Interview

During phone or Google Hangout interviews, you’ll speak with a potential peer or manager.

For software engineering roles, your phone/Hangout discussion will last between 30 and 60 minutes. When answering coding questions, you’ll talk through your thought process while writing code in a Google Doc that you’ll share with your interviewer. We recommend using a hands-free headset or speakerphone so you can type freely.

Your phone interview will cover data structures and algorithms. Be prepared to write around 20-30 lines of code in your strongest language. Approach all scripting as a coding exercise — this should be clean, rich, robust code:

For all other roles, your phone/Hangout discussion will last between 30 and 45 minutes. Be prepared for behavioral, hypothetical, or case-based questions that cover your role-related knowledge.

You'll usually meet with four Googlers—some potential teammates and some cross-functional—for about 30 to 45 minutes each.

All candidates will have the chance to highlight strengths in four different areas:

For software engineering candidates, we want to understand your coding skills and technical areas of expertise, including tools or programming languages and general knowledge on topics like data structures and algorithms. There's generally some back and forth in these discussions, just like there is on the job, because we like to push each other's thinking and learn about different approaches. So be prepared to talk through your solutions in depth. Push your own boundaries and find the best answer—that’s probably how you work anyway.

Technical onsite interviews at Google were historically conducted on whiteboards, but to provide a more authentic coding experience that’s less time-consuming, we've started to offer laptops for coding interviews in some sites. These Chromebooks have an interview app that lets you choose a coding language of your preference.

Throughout the interview process, feel free to ask your interviewers for clarification to make sure you fully understand their questions. And feel free to interview us, too. Ask questions—about the work, about the team, about the culture—that will help you decide whether the job will be right for you.

Here's our advice to help you be ready for your interview.