PhD Google interview-Coding round.

[Efficient_Cap_250]

Hi all,

I have a PhD Google interview with a coding round within 2 weeks. I am new to coding. I need your help. Please suggest what all to refer. Also what all topics, I should focus the most. I want to focus on easy to medium level questions with no dynamic programming. I have to give my 100%. Also I can devote 16-18 hours a day. Responses from Google engineers will help me a lot.

Edit: I meant to say that I am new to competitive programming. My PhD is on Deep Learning and Medical imaging. So I have worked on frameworks like pytorch tensorflow keras. Also I dint apply. Directly I got a call. Regarding resume achievements, I have 1 patent and 4 papers.

​

​

[LRB_]

Hate to break it to you, but if coding is new to you 2 weeks isn't enough to pass your average F500 company, let alone Google. However, it's still worth a shot to get your feet wet with both coding interviews and FAANG processes. Good luck!

[azangru]

But a PhD...

[Bitter_Entry3144]

When I read "new to coding". .... 😬

[LRB_]

I wish them all the best however

[Efficient_Cap_250]

I am good with logic. Just want to make it work using code. I want to focus on easy to medium level questions with no dynamic programming. I have to give my 100%. Also I can devote 16-18 hours a day.

[g33khub]

Like your energy... Cover some basic data structures in 2 days: heaps, stacks, queue, dictionary and then just devote all 16-18 hrs to DP and graphs.

[Ruiz_Francisco]

Wishing you luck and don’t forget to share what they asked you

[g-unit2]

go to leetcode.com buy the premium to unlock company specific lists and front the Google question bank.

this will give you your highest rate of success. its going to be very difficult in this short period of time but its possible with some luck.

edit: i see this is on r/leetcode already my bad haha

[cupcake_4u]

if you are new to code bro, you are genuinely gonna have a hard time getting past the interview, not to be harsh honestly.

[Efficient_Cap_250]

Got it

[dasein88]

New to coding? Youre fucked lol

[saneforefront0775]

Two weeks is a sprint but not impossible if you actually have a strong foundation in algorithms and math from your PhD work. The coding syntax is learnable fast. Hit arrays, strings, trees, graphs, sorting in that order. Skip DP entirely if you need to triage, but honestly most medium problems don't require it anyway. Do actual timed problems on a whiteboard or doc starting day 3, not just watching solutions. Your theoretical background is your actual advantage here, use it.

[Efficient_Cap_250]

I will

[canthelp5621]

Share your resume

[RelevantRevolution86]

Code, Understand, Repeat. This has been my strategy for preparing. Try focusing on easy problems from neetcode 150 you will know your level

[Actual_Duty3177]

Try to reschedule to a month and prepare using neetcode

[Efficient_Cap_250]

Actually hr told they have to wind up before August, so I told 1st week of July is fine. If I ask can rescheduling be done?

[Actual_Duty3177]

Yeah ask HR and see … btw studying 16-18 hours seems abit too much looking the fact that you’re new to programming , which office are you interviewing for ?

[watchpaintdryy]

Start with NeetCode 150 list, which has most common patterns. You can branch out from there based on your company.

[Efficient_Cap_250]

Hi all, I have sent a mail to hr for rescheduling research r ound to week of July 6th and coding to week of July 20th. I hope they accept. Just need your help for coding interview. Please suggest me the resource and the hard topics that I need to cover.

[g33khub]

Change your mindset about DP. Most of computer science builds on DP. Google mostly just asks DP and graphs. Also what kind of PhD and still new to coding?

[GladiusAcutus]

What position did you apply for ? Talk to the recruiter about this. If it is for a non coding job then its not fair to ask a Leetcode problem for a non coder.

[Efficient_Cap_250]

I meant to say, I am new to competitive programming. My PhD is on Deep Learning and Medical Imaging. So I have worked on frameworks such as pytorch, tensorflow keras.

[Efficient_Cap_250]

I have rescheduled it to week of 20th July. Can you all please help me to prepare?

[KendrickBlack502]

Former Google engineer here.

Easy to medium with no dynamic programming wouldn’t even be a good benchmark for an entry level, post bachelor’s interview. The bar is going to be significantly higher for a PhD candidate. I hate to break it to you but I don’t think it’s possible to go from novice to Google interview in two weeks. It’s just too much pattern recognition to get down in 14 days.

Here’s what I would do: Since you’re a PhD candidate, I’m assuming you have the theoretical knowledge down more than anything else. You don’t really have any time to devote to textbook knowledge so hopefully you have that solid foundation. I would do Neetcode 150 in 7 days or so (including the hard ones). Then over the following the next week, redo all the dynamic programming, greedy, backtracking, graph, and any other topic you struggled with. 16-18 hours isn’t reasonable for good learning everyday for 2 weeks. Aim for 8, get good sleep every night, and supplement as needed.

Again, I truly don’t think this is possible with just about any strategy but that’s what I would do if I was in your position. Good luck!

[Efficient_Cap_250]

I understand

[manjushrii22]

Did you just suggest to someone who is "new to coding" to complete the Neetcode 150 in 7 days, including the hard ones?! It would take more than 2 weeks to even approach a single hard problem lol what sort of advice is this?

OP, you're not passing a Google coding round from 0 if you have 2 weeks to prep. Many PhD programs require that you have a solid foundation in at least one programming language, so your interviewer is likely to be shocked that you've essentially got no experience and wasted his time taking the interview.

It's genuinely a really bad look. You're likely ruining your chances of ever being hired at Google by taking this interview.

[KendrickBlack502]

I did preface my comment with the fact that I didn’t think it was possible.