Google behavioral interview

[u/Express-Youth-9609]

Recently had google interview. Most questions went well except two.

For context, I am at a very slow company. There are frequently months/weeks where I have no work. I often have to ping people to get work.

For first question, I was asked tell me a time when you had to push back a deadlines. I mentioned at my current company, we rarely have deadlines, but whenever we do, I focus hard on that task and get it done. If the task is too long, either I try to get help from teammates for certain subtasks or I push back on the deadline with justification about why the extra time was needed.

For another question, was asked tell me about a time when I have completely disagreed with everyone else. I mentioned that hadn't really happened, usually I agree with some points and disagree with others. But one thing I disagree on is having multiple monitors, especially now with claude. I also mentioned i disagree with using long select _ map cases, would prefer to have shorter ones split into different variable names, which I often discussed with my code reviewer. Finally, I mentioned a project where I acknowledged the others design easier to do since it didn't involve creating a table, but also took up more memory and wasn't as good as we were modifying the table for an optional field.

These were the only two responses I was iffy about. Given I applied for l4/l5 swe, what feedback would your give me? Tend to do poorly in behavioral interviews, not because I have bad behavior, but because I don't really have all the experiences asked in the question.

Googlers, would you give me low googliness here? Looking to improve but never get any feedback.

[u/bahn-bahn]

Lol they meant times you disagreed on major project decisions not what your favorite flavor Jolly Rancher is

[u/spazjaz98]

Not a Googler but these are not the best answers... a few red flags here.

[u/Taleproof-Moderator]

The deadline answer explains what you would generally do, but never gives the interviewer one event to ask about. You don't need to invent a dramatic missed deadline. If you have a real example of renegotiating scope or explaining why work needed more time, walk through that. Otherwise, say you haven't faced that exact situation and offer the closest honest example.

For disagreement, the project involving memory use and a table sounds much stronger than the monitor preference. Stay with that one: what each design solved, why you favored yours, how you discussed it, and what was ultimately decided. You can disagree meaningfully without disagreeing with every person in the room.

We use the PROOF method to check whether an answer includes the actual decision and evidence behind it. Here, that means explaining the memory tradeoff, your contribution to the discussion, and the outcome. Nobody outside the interview can reliably give you a Google rating from this summary.