Got an interview with Google for the technical phone screen. They want me to schedule within 2-4 weeks. I recently did a long data structures/algorithms online course as a refresher from college. Also bought Cracking the Coding Interview. I plan on going through the whole book, doing as much as I can. 1) Is there any harm in scheduling it 3 or 4 weeks out? 2) What should be my main focus of study? I have Leetcode Premium, plan on doing 1-2 hours a day after work and then possibly 3-4 on weekends. Along with the problems in Cracking the Coding Interview. 3) I was told I would be coding in a blank Google Doc (no IDE). Do they then worry more about approach or what? YOE: 5, TC: 120k (hope to change that soon!)
If you have enough time to prepare, I suggest going through 200~300 Leetcode questions (30/50/20) split on easy/medium/hard questions.
So my plan is, each morning do ~45 min of Leetcode before work (probably 2 easy, or 1 medium/hard) to kind of simulate the phone screen (without looking at Discussion/Solution), then after work doing 1-2 hours each night studying the topic of whatever the Leetcode problem covered (DP, graph traversal, etc.) to get better experience with that topic, then after look at the Discussion board for that specific Leetcode problem to see what everyone's solutions were and really grasp the thought process behind them. Do you think doing that consistently is the best way to prepare?
Read the introduction of CTCI and follow it on the phone interview. They do use blank Google Docs to code in for the phone interview, but I don’t find this to be much of a problem. Still should practice it just in case you find it more difficult initially. Recruiters can easily schedule it 4 weeks out, that is not a problem and doesn’t reflect poorly on you at all. Heck my first phone interview with Google was scheduled two months after I was initially contacted by the recruiter, long story. Good luck, I also have a phone interview with them in two weeks though I’ve been preparing on and off for the last 5 months.
When you say intro of CTCI, which part are you talking about? I have read through Big O, and am now on the Technical Questions chapter. I plan on doing/attempting every problem in the book, as well as thoroughly reading through the solutions,
Everything before chapter 1. So basically yeah, the BigO and Technical Questions part. For what its worth I was able to convert a phone interview to an onsite based on just reading that last year. I had no leetcode and no CTCI practice at that point. I just solved the problem based on how she describes the solving process with the tips in mind. Also, expect delays when hearing back from your recruiter. 2-3 week delays are even possible. Don’t fret and keep studying for the interviews.
Can i ask google recruiter to contact me again after 6 months and schedule interview?
You should probably schedule it 6-8 weeks out tbh...
Yeah maybe I'll email the recruiter and see if I can do that.