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Table of contents
1.
Introduction
2.
What is Google Kickstart?
3.
Does Google Hire from kick start? & How?
4.
Eligibility
5.
Preparation Strategy
6.
Rules and Regulations of the Competition
7.
Prerequisites for Google Kickstart
8.
Syllabus
9.
Previously Asked Questions
10.
Frequently Asked Questions
10.1.
What is Google KickStart?
10.2.
How to prepare for Google Kickstart?
10.3.
Is Google kickstart discontinued?
10.4.
Does Google Hire from Kickstart?
10.5.
What is the prize for winning Google kickstart?
11.
Conclusion
Last Updated: Jun 26, 2024
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Google KickStart

Author Ravi Khorwal
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Introduction

Through online competition rounds, Google KickStart allows coders from all around the world to learn and enhance their programming talents. The three-hour rounds contain a variety of algorithmic tasks devised by Google engineers to offer you a taste of the technical skills required for a Google career (top competitors from our Kick Start rounds may be invited to Google for an interview!).

Google KickStart

This is a competition organised around the world mostly for the Asia Pacific region to test the problem-solving abilities, data structures, and algorithms of a participant. Organised by Google is quite renowned for a high level of problem difficulty but also with a lot of interesting problems to learn from. We've covered every last detail of Google Kickstart in this article, along with other information and handy connections.

What is Google Kickstart?

Google Kickstart is an online Coding Competition hosted by Google with the goal of hiring people who are interested in a technical career at Google and enjoy solving entertaining, tough issues. It holds online rounds throughout the year, allowing competitors to put their coding skills to the test. It is not limited to graduating computer science students, but it welcomes participants of all ages. Google hosts three tournaments for people of all skill levels. Kick Start is one of them.

Google Kickstart

The round schedules are given on the official site. This test focuses on data structures and algorithms, as well as problem-solving abilities. Before entering Google Kickstart, participants should familiarise themselves with the judging environment, as each company uses a different platform, and the rules differ from one platform to the next. It is made up of three three-hour rounds of Google-created algorithmic tasks. It's possible that the top contenders will be asked for a Google interview.

Throughout the year, there will be multiple rounds of algorithmic challenges, each lasting three hours. Qualifications from previous rounds are not required for each round.

There are 4-5 problems to solve in each round. Around 12K-15K (approx.) contestants across the globe participate in the examination each year. 

Does Google Hire from kick start? & How?

Although it is not guaranteed that Google will contact you after the Competition is over. But there is a high chance that Google may contact you for hiring afterward. Google may ask you to choose from multiple vacant positions (if available) for the initial hiring process. 

Also, depending on negotiation or luck, Google may reimburse you for your conveyance charge if the interview is placed abroad. For the actual interview, the process is pretty standard. They will ask you about algorithms, problem-solving, and data structures.

Eligibility

  1. Anyone over the age of 16 at the time of registration is generally able to participate, though you must be 18 or older to be contacted by a Google recruiter for future rounds of interviews.
     
  2. Users from Crimea, Iran, North Korea, Quebec, and Syria are also barred from participating in the Competition.
     
  3. All of these communications are maintained by Google through email and website.

Preparation Strategy

Definitely, not the fun part but the most important one, Begin by understanding data structures and algorithms, then practice on platforms such as Coding Ninjas Studio, CodeChef, Codeforces, CodeJam, and others to develop problem-solving skills and familiarise yourself with online coding IDEs. Brush up on several key algorithms such as greedy, dynamic programming, divide and conquer, shortest distance graphs, and so on.

Google Kickstart is all about speed and accuracy, focus on your speed rather than solving very tough problems. Do practice as much as you can. At least the first 2 problems are much easier than the rest.

Preparation Strategy

Get to know the notations for asymptotic time complexity. This will assist you in analyzing the difficulty of your existing challenge, and if it is slow, you will need to devise a new or improved approach. Refer to our well-structured guided paths.

It isn't difficult to get started. It's aimed toward newcomers to the game. Even though there weren't many top-level competitors there, the fastest competitors finished all challenges in 15–16 minutes.

There is already Google Code Jam for more experienced contenders; but, participating in one round there just to fail to qualify for the next one is probably not much fun, so that's what Kick Start is for: numerous independent rounds with some easy challenges in each of them.

It is always advised to practice past years’ kickstart competition which will help to get you an idea of types of problems. Personally, I will suggest aiming within 100 in the first few APAC tests which will improve your chances for interview shortlisting for Google.

If you have little or no competitive programming expertise, you may still find tasks tough; nonetheless, if you want to try competitive programming, Kick Start is a fantastic place to start. It's less difficult than the Codeforces Div 2 rounds.

The Ultimate Guide to crack the interview of Product-based companies by Coding Ninjas Studio.

Rules and Regulations of the Competition

  1.  Although registration is open throughout the Google Kickstart Contest, you must register before participating in any of the Rounds. Just go to the kickstart page and register yourself for the google kickstart. Need help with the Google Kickstart Exams, join our free trials courses to practice exam problems at Coding Ninjas Studio only.
     
  2.  The Google Kickstart Contest will be held online and will consist of numerous rounds. There are eight (8) rounds in the Google Kickstart Contest. You are free to participate in any or all of the Rounds. Please refer to the schedule for the Google Kickstart Contest Rounds dates. 
     
  3.  You may submit your source file, but it must be under 100 kilobytes in size.
     
  4.  The user must manage their time and memory following the problem's needs.
     
  5.  Your most recent submission is used as the final solution for online judging, and your score is the sum of the values of all correctly solved Visible Test Sets and Hidden Test Sets, or the sum of the values for correctly solved Visible Test Sets in your earliest submission, in which case your score is that sum.
     
  6.  Each submission of a problem will result in a penalty attempt until you provide the solution that will count toward your score.
     
  7. Your penalty time for a Round is equal to the time it takes you to submit the most recent answer that counts toward your score, plus four (4) minutes for each penalty attempt across all problems throughout the Round, measured from the start of the Round. In a problem statement, different penalty times might be stated. If none of your entries are successful, you will receive a zero (0) score on the problem and not be penalized.
     
  8. If two contestants have the same penalty time, the contestant with the lowest penalty time will be placed first. When required, we have the right to break ties based on a more acceptable time precision than that shown on the scoreboard. 
     
  9. In a Round, contestants who score zero (0) points are not given a rank on the scoreboard.
     
  10. If Google reasonably suspects you have sought to undermine the regular operation of the Google Kickstart contest in violation of the Coding Competitions Terms, you may be disqualified from the Contest. You may contact kickstart@google.com to report another contestant's breach of these Terms.

Prerequisites for Google Kickstart

This includes strong skills in data structures and algorithms. Most of the problems will include:

  • Array-based
     
  • HashMap
     
  • Stacks, queues
     
  • Binary Trees, Binary Indexed Trees, Binary Search Trees
     
  • Graph-based algorithms
     
  • Machine Learning Hackathons
     
  • CodeAgon
     
  • Priority queues or heap
     

Any popular language can be used for this as Google provides supports for Java, CPP, C, Python, Golang, JavaScript, etc, and many more.

Syllabus

Previous problems can help you prepare for this exam. Those inquiries are based on several significant issues. I'll touch on a few critical points in this regard:

You can refer to Coding Ninjas courses for the best in-depth explanations for understanding these concepts and practice in Coding Ninjas Studio.

Here are some of our flagship courses carefully designed by our team:

Previously Asked Questions

Here are links to previous year's questions of Google Kickstart 2021 to practice.

Rounds

Questions

A

K-Goodness StringL Shaped PlotsRabbit HouseChecksum

B

Increasing SubstringLongest ProgressionConsecutive PrimesTruck Delivery

C

Smaller StringsAlien GeneratorRock Paper ScissorsBinary Operator

D

Arithmetic SquareCutting IntervalsFinal ExamPrimes and Queries

E

Shuffled AnagramsBirthday CakePalindromic CrosswordIncreasing Sequence Card Game

F

Trash BinsFestivalStar TrappersGraph Travel

G

Dogs and CatsStaying HydratedBanana BunchesSimple Polygon

H

Transform the StringPainterSilly SubstitutionsDependent Events

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Google KickStart?

Google Kick Start is a global online coding Competition, features many algorithmic challenges created by Google developers. Participants can choose to participate in one or all of the online rounds. The best competitors will be invited to Google for an interview

How to prepare for Google Kickstart?

One should practice coding problems based on algorithms. You can visit code studio and practice questions from coding interviews from top companies like google, amazon, facebook etc.

Is Google kickstart discontinued?

Yes, recently Google discontinued their kickstart competition.

Does Google Hire from Kickstart?

Through Google Kickstart Performance, the company may offer a job or an internship.

What is the prize for winning Google kickstart?

The winner will receive $15,000, with smaller rewards for the runners-up. Google may approach top competitors for a chance to interview for a job at Google.

Conclusion

Well, no matter how difficult it may appear but it is always a good idea to participate in all competitions, this will not only increase the experience but also provides a better learning opportunity and compete with all participants around the world. This article covers everything you need to know about Google kickstart. Here are more articles for rescue.

 

You can also consider our competitive programming course to give your career an edge over others!

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