ‘dayNumber’ th day should be maximized.

Try solving now
04
Round
Easy
Video Call
Duration60 Minutes
Interview date11 Jul 2020
Coding problem2

Another On-site ( DS & Algo) interview.

1. Chocolate Problem

Moderate
15m average time
85% success
0/80
Asked in companies
AdobePaytm (One97 Communications Limited)JP Morgan

Given an array/list of integer numbers 'CHOCOLATES' of size 'N', where each value of the array/list represents the number of chocolates in the packet. There are ‘M’ number of students and the task is to distribute the chocolate to their students. Distribute chocolate in such a way that:

1. Each student gets at least one packet of chocolate.

2. The difference between the maximum number of chocolate in a packet and the minimum number of chocolate in a packet given to the students is minimum.

Example :

Given 'N' : 5 (number of packets) and 'M' : 3 (number of students)

subsequence

And chocolates in each packet is : {8, 11, 7, 15, 2}

All possible way to distribute 5 packets of chocolates among 3 students are -

( 8,15, 7 ) difference of maximum-minimum is ‘15 - 7’ = ‘8’
( 8, 15, 2 ) difference of maximum-minimum is ‘15 - 2’ = ‘13’ 
( 8, 15, 11 ) difference of maximum-minimum is ‘15 - 8’ = ‘7’
( 8, 7, 2 ) difference of maximum-minimum is ‘8 - 2’ = ‘6’
( 8, 7, 11 ) difference of maximum-minimum is ‘11 - 7’ = ‘4’
( 8, 2, 11 ) difference of maximum-minimum is ‘11 - 2’ = ‘9’
( 15, 7, 2 ) difference of maximum-minimum is ‘15 - 2’ = 13’
( 15, 7, 11 ) difference of maximum-minimum is ‘15 - 7’ = ‘8’
( 15, 2, 11 ) difference of maximum-minimum is ‘15 - 2’ = ‘13’
( 7, 2, 11 ) difference of maximum-minimum is ‘11 - 2’ = ‘9’

Hence there are 10 possible ways to distribute ‘5’ packets of chocolate among the ‘3’ students and difference of combination (8, 7, 11) is ‘maximum - minimum’ = ‘11 - 7’ = ‘4’ is minimum in all of the above.
Try solving now

2. Painter's Partition Problem

Moderate
25m average time
75% success
0/80
Asked in companies
GoogleOYOHSBC

Given an array/list of length ‘n’, where the array/list represents the boards and each element of the given array/list represents the length of each board. Some ‘k’ numbers of painters are available to paint these boards. Consider that each unit of a board takes 1 unit of time to paint.


You are supposed to return the area of the minimum time to get this job done of painting all the ‘n’ boards under a constraint that any painter will only paint the continuous sections of boards.


Example :
Input: arr = [2, 1, 5, 6, 2, 3], k = 2

Output: 11

Explanation:
First painter can paint boards 1 to 3 in 8 units of time and the second painter can paint boards 4-6 in 11 units of time. Thus both painters will paint all the boards in max(8,11) = 11 units of time. It can be shown that all the boards can't be painted in less than 11 units of time.


Try solving now
05
Round
Easy
Video Call
Duration60 Minutes
Interview date13 Jul 2020
Coding problem1

Another On-site ( DS & Algo) interview.

1. Minimize the Maximum

Easy
15m average time
85% success
0/40
Asked in companies
OracleGoldman SachsTata Consultancy Services (TCS)

You are given an array of N integers and an integer K. For each array element, you are allowed to increase or decrease it by a value k. The task is to minimize the difference between the maximum element and the minimum element after modifications.

Try solving now
06
Round
Easy
HR Round
Duration60 minutes
Interview date13 Jul 2020
Coding problem1

On-site ( DS & Algo) interview.
Google mainly focuses on logic and how you are coming with a solution. It notes down each and every small mistake. Interviewers are really very helpful. They expect clear code with an optimal approach.

1. Farthest Distance From Lands

Moderate
30m average time
70% success
0/80
Asked in companies
MicrosoftGoogle

You are given a binary square matrix ‘ARR’ with N rows and N columns, in which 0 represents the water and 1 represents the land.

You have to find a water cell such that its distance to the nearest land cell is maximized and print the maximum distance.

Note :

The distance between any two cells (x0, y0) and (x1, y1) is given by the Manhattan distance: |x0 - x1| + |y0 - y1|.
If no land or water exists in the grid, then return -1.
Try solving now

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Skill covered: Programming

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