Google Data Engineer interview questions and process

Updated · 14 sources

Hiring Pulse: where Google candidates are right now

Dated status reports from public Reddit threads and anonymous PortLume reports, updated Oct 18. Not official Google data.

  • 88 status reports in the last 7 days
  • 7 days: median from final interview to a decision (10 people)
  • Latest movement: 10 offers, 11 rejections, 14 final rounds reported since Oct 11

Latest Google hiring reports

Candidates rate the Google Data Engineer interview Medium-Hard: Reported loops combine SQL (self joins, recursive CTEs), DSA-style coding, DE domain reasoning and system design, with a 5-round onsite plus Hiring Committee review. Reports describe 9 rounds, from Recruiter Screen to Team Matching, with about 6-12 weeks (reported end-to-end flow); one guide cites ~8 weeks across 9 rounds from first call to offer.

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Google Data Engineer interview rounds

  1. Recruiter Screen: Recruiter screen runs about 30 minutes and covers role fit, level calibration and logistics.
  2. Phone Screen (SQL + light coding)
  3. Onsite: SQL
  4. Onsite: Coding/DSA
  5. Onsite: Data Engineering Domain
  6. Onsite: System Design
  7. Onsite: Googleyness/Behavioral
  8. Hiring Committee Review
  9. Team Matching

Questions reported in Google Data Engineer interviews

  1. SQL: find managers who are not in the same location as their employees (self join).
  2. Given an employee table with employeeid, managerid and employee name, find the hierarchy for an employeeid up to the highest level (recursive CTE).
  3. SQL question using a recursive CTE, plus a simple Python implementation of the same.
  4. Coding: longest consecutive sequence.
  5. Coding: longest substring with at most two distinct characters.
  6. Coding: best time to buy and sell stock I and II.

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Google Data Engineer interview: quick answers

How many rounds are in the Google Data Engineer interview?

Public reports describe 9 rounds for the Google Data Engineer interview: (1) Recruiter Screen, (2) Phone Screen, (3) Onsite: SQL, (4) Onsite: Coding/DSA, (5) Onsite: Data Engineering Domain, (6) Onsite: System Design, (7) Onsite: Googleyness/Behavioral, (8) Hiring Committee Review, (9) Team Matching.

Is the Google interview difficult?

Public reports put the Google Data Engineer interview at Medium-Hard difficulty. Reported loops combine SQL (self joins, recursive CTEs), DSA-style coding, DE domain reasoning and system design, with a 5-round onsite plus Hiring Committee review. The process has 9 rounds, from Recruiter Screen to Team Matching.

Does Google ask DSA in Data Engineer interviews?

Yes. Rounds that involve coding: Phone Screen (SQL + light coding), Onsite: Coding/DSA. Reported coding questions include "Coding: longest substring with at most two distinct characters". SQL-heavy with recursive CTEs and self joins, plus DSA coding and a discussion-style DE domain round, ending in Googleyness and Hiring Committee review.

How long does Google take to give results?

Time to a result for the Google Data Engineer process, per public reports: 6-12 weeks (reported end-to-end flow); one guide cites ~8 weeks across 9 rounds. The process has 9 rounds, from Recruiter Screen to Team Matching. Based on 14 public reports, last updated Sep 2026.

Sources

Based on 14 public reports: YouTube (8), LeetCode Discuss (6), last updated Sep 2026.

Compiled by Adarsh Sharma from public candidate reports. Unofficial guide: PortLume AI is not affiliated with Google.

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