CrackingWalnuts
Checked 3 August 2026. Google states that a committee decides and names the four attributes it scores. Round counts and timeline are commonly reported by candidates, not published. Source: careers.google.com/how-we-hire.
| Round | Duration | What it tests |
|---|---|---|
| Phone Screen (Coding) | 45 min | One medium problem. Complexity analysis required. Sets your loop slate. |
| Coding Round 1 | 45 min | Algorithm or data structure. Often graphs, trees, or DP. Complexity strict. |
| Coding Round 2 | 45 min | Different problem space. Hard variant common. |
| System Design | 45 min | One open-ended design. Pick one part and go deep, not breadth-only. |
| Googleyness and Leadership | 45 min | Six attributes probed via stories. Calibrated rubric. |
Targeted guidance per round in this loop. Each section links to the matching track on the site. There is no shortcut list, the bar moves loop to loop, so build the pattern recognition and the stories from real practice.
Work the pattern templates until the recognition is instant. Trace one mock problem per pattern. Practice stating time and space complexity out loud before you write code.
Google L5 (Senior Software Engineer) has one design round: System Design (45 min): One open-ended design. Pick one part and go deep, not breadth-only.. Bar is owning a non-trivial design end to end, with capacity numbers, a clear data model, and one deep dive you can defend under push-back. Pick problems from the track at the scale this loop tests and rehearse the structure: requirements, numbers, high-level design, data model, API, deep dive on one part, trade-offs.
Senior bar. The rubric shifts from execution to ownership at scope, judgment, cross-functional impact, and being calibrated on what is hard. Every story needs alternatives considered and what you would do differently. Googleyness (humility, conscientiousness, comfort with ambiguity) is the framework to map stories to.