Hey there, I have a Google onsite (Seattle) scheduled at some point in the future. The recruiter told me it would be for L4. YOE: 6 years. That being said, they told me I had the option of having my onsite be all coding questions, or I can have 1 of them be a systems design question. I haven't read about past Google interviewees given this choice, so this may be a recent change? I have a slight suspicion that if I were to do all coding questions and receive an offer, it'd be for L3 since I avoided systems design. I'm not the greatest at systems design questions (I'm studying for them anyway alongside LC), but I'm still leaning towards doing 3/4 coding with 1 design question. Just looking for thoughts and what other folks would choose, cheers.
Same experience for me. I have 4 yoe. They have asked me to interview to l4 but I requested them to add the system design so basically interview for l5.
Neat! Did you have your interview already? How'd that go? I wonder if pushing to do a L5 interview but not doing great on the design question (but doing well on the coding ones) would result in a L4 offer instead of a flat rejection?
They said they will consider you for l4
When is your on-site?
Planning it to be mid January due to holiday season in December.
I was told systems round would be included only for senior positions (starting from L5), and the bar would be higher from HC for extending an offer for L5. So with all coding, the max they can go is L4. And of course, Google can low ball to L3 in all cases based on interview performance.
Hmm interesting! From what I recall, the recruiter mentioned with my experience, I probably wouldn't be considered for L5, yet still gave me the systems design option (maybe to try and push me for L5 anyway)? There's also the possibility they didn't really mean 'systems-design' but more 'design-focused', so perhaps OO design? I suppose I could go all in with coding, it would keep my mindset locked in for the entire day and not switch between types of interviews (except the behavioral one).