Google PhD New Grad AI/ML Loop: Top-K Frequencies, Components, Calculator, and Applied ML

Role: Software Engineer, PhD Early Career — AI/ML
Result: Passed final rounds
Report time: March 2025

Timeline

• February 21: phone interview
• February 24: phone-screen pass
• March 5: U.S. recruiter call
• March 11–13: final rounds
• March 27: final-round pass

The loop contained one phone screen, two additional technical interviews, and one ML-domain interview.

Coding questions

The candidate identified three problem families:

1. Top K Frequent Elements
2. Number of Connected Components in an Undirected Graph
3. Basic Calculator I with parentheses

Practice:

• Top K Frequent Elements
• Number of Connected Components in an Undirected Graph
• Calculator With Parentheses

The source does not preserve which question belonged to which exact technical round or the follow-up details.

Applied-ML domain interview

The recruiter offered several domain options; the candidate selected Applied ML. The round discussed ML projects from the resume and basic ML knowledge. It did not add another coding task.