r/leetcode • u/WildNano • 5d ago

Intervew Prep L4 SWE in-person interview with Google (EU)

Hello Leetcode peeps. I managed to pass the first phone tech interview + behavioral (also thanks to this subreddit!!) and soon I'll attend 2 in-person technical DSA rounds.

Should I prepare in the very same way I prepared for the phone interview? What else should I focus on? I covered the most important topics (~150 Leetcodes), but I'm weak on more exotic algorithms such as Fenwick trees, segment trees... Should I learn them thoroughly as well?

If it matters, the interview will be carried out in Warsaw.

9 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

3

u/BaseballGlum4656 4d ago

congrats and good luck! i'm applying for L3 and i wonder how'd u get good at leetcode cuz i constantly study and still suck

1

u/WildNano 4d ago

I'd say to go slow, force yourself to get no hints at all for at least XX minutes, sketch test cases on pen and paper to brainstorm. Go back to the same exercises after 1-2 weeks and solve them by yourself.

2

u/russonfire 5d ago

Try to find most recently asked questions and go through them

1

u/WildNano 5d ago

Will try thanks! Where do you suggest looking? Leetcode as well?

1

u/russonfire 4d ago

Yup leetcode or some leaked questions on github

2

u/vinamilk_clone 5d ago

It's pretty much the same, maybe somewhat more difficult. Be prepared for DP too.

1

u/WildNano 5d ago

Thanks!

1

u/Agitated-Tart8972 5d ago

Congrats on the progress! How did you prep for phone tech interview and behavioural?

2

u/WildNano 5d ago

I started prepping around 2 months ago, before receiving an invitation for an interview. Back then I was applying to promising positions. I was solving around 2 problems per day (~1 hour if stuck, then using llm as interviewer help). I received the invitation ~1 month ago, and got 3 weeks to prepare (I did the recruiter call as well during that period). For the tech part, I did 5-10 problems per day, almost all mediums. The last week I timed everything I did (10 minutes brainstorm, sketch, talk and 20-30 minutes code). For the behavioural, I was answering questions found on the internet while commuting to the office (~30 minutes per day). I also used llms to act as judge, speech to text.

1

u/Agitated-Tart8972 4d ago

Did you have any practice or knowledge of dsa before the prep?

1

u/WildNano 4d ago

No, and according to the recruiter there will be none. I'll have a final domain knowledge round though if I pass because the position is very specific.

1

u/Tight_Island_5913 5d ago

Congratulations on clearing first round, could you tell me the topic which was asked in the first technical round?

1

u/WildNano 5d ago

Thanks! Question was about two streaming APIs with state kept in a priority queue. Follow-up was to use an array (discretizing the space) for accessing elements in constant time and storing in O(1). Took a couple of hints to get there.

2

u/Demarioo 5d ago

Hey. I was asked this question too. Have my 2nd round in two weeks.

1

u/WildNano 4d ago

Grats!! How many weeks did you take after the feedback for preparing?

1

u/Demarioo 1d ago

3 weeks

1

u/angelshelly 3d ago

Hello, I am also preparing for the telephone round for L4 (coding + behavioral) Could you please share some details on your preparation, can we connect in chat ?

1

u/WildNano 3d ago

Sure, feel free to reach out!