Google's interview reports make one thing clear: a level label matters. An L3 phone screen and an experienced L4 loop should not be collapsed into one checklist. This page separates what candidates actually described, then links every named prompt to the report that included it.
What the reports cover
The sources here are individual LeetCode Discuss posts from 2025. They are not an official Google hiring guide and they do not establish a standard loop. One L3 candidate described a phone screen and three onsite coding rounds; another L3 post covers a date calculation in a phone screen. A separate L4 backend report describes its own phone and onsite experience. Team, location, and recruiter timing can change the sequence.
Google SWE L3: phone screens
The L3 reports show why it is useful to practice explaining a solution, not only recognizing a problem title.
- Count the ways to build a sturdy brick wall. The candidate named the problem and said the implementation was lengthy: Google L3 interview experience, LeetCode Discuss (2025).
- Given a date and an integer N, return the date N days later. The report uses 100 days after 2015-08-18 as its example: Google phone screen report, LeetCode Discuss (2025).
Google SWE L3: onsite rounds
One candidate reported these prompts across three DSA rounds. The original post gives the problem statements and follow-ups; the short descriptions here keep the same task.
- Convert an integer to a license plate string using the stated digit and letter ranges: Google L3 interview experience, LeetCode Discuss (2025).
- Choose gifts with given availability days and prices to maximize how many can be bought while saving one dollar per day: same report (2025).
- From entry and exit logs, find peak building occupancy and when it occurred: same report (2025).
- From a chat log, return the N most talkative users by total word count, then implement the parser: same report (2025).
The same candidate listed four Googlyness prompts: advocating for yourself or a teammate, describing an ideal workplace, considering customer segments in product decisions, and handling multiple tasks at once. Each is in the L3 report (2025).
Google SWE L4: keep the level distinction
A backend engineer's L4 account describes a phone question based on multi-source BFS, an onsite queue problem involving asynchronous calls, and a connected-components problem. The post does not give enough detail to reproduce those problem statements faithfully, so this page records the reported topics without turning them into new questions: Google L4 SWE 3 India interview journey, LeetCode Discuss (2025). The author also reports three DSA rounds and one Googliness round, while noting that some candidates may have a different loop.
Forward Deployed Engineer: a newer report with incomplete notes
A LeetCode Discuss note collected in October 2026 identifies a Google FDE onsite report and begins describing a city-and-road problem with a fuel cost per road. The captured excerpt stops before the complete task and constraints, so it is linked for further reading but not counted as a verified question: Google FDE onsite report (2026). This is a different role from SWE L3 or L4.
How to prepare for the Google L3 and L4 interviews in these reports
Treat each item as one candidate's account, not a prediction that Google will repeat it. For L3, practice stating assumptions and testing edge cases aloud. For L4, the cited account is a reminder to prepare for unfamiliar problem framing and project discussion, not evidence that every loop contains the same queue or graph task. For broader practice, see our interview question guide and system design questions.
Additional Google L3 and L4 candidate reports
The LeetCode collection includes newer accounts with details that were not in the first set of reports. The role and round labels below follow each candidate's post.
Google L4, India, August 2026: ad-selection follow-ups
One candidate described a problem about selecting the best ad through calls to functions named F and G. The follow-ups changed how many times each function could be called:
- Given N ads, call G N-1 times and return the best ad. (LeetCode L4 report)
- Call F once and G three times to return the best ad. (same report)
- What changes if F and G can each be called only once? (same report)
The source summary does not include the full function definitions, so read the original post before attempting to solve the task.
L4 BFS and graph follow-ups
An October 2026 L4 report says the candidate's BFS approach was accepted and records a follow-up similar to Number of Islands. The source does not preserve enough of the statement to restate the variant accurately. (LeetCode L4 report, October 5, 2026)
A separate L4 report describes converting a graph into a binary tree whose colors alternate by depth. It also lists behavioral prompts about giving critical feedback, solving a challenging technical problem, handling disagreement with a majority, and resolving conflict with a colleague or manager. (LeetCode SWE-III/L4 report)
L3 coding-round topics and behavioral questions
A Google L3 India report with an offer describes a graph problem and a monotonic-stack plus line-sweep problem in round three, followed by a hard 2D dynamic-programming problem in round four. The author reports topics rather than complete statements. (LeetCode L3 SWE report)
Another L3 report names these behavioral questions:
- What would you do if someone took credit for your work? (LeetCode Google L3 report)
- What would you do on a project when you had no idea what to do next? (same report)
- What is a career disappointment you have experienced? (same report)
Googliness questions from a separate report
A LeetCode Discuss report about Googliness rounds in 2025 and 2026 lists ten prompts. They are kept together because they come from that one account:
- How do you handle conflict in a team? (Googliness report)
- How do you handle unclear requirements? (same report)
- How do you respond when stakeholders set an unreasonable deadline and keep following up? (same report)
- What is your approach to competitive-programming problems? (same report)
- What do you want to do in the future? (same report)
- How do you lead a team? (same report)
- What is your approach to documentation? (same report)
- Tell me about documentation you improved or created for your team. (same report)
- Which Java library do you like most, and why? (same report)
- Which Java library documentation do you like most, and why? (same report)
These are examples from individual reports, not a prediction of the next Google loop.
More L4 and senior-role reports
An August 2026 L4 report includes the behavioral question, “How would you handle a conflict where someone is taking credit for your work?” (LeetCode Google L4 report)
A separate L4 onsite report describes a dynamic-programming task similar to Minimum Number of Removals to Make Mountain Array. The source says it was similar, so this is not presented as an identical question. (LeetCode Google L4 report, referenced LeetCode problem)
One Google SDE-3 India report names these behavioral questions:
- Have you worked on a project alone from start to finish? (LeetCode Google SDE-3 report)
- Have you covered for a senior on a task? (same report)
- What did you do when someone took credit for your work? (same report)
- What did you do when you made a mistake, and how did you fix it? (same report)
- How did you resolve a conflict with a senior, and what was the outcome? (same report)
Adjacent Google Web Solutions Engineer role
A separate L3 Web Solutions Engineer (GTech) report asks how to optimize a website across the frontend, backend, and database layers. This is a related Google role, not an SWE L3/L4 loop. (LeetCode Google Web Solutions Engineer report)
Frequently asked questions
Are the Google L3 and L4 interview reports interchangeable?
No. The named phone and onsite prompts come from L3 accounts, while the separate L4 report describes its own backend loop. The guide does not claim these rounds or questions recur across Google teams.
Run it on Parlel
Use these reports to choose practice topics, then compare them with the actual role and team you are targeting. Parlel's company directory can help you identify where to focus your hiring manager search.