I applied through a recruiter. The process took 1+ week. I interviewed at Google (Mountain View, CA) in May 2015
Interview
It went from LinkedIn Recruiter to a day at Google HQ in Mountain view in 10 days.
LinkedIn direct message -> Recruiter phone call -> PM phone interview -> Flight to Mountain View (5 interviews with PM's and engineers)
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Explain the concept of "protocol" to a 4-year-old child using "ice cream store" as an analogy.
1) Call with Recruiter
2) Call with Product Manager Manager
3) On-Site, full-day. 3 morning interviews with Product Managers, lunch with a PM, and then if they morning was successful 2 interviews with a Director and a Senior Engineer. The onsite interview day itself was very disorganized with people not knowing who was interviewing me next and where I had to be. Further, the person who I was supposed to have lunch with showed up late. Each interviewer wasn't connected to the next and it felt very sporadic and unplanned.
I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Google (Seattle, WA) in Mar 2016
Interview
Pros:
- Received a recruiter email to setup a phone screen within 2 weeks of submitting resume
Cons:
- phone screen interview is pretty fixed, jumps straight into the questions within 45 min timeframe.