I just got done reading the Google Interview Questions over at Gizmodo and came to only one conclusion about them, and it is the same problem I have with most “clever” interview questions. Why bother? What does this tell you about the candidate? Can they perform under p... [More]

How can you go wrong with a jacket and tie, or a nice suit? Be well groomed, look your best, and dont think that its old fashioned and out of style. first impressions are the most lasting ones. you may be the most qualified, but if you show up looking like Smeagle from the Lord of the Rings or o... [More]

OK, I’ve had enough. People, seriously. If you are retarded, then Google doesn’t want you to work for them. Duh. I just read this poor girl’s account of an interview: The Interview Well, they asked her a question (according to her). About how much money AdWords pulls... [More]

Google came to Syracuse’s campus to recruit new graduates when I was a senior.  I attended the information session and learned which jobs I could qualify for.  I created a fancy cover letter and resume, crossed my fingers and e-mailed them my documents.  One week later I had ... [More]

Ryan Tate of Silicon Valley Insider quotes Google's director of research Peter Norvig: One of the interesting things we've found, when trying to predict how well somebody we've hired is going to perform when we evaluate them a year or two later, is one of the best indicators of... [More]

Google Interview Questions: Product Marketing Manager Why do you want to join Google? What do you know about Google's product and technology? If you are Product Manager for Google's Adwords, how do you plan to market this? What would you say during an AdWords or Ad... [More]

Interviewed Apr 2009 in Dublin, County Dublin (took 4+ weeks) Applied online, after which it took about a month for Google to get back to me regarding interviews. First interview with recruiter who did a background check after which she informed me of two additional interviews: th... [More]

I interviewed at Google for a full-time Software Engineering position after graduation. As I informed the recruiter that I had a pending offer already, they skipped the initial interview and brought me in for a full-day interview. I met with 5 engineers: two 45 minute interviews, an hour ... [More]

Question: Binary Search Tree Validity Write a function to determine whether a given binary tree of distinct integers is a valid binary search tree. Assume that each node contains a pointer to its left child, a pointer to its right child, and an integer, but not a pointer to its parent. You ... [More]

You have five pirates, ranked from 5 to 1 in descending order. The top pirate has the right to propose how 100 gold coins should be divided among them. But the others get to vote on his plan, and if fewer than half agree with him, he gets killed. How should he allocate the gold in orde... [More]

Question: Substring Write a program to determine whether an input string x is a substring of another input string y. (For example, "bat" is a substring of "abate", but not of "beat".) You may use any language you like. Sample Answer (in C++): bool hasS... [More]

Question: Deck Shuffling Given an array of distinct integers, give an algorithm to randomly reorder the integers so that each possible reordering is equally likely. In other words, given a deck of cards, how can you shuffle them such that any permutation of cards is equally likely? Good a... [More]

Classic Question #4: Reversing the words in a string Write a function to reverse the order of words in a string in place. Answer: Reverse the string by swapping the first character with the last character, the second character with the second‐to‐last character, and so on. Then, go through ... [More]

Classic Question #1: Coin Puzzle You have 8 coins which are all the same weight, except for one which is slightly heavier than the others (you don't know which coin is heavier). You also have an old‐style balance, which allows you to weigh two piles of coins to see which one is heavie... [More]

1. Please describe a data structure that accomplishes the functions INSERT and FIND-MEDIAN in the best possible asymptotic time. 2. Given a circularly sorted array, describe the fastest way to locate the largest element. 3. Given a binary search tree and an integer k, describe the most e... [More]