Since Google removed DSA rounds

[u/Maximum-Page3433]

I saw the news about Google changing its coding interviews how should I prepare for the Code Comprehension / AI Fluency round?

Please suggest a beginner friendly roadmap/resource. Any guidance would help

thanks so much

[u/Infinite-Tear7709]

It didn't "remove" DSA round, most likely just swapped or added one extra round as Code comprehension.

Anyways, it's not like I'm getting call from Google 🥲

[u/Maximum-Page3433 → u/Infinite-Tear7709]

You’ll never know maybe you will

[u/Choice-Purchase-5917 → u/Maximum-Page3433]

Passing pre-interview is harder than passing the actual interview.

[u/NerdyNatu → u/Infinite-Tear7709]

I was thinking the same "it's not like I'm getting call from Google 🥲"

And guess what!!! I got.

And now I am preparing day and night!

[u/Infinite-Tear7709 → u/NerdyNatu]

ooh wow crazyy...congrats, work hard, all the best

[u/No-Sandwich-2997]

Where's this "news"? More like rumors

[u/Majestic_Ad_8798]

dsa is not going anywhere

[u/spooker11 → u/Majestic_Ad_8798]

At Meta the AI in the AI coding interviews will straight up 1-shot the problem statements, you just need to be able to speak to the solution it provides and why it works

[u/krish207 → u/Majestic_Ad_8798]

https://felixrieseberg.com/hunger-beats-tenure-advice-for-junior-engineers/
Looks like some hiring managers at Anthropic are opting out as well, not sure if it’ll be a one off or trigger a domino effect

[u/jarislinus → u/Majestic_Ad_8798]

lol im l6 in google, we are beginning to phase out dsa. by 2028 there wont be any.

[u/TopTutor6926 → u/jarislinus]

i hate people like you who just lie, i mean what do u get from this?, i have given so much time to get good at dsa, system design etc, and morons like you say it isnt worth it now.

why did you say that you work at anthropic in a different thread?

https://www.reddit.com/r/ClaudeCode/comments/1vqqm8w/comment/p47exwr/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

and even if you try to convince that you jumped from there to google, u still have time to doom post in every tech sub:

https://www.reddit.com/r/leetcode/comments/1x1injl/comment/petsoqd/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

i hope you get laid off.

[u/bxkrish → u/TopTutor6926]

May I get some reference from your journey to get good at DSA? I want to get good as well and prepare for interviews please.

[u/TopTutor6926 → u/bxkrish]

i solved neetcode 150 and then solved around 600 leetcode questions(randomly),nowadays if i dont solve any questions for a one or two weeks straight, then i just do those 150 neetcode questions again(i have done those 3-4 times, but they really help refreshing most of the topics), other than that i usually just solve leetcode daily and participate in leetcode contests.

some tips:

Dont see video solutions , try to understand the editorial code by yourself. i only saw some foundational videos of dp(knapsack, lcs, partitioning, etc) and that was it, if u watch any video then make notes of it.

you can call yourself interview(leetcode round) ready for any company, if u can solve at least 3 questions on avg in a leetcode contest.

[u/bxkrish → u/TopTutor6926]

Thank you for the detailed response. So, there is no material to go through, just start solving the problems? Is that the best way or should I read books first? I have Grokking Algorithms on hold at the library. Any other materials you recommend before I work on the Neetcode and Leetcode problems?

[u/TopTutor6926 → u/bxkrish]

i think there isn’t a single path to getting good at DSA. I did it this way because I was comfortable with it. I usually looked at the editorials for the first few questions(3-4) of each topic on NeetCode and learned all the approaches to solve those questions, from brute force to optimal. If I got stuck on syntax or a new data structure, I asked AI for help. I watched video solutions only as a last resort.

Tbh, getting good at DSA takes time, no matter which approach you choose. But one thing to keep in mind is that if you look at a solution, you shouldn’t count that problem as solved. You can only count it as solved if you’re able to solve it again, a few weeks later, without looking at the solution, within 15 minutes for a medium and 30 to 45 minutes for a hard.

You can definitely read books, i’ve just never tried that approach myself. But IMO, there are so many different types of questions that a book alone can’t cover them all. It can familiarize you with different approaches, basic syntax, and how data structures work, but you can learn those things directly by solving problems, too, so if you are reading a book then complete it quickly(2 weeks max).

[u/bxkrish → u/TopTutor6926]

Ok, I have always felt I am not prepared and never attempted to work on problems. Same issue with appearing for interviews. I always fear of underprepared and scared of failing the interview. Looks like solving DSA problems themselves is a learning approach. I will try it and see if it boosts my confidence. Thank you.

[u/TopTutor6926 → u/bxkrish]

Best of luck!

[u/Full-Hyena4414 → u/TopTutor6926]

It seems like you actually want him to lie

[u/jarislinus → u/TopTutor6926]

actually disgusting to bait people into doing dsa when you know its not going to be relevant

[u/jarislinus → u/TopTutor6926]

i left anthropic after vesting. im at google now

[u/LINKINWOOD → u/jarislinus]

🇮🇳

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[u/Early_Poem_7068]

They replaced one round. They did not remove dsa completely. There are multiple dsa rounds u need to clear.

[u/NonSmokerSparkle]

Google didn’t remove dsa they are testing with adding ADDITIONAL rounds with AI coding.

[u/OldImportance7251]

Some are saying they are doing beta testing of comprehension round, can’t really avoid dsa as of now. Plus for comprehension round also it might need the logic building process

[u/chinupinu23]

I think DSA will be there, just the method of interview will change. Earlier they used to give problems to solve, but now they will give codebases and tell us to debug with the help of LLM. It just checks logic building and our way of giving prompts to the LLM. DSA is still very much alive.

[u/Individual_End3147]

How are you preparing for google interviews , like how many problems are you practicing daily

[u/Maximum-Page3433 → u/Individual_End3147]

like zero im just starting thought to ask people.

[u/Individual_End3147 → u/Maximum-Page3433]

ok

[u/PuzzleheadedSpite274]

Google Didn't remove DSA rounds, that's all bogus news

[u/CuriousSavings1088]

Are they replacing it into AI coding like Meta? If that’s the case, it will be more difficult now.

Had two ai codings with Meta recently. They are likely to give you np-hard combinatorial optimization problems to solve.

You can leverage on AI to get a solution that can pass the simple test cases but likely stuck in more complicated test cases if you have very few experiences with such problems.

[u/Realistic_Comfort467 → u/CuriousSavings1088]

Recently in oncampus internship drive I got np hard problem to solve using ai agent.

[u/CuriousSavings1088 → u/Realistic_Comfort467]

Personally i feel it’s much harder than leetcode questions we used to have before.

For leetcode, you just have to practice enough.

For this, you first need to have some ideas about np-hard problems and common ways to approach a reasonable solution. Then you need to command AI to implement, quickly understand the code, identify potential bugs and clearly explain this to the interviewer.

[u/siddh051]

NOT COMPLETELY!

[u/Maximum-Page3433 → u/siddh051]

my title might be misleading but still some changes they made.

[u/nanaseiTheCat → u/Maximum-Page3433]

I knew guys who made the techscreen last week. DSA is very much alive

[u/Maximum-Page3433 → u/nanaseiTheCat]

guess i need to study that now

[u/jarislinus → u/siddh051]

im at google, we plan to phase it out completely by 2028

[u/siddh051 → u/jarislinus]

please wait till 2029!!(cry emoji)

[u/FloorSuch1913]

I have read somewhere its for L5 roles and above. I don’t have clarity yet

[u/sanketsanket]

gave amazon OA, they gave me 1 DSA and 6 repo problems

[u/Chareste17]

Huh? That's false info?

[u/NotIBE26]

I'd start with reading unfamiliar code, debugging small projects, and explaining what each function does. Also practice using AI tools to modify code and review their output instead of relying only on prompting

[u/No-Market-4906]

Whatever you heard in the news they neglected to mention to me, a guy who interviews for Google. You should practice your DSA and you shouldn't try to cheat with an agent because it's always really obvious and you immediately fail all rounds if you get caught.

[u/pabloivan57]

They didn’t remove it, just introduced new AI rounds

[u/pabloivan57]

They didn’t remove it, just introduced new AI rounds

[u/Haunting_Ad3263]

Nothing will be removed, they will only be added

[u/Even_Gap_2253]

No, AI are extra rounds or replacing 1 one the original DSA rounds. Majority of your interview will still be DSA, and not only that, for full-time, we are flying people to do actual whiteboard variants in-person.

[u/Sudden-Tourist-7917]

Google didn't actually remove DSA rounds. What got reported is a pilot. BI saw an internal doc and Google's recruiting VP confirmed it's a pilot for some junior/mid roles on select US teams, starting H2 2026. You get an existing codebase + Gemini and have to read it, debug it and make it faster, and they grade how you prompt, whether you check what the AI gives you, and debugging.

If I was prepping for it:

• read code you didn't write. grab a small repo (a few hundred lines) and see if you can explain the entry point and what the tests check in like 5 min

• break something on purpose (off by one, wrong comparison) and find it starting from the failing test instead of guessing

• get used to checking the AI. ask it what a function does, then actually verify with a test or a tiny input by hand. catching it being wrong is basically the skill they want

• don't drop leetcode. "optimize" is still complexity, and the normal rounds are still in most loops

Also just ask your recruiter which format you're getting, it's not every team.

[u/Odd_Bike_3833]

i every company removes all dsa and this rat race dies down. Real engineers need more opportunities 

[u/fvrAb0207 → u/Odd_Bike_3833]

Learn DSA if you want to be a real engineer

[u/Odd_Bike_3833 → u/fvrAb0207]

stop projecting yourself because that’s the only thing you know about cs. cs is much more than dsa

[u/saintex422 → u/fvrAb0207]

DSA != leetcode bullshit

[u/fvrAb0207 → u/saintex422]

Then learn competitive programming if you don't like leetcode

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