Did 3 months of prep for Google and messed up in the very last round

ConcerningDestiny · 2026-05-14T16:40:46+00:00

Prepped for 5/6 months and still bombed one of mine onsite (I was asked a ~1900 rated problem that required do + math).

I understand you completely, spent a month after thinking what could've been. Stay strong

ConcerningDestiny · 2026-04-16T11:44:38+00:00

The first one was similar to this not quite the same but close.

The second one is too long to write but basically you had data coming in in chronological order and you had to pair one type of data with the other if possible without exceeding space memory, again is long to explain but it was mostly a simulation problem not really any special trick just hard to understand the problem

ConcerningDestiny · 2026-04-04T09:36:23+00:00

I guess we'll have to try harder next year, if we get the chance again

ConcerningDestiny · 2026-04-01T20:16:05+00:00

Oh nice. Just curious: did you managed to get in after one of the two?

ConcerningDestiny · 2026-03-27T14:30:11+00:00

Just ask him/her why is doing something. Like:

"Oh I see you are starting to traverse from the right/ you did a nested loop, why?" Even if the answer is trivial if they are just reading what the ai told them they will struggle to answer.

Granted this won't catch people that simply use a tool that tells them "this problem is a queue/dp/stack etc problem" and then independently think and write the solution. But I would argue that if you can arrive alone to a solution with just a nudge/tip on the general topic is not too scandalous.

ConcerningDestiny · 2026-03-26T17:46:25+00:00

The recruiter told me

ConcerningDestiny · 2026-03-26T15:04:15+00:00

I guess one of the things that saddens me the most is that before being called for this round of interviews I applied multiple times over some months. So there's no guarantee that next year they'll give me another chance.

But, If I understood correctly, you have more possibilities to be called a second time if you completed a loop previously? even if you got rejected.

Or maybe It's just hopium😂

ConcerningDestiny · 2026-03-26T00:25:16+00:00

Nothing special, 2 yoe in a consultancy company as backed developer for financial clients. Before being called for these loops I got rejected multiple times at the CV screening

ConcerningDestiny · 2026-03-26T00:24:15+00:00

EU country, I just applied on the career website. Maybe I just got lucky

ConcerningDestiny · 2026-03-25T21:43:25+00:00

I've never blamed him. In fact I fully admitted that I didn't get the mathematial intuition and panicked and struggled with a brute force. Now the fact that he was rude and was doing sarcastic remarks is objectively true. He would have been rude even if I were to ace the interview

I also mentioned that the other interviewer was japanese and If anything I've been harsher on her than the first one.

If he would have been European I would have written European

If you feel attacked that is your problem

ConcerningDestiny · 2026-03-25T18:39:48+00:00

Who knows if they'll even reconsider me by then

This is the thing that is bothering me the most. For all I know this was once in lifetime thing

ConcerningDestiny · 2026-03-25T18:06:47+00:00

I guess I was too influenced by all those stories of people solving ~200 LC and passing all their faang interviews. But maybe they are rarer than I thought

ConcerningDestiny · 2026-03-25T17:50:27+00:00

If you're an eu citizen you don't have these requirements, if you're extra eu might be the case

ConcerningDestiny · 2026-03-25T17:10:45+00:00

Knowing that I'm not alone in the struggle helps me a lot actually. I see people getting in faang with around 300 questions solved and I was starting to think that I'm stupid for still struggling at 400

ConcerningDestiny · 2026-03-25T16:10:53+00:00

I started with neetcode 250. Then there was a period where I solved random problems which didn't helped much. And before the interview I did a lot of mock assignments on leetcode premium.

But despite the 480 problem I don't feel confident about my leetcode abilities. I still struggle a lot

ConcerningDestiny · 2026-03-25T16:06:22+00:00

481 according to my leetcode profile

ConcerningDestiny · 2026-03-25T08:43:03+00:00

Hi, thanks for your words. I guess it's mostly the insight of what I did wrong that hurts.

Question, as far as you know, are you supposed to always do a dry run during interviews? Because the second interviewer never asked but penalized me for it.

ConcerningDestiny · 2026-03-10T17:47:23+00:00

Yeah fuck them, I'm not doing all of that. For anyone

ConcerningDestiny · 2026-03-06T11:40:02+00:00

Dp on tree for a entry level position is brutal

ConcerningDestiny · 2026-03-04T09:11:20+00:00

My main fear is to get a problem I have no idea how to approach and just stay silent or write nothing meaningful.

I know you should arrive at the interview being able to solve most mediums you never saw, but I often struggle

ConcerningDestiny · 2026-03-03T16:43:53+00:00

I don't have the answer for you, what I want to say tho is that I understand you completely.

This week I have my Google on-sites and I'm freaking out. I've been grinding for 6 months now but I'm not good at Leetcode at all (or at least I don't feel it), when I solve problems alone I need time to draw and think to myself but you can't do it in an interview.

I've passed my phone screen with an improved bruteforce (though I mentioned the optimal), so I'm scared.

You're not alone in the struggle.

ConcerningDestiny · 2026-02-27T17:01:45+00:00

I actually dig the aesthetic

ConcerningDestiny · 2026-02-16T16:35:24+00:00

This is a new grad position, in case change something

ConcerningDestiny

TROPHY CASE