Google Cloud·Software Engineer

Google Cloud Software Engineer interview experience

No offer

Hard

Neutral

United StatesPosted Jan 2026 · Candidate report, summarized by Dataford

I interviewed for the Software Engineer role with a sequence of LeetCode problems that became harder and more optimization-focused, and hints weren’t very useful.

Round 1 — a LeetCode medium problem (top-k elements); I managed an initial working solution.
Round 2 — a LeetCode hard longest-repeating-substring problem; I started with a baseline hash-map approach, but the interviewer insisted on an optimal solution. Hints given were not informative. Outcome: I didn’t move forward, and the takeaway is that you may need to pivot quickly from baseline to optimal when pushed.

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