Google Software Engineer Onsite: No Phone Screen, Four Coding Rounds, Offer (2020)

GoogleSoftware Engineer·Remote (virtual interview due to COVID-19)·Interviewed March 2020Offer

Updated July 17, 2026

A candidate with a nontraditional background — four years in a federal government rotational program, followed by two startups doing applied cryptography and general engineering work — had been fielding periodic outreach from a Google recruiter for roughly two years, ever since an earlier phone screen attempt hadn't gone well. When the candidate signaled they were ready to interview around May or June, the recruiter suggested starting the process in February instead. At that point the recruiter told the candidate a phone screen wasn't necessary and scheduled a single-day virtual onsite for March 25, held over video call because of COVID-19. The candidate was interviewing with several other companies in the same window, but this account covers the Google side of that process.

The onsite ran most of the day, broken up by a 45-minute lunch, and covered four coding rounds plus one behavioral round. The candidate felt the rounds went reasonably well overall: one array problem produced a working but not fully optimal solution, a tree-traversal round included a missed edge case that was corrected before time ran out, and the behavioral round — helped by preparation the candidate had done for a concurrent Amazon interview — went smoothly. Given Google's reputation for a slow process, the candidate was surprised to hear back with a pass just two days after the onsite; the Hiring Committee approved the candidate about two weeks later, and an initial offer of roughly $280k per year in total compensation (including a signing bonus spread across four years) followed.

How the process went

Recruiter outreach
A Google recruiter had periodically checked in for about two years after the candidate's earlier phone screen attempt hadn't gone well; when the candidate said they'd be ready to interview around May or June, the recruiter suggested starting in February instead.
Scheduling
The recruiter told the candidate a phone screen wasn't necessary and they could move straight to the onsite; the onsite was set for March 25, giving the candidate roughly a month to prepare.
Onsite loop
A single-day virtual onsite (held over video call because of COVID-19) with a 45-minute lunch break, made up of four coding rounds and one behavioral round.
Decision
The candidate heard back with a pass two days after the onsite, despite having been told Google's process usually runs slowly. The Hiring Committee approved the candidate on April 6, a team-fit meeting followed on April 10, and offer details arrived April 16 with an initial package of about $280k per year in total compensation, including a signing bonus amortized over four years.

Onsite round 1

Coding — array problem (LeetCode-hard)

A LeetCode-hard difficulty array problem (the candidate withheld the exact prompt, citing an NDA).

The candidate arrived at a working solution within the time limit, though it wasn't fully optimal.

Onsite round 2

Coding — recursion

A LeetCode-easy-level recursion problem.

The candidate thought the interviewer might also have been evaluating code design or structure in this round, not just correctness.

Onsite round 3

Coding — array processing

A LeetCode-medium array-processing problem (exact prompt withheld, citing an NDA).

The candidate identified two possible approaches right away, picked one, and implemented it without issues.

Onsite round 4

Coding — tree traversal

A LeetCode-medium tree-traversal problem (exact prompt withheld, citing an NDA).

The candidate initially missed an edge case but was able to fix it before time ran out.

Onsite round 5 — Behavioral

Behavioral

An hour of 'Tell me about a time when...' style behavioral questions.

The candidate felt this round went well, crediting preparation for a concurrent Amazon interview loop — which leaned heavily behavioral — as useful groundwork.

Key takeaways

If a recruiter offers to skip the phone screen, don't skip your own prep — in this account the onsite still opened with two back-to-back coding rounds with no warm-up.
Practicing behavioral questions for one company's process can carry over directly to another's; the candidate found preparation done for a concurrent Amazon interview useful in Google's behavioral round.
A solution that works but isn't fully optimal can still be enough to pass a round — the candidate's first coding round went through despite not being the most efficient approach.
Catching and fixing a missed edge case before the round ends can matter more than getting a solution right on the first pass under time pressure.
A company's reputation for a slow process doesn't guarantee a slow timeline for every candidate — this one heard back within two days of the onsite.

Source

The questions and process facts come from the candidate's public write-up, linked below. The retelling above is our own summary.

Candidate's public write-up on LeetCode Discuss