Google Interview Experience For SWE Internship (Off-campus)

I applied for the Google software engineering internship at the Google career portal without any referral. The internship application process at Google consisted of four rounds:

1. Resume Shortlisting
2. Telephonic Round (30 minutes)
3. Technical Interview 1 (45 minutes)
4. Technical Interview 2 (45 minutes)

Round 1: Resume Shortlisting

I attached my resume with all the details of my coursework, projects, and other relevant experience; fortunately, it was shortlisted for the subsequent round.

Round 2: Telephonic Round

This round consisted of a 30-minute call with a Google interviewer. The subject of discussion was more behavioural and introductory questions

Some of the questions that were asked:

• “Tell me about yourself and why you are interested in this role?”
• “How are you a better candidate than others?”
• “Describe a challenging situation you faced and how you handled it.”.

In an attempt to provide brief yet detailed responses that demonstrate my problem-solving abilities about my education as well as my experience; it turns out though that my answers fell short.

Verdict: Rejected

A week after my telephonic round, they decided not to move forward as there was a high volume of applications received for limited internship positions stating that they were impressed with some parts of my application.

Lessons Learned:

Though the outcome was disheartening, the experience has been helpful to me to improve especially in articulating my contributions and differentiation from other candidates.

Getting to the telephone rounds in a company such as Google is very hard given how competitive it is while being a great achievement. I feel lucky because I have gone through these stages. They helped me understand what kinds of questions are likely to come up during other employment discussions so that I can prepare better.