Google L4 New Grad Timeline: Parity Queries, K-Distinct Window, and Team Match

Role: Software Engineer, L4 / New Grad
Result: Entered Team Match
Report time: January 2026

Timeline

• October 30: applied
• November 6: received the OA
• November 21: first interview
• November 28: second interview
• December 3: third interview
• December 13: fourth, explicitly onsite round
• December 15: recruiter call and Team Match form

Coding used Google Meet plus an online editor without syntax highlighting.

Coding round 1

The first task was an interval problem described as roughly similar to Meeting Rooms III. The candidate spent about ten minutes clarifying it, produced an optimal solution, repaired one bug during the dry run, tested two cases, and analyzed complexity.

The actual objective and deviations from Meeting Rooms III were not preserved, so no exact link is asserted.

Coding round 2: parity-alternating range queries

Given an array and many interval queries, determine whether each queried subarray alternates between odd and even values.

The candidate preprocessed whether every adjacent pair had the same parity. Each query then checked in constant time whether its interval contained a parity violation.

Practice: Parity-Alternating Range Queries

Coding round 3: shortest window with K distinct values

Given nums, return the shortest contiguous subarray containing at least k distinct integers, or -1 when none exists.

After explaining a quadratic brute force, the candidate used a sliding window and frequency map to maintain the distinct count in O(n) time.

Practice: Shortest Subarray With at Least K Distinct Values

Final round

The last round discussed personal projects, internships, future plans, and why the candidate wanted to join Google. No coding question was asked. Recruiter feedback was positive.