My Google Interview Experience (UX Design)

How I got my dream job at Google…Finally!

Phew! I never thought this day will come when I will be sharing my experience of Google Interview and landing my dream job at big tech. This is not a Veni, vidi, vici story, rather it is an Aim-Shoot-Fail-Aim-Shoot-Fail-Aim-Shoot-Win😛 kind of story. I guarantee you this is going to be long as I am trying to share as much information as possible with you. So grab your choice of liquid & munchies and let’s take a ride down my memory lane.

Did I crack my Google Interview on the first go?

Heck no! This was my third time attempting for Google UX Designer roles.

I first went through their interview process in 2017. And then again in 2019. And finally, in 2021. As they say, the third time’s a charm 😇. Do not worry if you don’t crack the interview in your first shot!

How I got the call from the recruiter?

This time around, I got an email from the recruiter on Nov 27, 2020

I felt I was prepared enough to go for another shot. After this, there was no response till December😬. Around mid of December, I sent a follow-up email only to find out there were no open positions at this time and the recruiter will reach out to me for future opportunities in the next year (2021)… Hmm, kay! That means a bit more time for interview prep 💪🏼.

On Feb 4, 2021, I got another email from the recruiter for a quick catch up and the interview process officially started.

What was the interview process?

I applied for UX Design related roles. Google has a reputation for conducting fair and unbiased interviews. They follow a similar process structure for all their roles, including that of a UX designer. I cannot share the exact questions that were asked due to confidentiality reasons. However, what I can try to do is break down each stage of the process with timestamps to help you get a holistic idea.

👉🏼 Disclaimer: Due to COVID situation all the rounds were virtual. What you will be reading is my experience. Talk to your recruiter if you want to know the exact process you will be going through.

First Round: Recruiter Connect (Feb 10, 2021)

The recruiter and I hopped on a Google Meet video call for a casual conversation about my aspiration and open positions at Google that match my skill and experience. Here I would like to add that recruiters from Google are the best! They are professional, friendly to talk to, and want to set you up for success. So do not be shy to ask for interview prep materials, tips/suggestions💡. I got some really good pointers on few focus areas and a lot of useful prep materials. Now when I think back, those actually helped me a lot going forward in the interview rounds. 😇

Second Round: Technical (Feb 23, 2021)

This was a Google Meet interview with a UX designer. It was mostly informal discussion on my journey, a few ‘what’s-your-thought-on’ sort of questions, and a portfolio overview (on a very high level). If you have prepared enough, this round should be fairly easy for you. 😅

I got an email after a week and a follow-up chat with the recruiter to know that I have passed this and the next round will be ‘Virtual On-site Interviews’.

💡 Tip: Applying to different companies requires different level and ways of preparation. Make sure you study the role and responsibilities throughly and then prepare yourself for the interview.

Third Round: Portfolio Presentation (March 12, 2021)

Now comes the meaty part of the interview process. After preparing day and night for this round, the day finally arrived!

💡Tip: Practice hard and practice enough until presenting your portfolio sounds natural. Try to practice time-bound presentation!

There were 3 interviewers for this 45 mins round. You essentially present your work in front of them. Chances are they won’t ask many questions and give you the total ownership of this round 🤓. If you have practiced enough, you should have 5–10 mins at the end for a quick Q&A.

Fourth Round: White-boarding Challenge (March 15, 2021)

This is a role-specific round as you can understand from the heading. Usually, Google UX interview has a ‘Design-Challenge’ before the On-site (now virtual) interview round. However this time I didn’t have that. Maybe it is because I did well on the ‘Design Challenge’ last time or they have changed the format, I’m not so sure! (talk to the recruiter about the rounds you will go through).

I will not go into detail about White-boarding that surely demands a separate article of its own. To give you some ideas on how to prepare for this, scroll to the bottom for some great resources! 🌟

Fifth Round: Technical 1:1 (March 16, 2021)

I pulled up one of my favourite projects to go in-depth for this round. ‘Collaboration’ was the focus area for this round. The interviewer asked a lot of scenario-based questions which I believe you already know how to approach. Practice in S.T.A.R (Situation, Task Action, and Result) or C.A.R (Context, Action, and Result) method and you should be good!👍🏼

💡Tip: Know your stuff inside outside. Expect to get follow up questions. Ask clarifying questions if you haven’t understood what the interviewer asked.

Sixth Round: Technical 1:1 (March 17, 2021)

This was similar to the previous round except the focus changed from ‘Collaboration’ to ‘Navigating ambiguity’. I was asked to pick up a project for the discussion.

Seventh Round: Googlyness & Leadership [non-technical] (March 17, 2021)

You will find different definitions of Googlyness inside and outside of Google. For those who don’t know about ‘Googlyness’ let’s just keep it simple and say this is your behavioral round. Typical questions were ‘Tell me a time when you went above & beyond”, “Tell me a time when you had a conflict…” something like this.

Dan Croitor has a lot of informative videos on Google’s behavioural interview on his Youtube channel.

Result of Virtual On-site Interview

Usually, it takes up to a week to receive feedback from your on-site interviews. If it is taking longer than usual, be patient. Many factors go into play and most common is interviewers’ availability resulting in a delay.

I got lucky! My last interview was on a Wednesday and on Friday I received an email from my recruiter saying the interview feedback is very positive and I passed this round!

💡Tip: I know it is tempting with each positive response from the recruiter but do not celebrate early!

Team Matching Round (Hiring Manager)

There are tons of posts on Quora/Blind regarding this phase. Sometimes it happens after the Hiring Committee, sometimes before that. I got to know from my recruiter on March 23, 2021, that there are 3 teams that are interested in hiring me. Hold on! this statement doesn’t mean that you cracked the interview. It only implies that one or multiple teams liked your application packet (includes interview feedback, resume, and portfolio so far) and want to have a chat with you.

If there is a mutual liking between the candidate and the hiring team, that feedback goes into your application packet and then forwarded to the Hiring Committee.

I ranked the teams based on my preference and mentioned that to the recruiter. My first Hiring Manager Round was on March 25, 2021.

I had such a great conversation with the managers on my career ambition, goals, and passion. You are free to clarify any doubt regarding the role, responsibilities, and expectations in this round.

Team Matching Round Result (April 5, 2021)

A week passed. No feedback. I followed up and after 2 days I saw an email from my recruiter mentioning that the manager from my preferred team has shared great feedback and we are moving ahead to the Hiring Committee Round with that team! Phew! 😓🙂

Hail the Hiring Committee! (April 5, 2021)

On the same day, my candidate packet was submitted to the Hiring Committee. I have immense respect (and fear 🤐) for Google’s Hiring Committee. If you don’t know about Hiring Committee read Bob See’s answer on Quora.

Final Result (April 14, 2021)

On a sunny morning on April 14 in Bangalore, I received an email from the recruiter after a week and my heart skipped a beat!

I remember pacing around in my home, talking to my husband, Sujan, analysing the smiley in the email, thinking about probable possibilities before replying. 😬😬

Half an hour later, post our conversation I received an email that said ‘Congratulations on your offer with Google’. Seeing which I fainted, cried, laughed, hugged Sujan, and don’t know what else I did. I couldn’t control my emotion! (sorry, your girl is full of drama! 🤪)

How long is the process?

Usually 8–12 weeks.

What did I learn from my experience?

1. Recruiter is your ally
2. There are no shortcuts in achieving your goal
3. Work hard, practice, practice, practice…
4. Be flexible, open to feedback
5. Surround yourself with positive people (Anusanthya, Dipanjan da thank you for always believing in me) 🙌🏼
6. Have a mentor (makes a huge difference!) …Thank you Sujan Sen! you are the best. couldn’t have done it without you!! ❤️

Some resources helped and motivated me in my journey

1. Crushing the product design whiteboard challenge by Dan Shilov
2. Whiteboard challenge from my workshop by Designalily (basically all her whiteboard-related videos are amazing!
3. UX product design exercise — Redesign ATM (whiteboarding job interview) by Artiom Dashinsky (understand the structure)
4. Book: Hooked by Nir Eyal
5. How to: work at Google — How we hire
6. Run after your destiny: motivational talk by T.D Jakes
7. Honorable mention: Youtube, Quora, Blind, and Funny Dog meme 🐶

Hope this helps you to understand the process and motivates you to take that moon-shot! Go for it, you got this 💪🏼 😎 .

Special thanks to

Prerna Pradeep for her detailed review on this piece. 🙌🏼

Previous articles:

1. My journey of becoming a self-taught UX Lead from a Web & Graphics Designer
2. Design with me: VUI Chatbot Design
3. Handbook for chatbot design

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My Google Interview Experience (UX Design) was originally published in Muzli – Design Inspiration on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.