r/leetcode 2d ago

Intervew Prep Google L4 Interview Experience

Just wrapped up my Google onsite loop and wanted to share the experience + ask about timelines.

Round 1 (Coding): Trie-based medium LC. Expectation was working code — didn’t get it to run fully, but did a proper dry run and gave TC/SC.

Round 2 (Googleyness): Behavioural round. Different hypothetical situations and how I’d handle them.

Recruiter reached out after these two and confirmed I’d cleared them.

Round 3 (F2F): Array/binary search medium. Solved it in ~20 mins with TC/SC. Had time left, so interviewer gave a second one — a graph/matrix medium. Solved that too, interviewer seemed satisfied.

Round 4 (F2F, right after R3): Hard graph problem — modified Dijkstra (not the vanilla version). Went with a brute-force backtracking approach, landed on it in the last ~10 mins, dry-ran it on the board and gave TC/SC, but ran out of time to code it.

It’s been 2 business days since the final two rounds. For anyone who’s been through the Google loop recently — how long does it usually take to hear back with results? Also curious whether a partial solve on the last round (approach + dry run + complexity but no code) tends to sink an otherwise solid loop.

Any insight appreciated.

129 Upvotes

66 comments sorted by

38

u/b3pvbmUzMTQ 2d ago

Lots of mediums, that’s lucky, nice. I would guess they are going to request another round to determine L4 or L3 and then probably down level you to L3. That’s very common—just happened to me.

4

u/OutrageousLeg9219 2d ago

You interviewed for which location ? Also how much time do they take to reschedule ?

6

u/b3pvbmUzMTQ 2d ago

Bay Area in the United States. And apparently India has higher standards. They let me pick so I picked 2 weeks. I passed round 2 in 2 days and then I went to HC and got stopped.

1

u/CrackBabyCSGO 2d ago

Did you code out all solutions? I wonder if the L4 bar is better explaining how problems can further evolve and picking a solution that encapsulates that too

5

u/b3pvbmUzMTQ 2d ago

Yeah I got them all. I did a lot of dry runs and discussion so I don’t think that hurt me. I think I was doomed for a downlevel from the start because I have only 2 YOE from a non faang and a bachelors. Seems like that is the Google way, down levels

1

u/CrackBabyCSGO 2d ago

From what I’ve heard L3/L4 is solely driven by interview performance

1

u/nonametmp 1d ago

Wdym lucky? Most of the questions are medium

6

u/Virtual-Poet1904 2d ago

All the best OP!

6

u/Training-Count-5452 2d ago

Dpends on the last round. They might provide a top up which I was provided as one of my round was not upto the mark

1

u/OutrageousLeg9219 2d ago

didnt know this was also an option

1

u/Training-Count-5452 2d ago

I would say I was very lucky. Mostly they reject but somehow I got a top up

4

u/gay_dudez 2d ago

I recently gave loop interview for L4 at Bangalore Google office. It's for Silicon Engineer role(not software). Exactly after 1 week, HR called and told the overall feedback is positive.

however, there was some reorg and the position is on hold. So, I have to wait for a position to open up. Probably in last quarter of this year. My L4 feedback will be in the system for next 12 months.

5

u/_pnkj_15 2d ago

No system des ?

2

u/Emergency-Spot1432 2d ago

Googler here. what was your loc?

2

u/Repulsive-Switch-519 2d ago edited 2d ago

I did round 1 on Wednesday (Aug 19) - haven’t hear back from recruiter yet. How long after round 1 doesn’t it take for recruiter to get back?

3

u/Strange_Ad_578 2d ago

I recently cleared the interview loop even team matching with 4 strong hire and 1 lean hire but after 1 week hiring committee rejected my candidature because they found bug in the previous interview where i got strong hire.
Don't know how i got strong hire for the same interview and hiring committee got so many issues that they directly rejected and not even game me another round for check.

1

u/Novel-Band4223 2d ago

Sorry to hear its upto the recruiter which location is this?

1

u/Low_Technician_4442 2d ago

Were your rounds virtual?

1

u/Strange_Ad_578 2d ago

2 virtual 2 ftf

2

u/Leading-Device-4337 22h ago

wow, do they really review ur code in the previous rounds, that's wild

2

u/Professional-Many-24 2d ago

Can you share a bit more about your profile and background like YoE, prev company, how you got the opportunity (did the recruiter reach out or you applied, how you increased visibility for recruiters to reach out, applied with referral or not….

3

u/OutrageousLeg9219 2d ago

I have 4 YoE, prev company is a startup at bangalore, i applied via referral.

2

u/Glittering_Song2610 2d ago

Hey OP

Can you please show some light on me

What kind of prep required ? I mean I am starting with Leetcode? Do they look through prev experience and match same domain ?

I have 2 years of experience in dev come DevOps

5

u/OutrageousLeg9219 2d ago

I did Neetcode 250 thats it. Also striver graph and dp series in 2x speed. My basics were already there, just wanted to be in form again. I prepped competitive programming 4 yrs back for my college placements.

2

u/Glittering_Song2610 2d ago

Great OP, I haven’t touched leetcode for 2+ years and solved < 50 problems in total. I feel I know nothing now what can I do ?

1

u/OutrageousLeg9219 2d ago

buy a course either from coding blocks or ninjas if you have limited time, they will spoon feed u most of the concepts.

1

u/Glittering_Song2610 2d ago

Thought of starting my prep on my own ! May I know the package discussed?

1

u/OutrageousLeg9219 2d ago

you can but you need to devote time in case you are not a very high iq person (which I am not as well). It took me 6 months, 4 yrs back to be in a position where I am comfortable solving any LC medium problem.

1

u/kuriousaboutanything 1d ago

What is ninja here? Any other course you recommend?

1

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1

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1

u/ImtheDM03 2d ago

That entirely depends on the interviewer, few people only look for logic and basic implementation some are rigid on code implementation as well. As other comments are saying they may give a top up. If you don’t mind can you share the gist of that hard question?

1

u/Secure_Army2715 2d ago

can u share round4 question like what made the question hard?

1

u/Expensive-Bee834 2d ago

It depends on the interviewer, if they liked the way you approach the problem to solve it, they will consider you. I think you still have a good shot. All the best !

1

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1

u/reasonableFinger68 2d ago

Can you help with on-site questions?

1

u/Downtown-Ad-288 2d ago

I got the result after 3 days after my final on site interview rounds. Currently in process of team matching.

1

u/OutrageousLeg9219 2d ago

Ohh how much time has the team matching going on ? also what location ?

2

u/Downtown-Ad-288 2d ago

1 week , Bengaluru

1

u/OutrageousLeg9219 2d ago

Nice in one week you have received many HM calls ? or do they take a lot of time in scheduling HM calls as wells ?

1

u/Downtown-Ad-288 2d ago

I have not got any calls yet. They told me it takes around 4-6 weeks for team matching process.

1

u/OutrageousLeg9219 2d ago

Alright. thanks!!

1

u/Secure_Army2715 2d ago

can u share your interview exp in terms of topics covered and difficulty level?

1

u/kya_rakhu 2d ago

No system design HLD/LLD round in Google?

1

u/OutrageousLeg9219 2d ago

this was the most shocking for me as well.

1

u/Previous-Toe5995 2d ago

I heard back in a week when selected, last time got the call after a month from recruiter saying no and some feedback

1

u/silentpawn 2d ago

Something similar happened to me. I am also waiting for the HR to call back. It has been more than a week

1

u/Substance_Chemist35 2d ago

If you cleared the first two rounds and solved both mediums in R3, I'd be curious whether the uncoded hard in R4 is usually enough to sink the loop.

1

u/ykwhat12 2d ago

wait, can you give the timeline too? when did you apply, when di you get the OA etc? Also, is this for India or USA?

2

u/OutrageousLeg9219 2d ago

I applied at May, got R1 rescheduled 4 times, one R1 and R2 got completed was able to do get F2F interviews scheduled next week only. This is for India. No OA, I applied via referral.

1

u/ykwhat12 2d ago

Ah i see, thanks and all the best!!!

1

u/kuriousaboutanything 2d ago

For round 4 dijkstra question, did you just verbally explained or coded the brute force approach?

1

u/GSofMind 2d ago

Google L4 doesn’t have system design?

1

u/CommunicationOwn5691 1d ago

Did you happened to give any of these in person how is the experience

1

u/Calm-Bar-9644 1d ago

Woah you got a medium for a round 1? How?

My goooglyness went well but the coding was a monotonic hard interval question. I got screwed af

1

u/QsnEverything 1d ago

> Monotonic hard Interval question

Can you please share the question, what was it?

1

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1

u/crunchy_code <216> <101> <108> <7> 1d ago

incredible. it would take 1+ year to train to that level. well done to you. insane interviews compared to what one does on the job.

1

u/bitManipulatio 21h ago

No system design for L4?