The Ultimate List of Google Interview Topics for Tech Roles in 2024

Introduction

Getting a job at Google is something many tech professionals dream about, but landing that position requires careful preparation. Google has a reputation for its tough interview process, which covers a broad range of subjects for tech jobs. Knowing these “Google Interview Topics” and getting good at them can improve your odds of success.

This guide will break down the main Google Interview Topics you should focus on, give you sample questions, and offer advice on how to tackle each area. If you’re a software engineer, data scientist, or tech lead, this complete list will help you get ready.

Google Interview Topics: Data Structures

Data structures are one of the favorite Google interview topics and form the base for many technical jobs at Google. Those running interviews expect job seekers to know different data structures well and understand when and how to use them to solve problems.

Key Data Structures to Learn:

• Arrays and Strings: You need to know how to index, move through, and change arrays and strings.
  • Sample Questions:
    1. “Find the part of an integer array with the biggest total.”
    2. “Check if a string has one of each character.”
    3. “Move an array of k steps to the right.”
• Linked Lists: Get ready to tackle problems with single, double, and round linked lists.
  • Sample Questions:
    1. “Turn a linked list backward.”
    2. “Spot a loop in a linked list.”
    3. “Join two sorted linked lists.”
• Stacks and Queues: Coders often use these in algorithm challenges for tasks that deal with operation order.
  • Sample Questions:
    1. “Build a queue with two stacks.”
    2. “Use a stack to figure out a postfix expression.”
    3. “Create a stack that can push, pop, and find the smallest element .”
• Trees and Graphs: Tests frequently cover topics like binary trees, AVL trees, and ways to move through graphs (BFS, DFS).
  • Sample Questions:
    1. “Spot the closest shared ancestor in a binary tree.”
    2. “Create a function to check if a binary tree is balanced.”
    3. “Use Dijkstra’s algorithm to find the shortest path in a weighted graph.”

Getting ready for Google’s tech interviews? Take a look at our in-depth guide on Google Company Interview Questions.

Google Interview Topics: Algorithms

Algorithms are at the heart of Google’s technical interviews and come in the category of very important Google interview topics. You need to be skilled at creating, examining, and putting algorithms into practice.

Key Algorithms to Study:

• Sorting and Searching: Master the implementation and optimization of common sorting methods (quick sort, merge sort) and search techniques (binary search).
  • Sample Questions:
    1. “Code a function to do a binary search on a sorted array.”
    2. “Order an array of 0s, 1s, and 2s without using a sorting method.”
    3. “Identify the k-th largest item in an unsorted array.”
• Dynamic Programming: This subject is complex but plays a key role in Google interviews.
  • Sample Questions:
    1. “Address the knapsack problem using dynamic programming.”
    2. “Get the longest increasing subsequence in an array.”
    3. “Work out the edit distance between two strings.”

Key Tip: Explain your thinking process and think about unusual situations when talking about algorithms.

To practice more, check out algorithm challenges on LeetCode, a site many Google applicants use.

Google Interview Topics: System Design

System design plays a crucial role in higher-level positions. Google wants people who can create systems that scale well, work, and handle millions of users.

Essential System Design Google Interview Topics:

• Scalability: Figure out how to build systems that can grow both sideways and upwards.
  • Sample Questions:
    1. “Come up with a URL shortening service.”
    2. “How would you make a database bigger to handle millions of transactions every second?”
    3. “Create a file storage system that’s spread out.”
• Load Balancing: Get a grip on how to spread traffic across many servers.
  • Sample Questions:
    1. “Build a load balancer for a web app with lots of traffic.”
    2. “Tell us how you’d put a round-robin load balancing algorithm into action.”
    3. “Come up with a system that can deal with lots of users for a live streaming service.”

• Caching Strategies: Know different caching methods and when you should use them.
  • Sample Questions:
    1. “Create a caching system for data people often access.”
    2. “Talk about ways to clear the cache in a system with many parts.”
    3. “How would you make a read-heavy app work better with caching?”
• Database Design: Understand the basics of making databases normal using indexes, and copying data.
  • Sample Questions:
    1. “Make a database plan for an online shop website.”
    2. “What steps can you take to improve a database’s performance for tasks that involve reading data?”
    3. “What sets SQL and NoSQL databases apart, and when should you pick one over the other?”

Key Point: In system design interviews make sure to be clear, think about how things can grow, and plan for when things go wrong.

If you want to learn more about system design, check out our blog on typical system design interview questions. It’s got some helpful info.

Google Interview Topics: Coding and Scripting

Being good at coding is a must for any tech job at Google. You need to know how to write clean fast code in at least one programming language. Coding is one of the most important Google interview topics.

Languages Important Part of Google Interview Topics:

• Python: People like it because it’s easy to read and write.
  • Sample Tasks:
    1. “Create a Python script to grab data from a website.”
    2. “Build a function to read a JSON object.”
    3. “Make a Python program to test if a string reads the same forwards and backward.”
• Java: Many big systems use it.
  • Sample Tasks:
    1. “Build a Java class that’s safe for multiple threads and has one instance.”
    2. “Write Java code to find the longest shared start in a list of strings.”
    3. “Create a Java system where multiple threads make and use items.”
• C++: regarded for its speed and user control.
  • Sample Tasks:
    1. “Make a C++ program use less memory.”
    2. “Create a C++ function that multiplies matrices.”
    3. “Develop a C++ program to determine the middle number in two ordered lists.”
• JavaScript: A must-know for front-end jobs.
  • Sample Tasks:
    1. “Code a JavaScript function to slow down a frequent event.”
    2. “Build a JavaScript function to change the DOM.”
    3. “Design a JavaScript-powered menu that updates itself.”

Key Tip: Create code that works well and is simple to read. Google cares about how good your code is just as much as if it’s correct.

Get better at coding by tackling challenges on HackerRank, another site many tech companies use for interviews.

Google Interview Topics: Behavioral Questions

Behavioral questions aim to evaluate how you match Google’s culture and deal with real-life problems and hence are a key part of Google interview topics.

Common Behavioral Google Interview Topics:

• Leadership:
  • Sample Questions:
    1. “Tell me about a time you guided your team through a tough spot.”
    2. “What’s your approach to get your team fired up to hit their targets?”
    3. “Can you share an instance when you had to make a tough call as the person in charge?”
• Teamwork:
  • Sample Questions:
    1. “How do you deal with team squabbles?”
    2. “Walk me through a project where your team knocked it out of the park.”
    3. “What’s your secret to keeping everyone on the same page in a team?”
• Problem-Solving:
  • Sample Questions:
• Problem-Solving:
  • Sample Questions:
    1. “Tell me about a time when you had to fix a tricky issue with not many tools at hand.”
    2. “Can you share an example of when you spotted a big problem and took action to solve it?”
    3. “How do you tackle problems when you’re short on time?”
• Adaptability:
  • Sample Questions:
    1. “Can you think of a time when you had to adjust to big changes at work?”
    2. “What’s your approach when a project needs to shift?”
    3. “Share an experience where you needed to pick up a new skill fast.”

Key Takeaway: The STAR method (Situation, Task, Action Result) helps you organize your answers making them easy to understand and powerful.

Want to know more about behavioral questions? Our blog on Google behavioral interview questions goes into this subject in depth.

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Google Interview Topics: Machine Learning and AI

For jobs in data science, machine learning, and AI, Google wants to see how well you grasp key ideas and can use them to solve real problems. ML and AI are crucial parts of Google interview topics.

Key Machine Learning Areas for Google Interview Topics:

• Supervised and Unsupervised Learning: Know the contrasts and uses of both.
  • Sample Questions:
    1. “Compare supervised and unsupervised learning with examples.”
       2. “Outline your approach to a classification problem in a supervised learning setting.”
       3. “How do clustering and classification differ?”
• Neural Networks and Deep Learning: Know about structures like CNNs, RNNs, and their training methods.
  • Sample Questions:
    1. “Describe how a convolutional neural network (CNN) functions.”
    2. “How do you train a deep neural network?”
    3. “What causes the vanishing gradient problem, and how can you fix it?”

• Model Evaluation and Selection: Learn to pick the right model and check how well it works.
  • Sample Questions:
    1. “Which metrics do you use to measure a machine learning model’s performance?”
    2. “How do you deal with uneven datasets in classification tasks?”
    3. “What are the pros and cons of bias versus variance when choosing a model?”
• Feature Engineering: Grasp why it’s key to pick and create the right features for your models.
  • Sample Questions:

1. “What methods do you apply to pick features?”
2. “Tell me how you’d create features for predicting time series data.”
3. “What’s your approach to dealing with gaps in your data?”

Important Advice: When interviewing for machine learning positions, make sure you’re well-versed in both theory and hands-on application. Be prepared to explain why you make certain decisions.

To gain a deep understanding of machine learning concepts, you might want to check out Coursera’s Machine Learning Course by Andrew Ng. Many in the industry consider this a top-notch resource.

Google Interview Topics: Operating Systems and Networking

Some tech jobs those involving infrastructure and backend development, require a solid grasp of operating systems and networking (must-know Google interview topics).

Core Topics in Operating Systems and Networking:

• Concurrency and Multithreading: Get to grips with ideas such as locks, semaphores, and deadlocks.
  • Sample Questions:
    1. “Tell us about deadlocks and how to stop them from happening.”
    2. “How would you build a queue that’s safe for multiple threads to use at once?”
    3. “What’s the producer-consumer problem about, and how would you tackle it?”
• Memory Management: Know your stuff when it comes to paging, segmentation, and virtual memory.
  • Sample Questions:
    1. “How do paging and segmentation differ?”
    2. “Walk us through how virtual memory does its job.”
    3. “How does garbage collection work in a managed runtime environment?”

• Networking Protocols: Know the basics of TCP/IP, DNS, HTTP/HTTPS, and other protocols.
  • Sample Questions:
    1. “Tell me about the three-way handshake in TCP.”
    2. “Can you explain how DNS works?”
    3. “What sets HTTP apart from HTTPS?”
• File Systems: Grasp the essentials of file system operation and data storage and retrieval.
  • Sample Questions:
    1. “What does a file system structure look like?”
    2. “Can you explain journaling in a file system?”
    3. “What is an inode and how do file systems use it?”

Key Takeaway: To grasp these topics, you need to be clear and have a deep understanding. Make sure you can explain both the basic ideas and the technical nitty-gritty.

If you’re getting ready for jobs in infrastructure, you should check out our blog about preparing for backend developer interviews.

Google Interview Topics: Cloud Computing

As cloud services become more popular, Google wants people who know their stuff when it comes to cloud platforms Google Cloud. This is the favorite among the Google interview topics.

Key Cloud Computing Areas:

• Cloud Architecture: Know the basics of designing systems that make good use of cloud services.
  • Sample Questions:
    1. “What’s the difference between IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS?”
    2. “How would you build a cloud-based app that can grow?”
    3. “What are the key ideas behind microservices architecture?”
• Containerization and Orchestration: Know about Docker, Kubernetes, and how people use them in the cloud.
  • Sample Questions:
    1. “What good things do Docker containers bring?”
    2. “How does Kubernetes help manage apps in containers?”
    3. “Tell us how service discovery works in a Kubernetes cluster.”

• Cloud Security: Get to know the best ways to keep cloud environments safe.
  • Questions you might hear:
    1. “What main security issues should we think about when moving to the cloud?”
    2. “How do you set up and manage who can access what in cloud environments?”
    3. “Walk us through how data encryption works when it’s moving and when it’s stored.”
• Google Cloud Platform (GCP): If you want to work at Google, it helps to know GCP services well.
  • Questions you might hear:
    1. “How can Google BigQuery help with data analysis?”
    2. “How does Google Cloud Pub/Sub work?”
    3. “Tell me about the way Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) handles clusters.”

Key Tip: Cloud computing subjects often need both book smarts and hands-on know-how. Get ready to talk about real-life situations.

To boost your understanding, think about checking out Google Cloud’s official documentation for current info and the best ways to do things.

Conclusion

Getting ready for Google interview topics is a big job, but zeroing in on the right subjects can change everything. By getting good at these “Google Interview Topics,” you’ll have the tools to handle the tough questions that come at you. Keep in mind, that the secret to doing well isn’t just knowing these topics but also being able to use them well when solving problems.

All the best with your prep, and don’t forget to keep working on and improving your abilities!