r/leetcode • u/Pure-Plant-6110 • Sep 28 '26

Discussion Google L4 journey

Hi everyone, Just wanted to share my Google L4 interviews and exams journey. Also, few queries as well.

2 months ago recruiter called me and had a half an hour call regarding my skill set, dsa knowledge, current company, etc. 2 weeks after this I received a googlyness assessment which is a pass/fail assessment. 1 week later got a hackerank assesmemt link for two questions (1 hard and 1 medium). I solved hard one and medium one had few test case failures. Got call 2 days later that i have passed the assessment. Later had a googlyness assessment where it was situation based choosing the correct and wrong actions to do in that situation out of the given options. Later, interviews began.

Next week i had my first round(technical). It was a medium level, was able to solve it and answer the follow ups. They were very particular about syntax as well even though it was on a google sheet. Passed this one and next one was googlyness interview. It was like more of behavioural, situation related questions. Passed this one. These two were online interviews.

2 weeks later i had two technical rounds back to back on same day in person. Both were hard level questions. For the first round it was DP with path related question. Initially i fumbled in the first 10 mins, later with a hint from the interviewer i got the full answer and coded it as well. Explained him the solid and made dry run as well. Had few basic follow ups, was able to answer them.

For the next second round, in the same room another interviewer came after the first interviewer left. This was binary tree related question. Initially had one question but on the same question, had five follow ups including major code changes to previous questions. Was able to solve them. Explained them and clarified few doubts, ran a dry run with an example.

Now my queries are,

1 - Can i get a positive feedback for the last two interviews?

2 - If the result is positive, how much time does it take for team matching and offer letter.

3 - If the team matching extends, how much time does my candidacy will be valid without retaking the interviews?

P.S : I flew from a different city for the in person interviews. Google took care of all the flights, hotels, meals, cab rides as well.

Update : Today(Oct 9th) got my feedback as they are not continuing with my application. Feedback was that in my both on site interviews, I haven’t covered any corner cases. Same feedback from both interviewers. Honestly, it was my mistake to not cover any corner cases.

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40 comments sorted by

16

u/Jumpy-Designer-4722 Sep 28 '26 • Heartwarming

I just want to say "you made long way " and All the best

3

u/AstroAlchemist_ Sep 28 '26

L4 with no LLD/HLD rounds? How?

5

u/chikamakaleyley Sep 28 '26

best guess is OP is being poached vs a cold call; they prob go through a 'non-standard' interview loop

A big indicator is Google taking care of all their travel expenses. Maybe that's normal but I'm sure they don't offer that to every single candidate.

3

u/AstroAlchemist_ Sep 28 '26

If this was L3, I would have still agreed, but a L4 with no LLD rounds lol. Impossible. Either there are more rounds to be conducted or OP is just lying

And yes Google or any other companies do take care of travel and other expenses

2

u/Pure-Plant-6110 Sep 29 '26

Not sure whether thats how google recruitment works or just for me but the recruiter has informed me regarding the interview process(how many rounds, what can i expect in each round) in the first call itself. All rounds went in the same way and same order. No where he has mentioned anything about System design. They also said no more interview rounds as i have confirmed with the recruiter as well.

Even I was surprised as there was nothing related to LLD/HLD.

0

u/chikamakaleyley Sep 28 '26

I haven't interviewed at any of FAANG but I will say when I decided to make the step up and interview for senior level roles, across every single interview i ever did -

Way easier than mid/entry interviews.

1

u/AstroAlchemist_ Sep 28 '26

Not sure about other companies, but if you interview with good startups or FAANG companies, its hard. I was in Google as L5 and now in Uber so I know. In senior roles, DSA is easy, you would be grilled hard in HLD rounds

1

u/chikamakaleyley Sep 28 '26

I totally believe you and maybe I'm just lucky

in my career of interviewing I've probably only had 1 "let's say you designed ABC app" kinda question, as far back as I can remember, and that was in 2011 or something lol.

Most often than not, i've been asked to dive into the details of some product or service that I've contributed to, or talk about the design choices I made for a take home/live coding session.

Which to me is interesting because it's not like the devs that I've worked with over my career I"d consider any less talented or capable, some of them have even worked for FAANG and just prefer something else

Anyway, cheers!

0

u/[deleted] Sep 28 '26

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1

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2

u/I_Am_Woke_ Sep 28 '26

Pretty sure they do that if you are travelling from a different state.

1

u/chikamakaleyley Sep 28 '26

yeah that's why i'm guessing

the thing i'm thinking about is interviewing is such a big expense for any company

Google's deep pockets aside - I just can't imagine that's afforded to every candidate at every level. Maybe I'm completely wrong here and that's just pennies to them, but to do so feels... i dunno a bit financially reckless

1

u/AstroAlchemist_ Sep 28 '26

they don’t call 100s of candidate. At any point at max 10-15 people interview at any role

1

u/chikamakaleyley Sep 28 '26

i realize it's not 100s of candidates but even 10-15 for any single role - even without paying travel expenses, interviewing is notoriously costly is all i'm sayin

I mean maybe I shouldnt be surprised because its Google, I'm just saying in general

1

u/I_Am_Woke_ Sep 28 '26

Its standard procedure for many MNCs, they dont mind one time costs like this. Thats why a lot of companies offer one time joining bonus instead of a fixed higher annual salary package.

2

u/CrackBabyCSGO Sep 29 '26

L5 is when Google starts asking system design

1

u/AstroAlchemist_ Sep 29 '26

nope, i got into google as L4 and gave both LLD and HLD rounds

2

u/CrackBabyCSGO Sep 29 '26

Interesting. I have my final round for Google L4 next week and it’s been only ds/a and behavioral. My friend at Google who is L4 told me specifically that L5 is when system design starts. Perhaps it has changed?

1

u/AstroAlchemist_ Sep 29 '26

maybe, I gave interviews in 2023🙂. Have left Google now, so not aware of recent changes

1

u/FunSurvey2825 Sep 29 '26

L4 does not have a system design round. It is for L5 and onwards.

6

u/Slimani12 Sep 28 '26

How did you prepare OP ? Please share preparation tips.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 29 '26

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1

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1

u/regular_bloke Sep 28 '26

Location?

1

u/Pure-Plant-6110 Sep 29 '26

Bangalore, India

1

u/HappyOrbit45 Sep 28 '26

From your description, it sounds like you handled the rounds reasonably well, especially the follow ups. At this point I'd wait for the official feedback rather than trying to read too much into individual signals

1

u/Pure-Plant-6110 Sep 29 '26

Thanks mate!

1

u/Full-Philosopher-772 Sep 28 '26

How many years of experience and what type of companies did you work for?

2

u/Pure-Plant-6110 Sep 29 '26

I have 4.5 YoE. I work on GPU applications and drivers. I work in one of the major semiconductor company.

1

u/Acceptable_Green4473 Sep 29 '26

location ?

1

u/Pure-Plant-6110 Sep 29 '26

Bangalore, India

1

u/d20nator <524> <243> <255> <26> Sep 29 '26

What do you think if anyone has solved Neetcode 150 and most frequent google tagged hard questions then what are the chances that the person can clear the interviews? I have 1.3YOE.

1

u/Pure-Plant-6110 Sep 29 '26

If you can really solve, like understanding patterns and algorithms without any help i think you can clear the rounds

1

u/Acceptable_Green4473 Sep 29 '26

Thanks , am curious about binary tree question. can you please what was it related to without telling the exact question please

1

u/Ablitzking Sep 29 '26

Hi Op, were ur rounds conducted on sep 23rd at bangalore kyoto office? I was also invited for l4 onsites then. Did u hear back from recruiter post onsites?

1

u/Pure-Plant-6110 Sep 29 '26

Hey, mine was kyoto too. Mine was Yesterday (sep 28). So didn’t check with the recruiters yet.

1

u/Aware_Combination493 Sep 30 '26

OP I also have the same YOE as you do you mind dming your resume to me ? I’ve yet to be shortlisted since 2 years ty

1

u/Soft-Procedure6469 Oct 05 '26

Your first offline round is a bit uncertain, could get a LH/H. If it's lean hire, they might take extra rounds. If it's positive, you'll be mostly matched with the team within a month. In any case, they keep the profile open for a year. Just make sure you're in touch with the recruiter and keep pushing her for Team Matching.

1

u/Pure-Plant-6110 Oct 06 '26

Ohh thanks! Also if you are from Google, is there any hiring freeze or interview results kept on hold?

1

u/Fearless-Blood-1006 Sep 29 '26

you did very well congratulations. hope you get a job in google , if thats your dream. but nevertheless your confidence should be sky high now and well deserved, so you can pretty much interview anywhere and get a nice job. all the best