I applied through an employee referral. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Google in Sep 2014
Interview
My interview process was a bit short-lived, but this may be helpful nonetheless.
The Google recruiter, who was very sweet, mentioned that the first interview would be full of software engineer questions and she gave me a handy list of topics to study. I only had about three days, so I studied that topic list to death, expecting questions ranging from operating systems p-threads, through to algorithm design and graph theory.
The first interview had a strong combination of JS topical questions, mixed with very few questions about data structures and then an ultimate coding question. This last question was heavier, though lots of time was given. Definitely thought I did very well on the beginning of the interview, but that last question was a killer for me.
Didn't get a second interview (received a response about a week later), but I felt the process was okay up to that point. I was incredibly nervous but after having taken the first interview, I realized that it was all built up and in my head. The questions were not difficult if basics were studied and they gave you a Google Doc to show you know what you're talking about.
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Google (Mountain View, CA) in Nov 2013
Interview
One Google recruiter contacted me, and we did an quick talk about my background, interest and their requirement. Then the recruiter contacted me to ask reference from anyone who may know me and is working in Google. After a week, I did an phone interview with an engineer. The phone interview is very easy, and it took about 45 minutes to solve a programming challenge and answer some questions. Two weeks after the phone interview, I did an onsite interview. The onsite interview includes 5 rounds with 6 engineers and one lunch with another engineers.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Design a webpage which can auto post new posts when you reach the bottom of the page by using javascript. So you may use AJAX and some javascript event listeners. But, they do not require you remember the functions names, it will be great as long as you can describe your thought and design.
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 3+ months. I interviewed at Google in Sep 2012
Interview
Contacted by recruiters at a few companies. One of which was Google. I discussed what kind of position I was looking to move into and what location I wanted to work from. I later spoke with another recruiter in the location of my choice, again spoke about my interests and set up a phone interview.
Phone interview was a blast, I first talked about some projects I worked on (discussing some of the technical details), programmed two problems using Google Docs, then answered a design question relating to scaling an algorithm I wrote all within an hour. I felt like I was collaborating with a coworker, almost as though one would when pair programming. I ended the interview thinking, wow that was actually quite enjoyable.
A week after I was invited in for an on-site interview. Due to various obligations I couldn't make it in for the interview for several weeks. When I made it in, I finally met the recruiter. She was very nice. I also saw the insides of the office and knew right then and there this was my kind of work environment.
I had five interviews, and a lunch non-interview. Due to my work schedule at the time, I had to travel 7 hours to get to the interview, and slept for about 3.5 hours before. I was a bit tired. Anyways, each interview tested my knowledge of programming. I was able to talk through my approach with the interviewer, and again we discussed some of the trade-offs of my implementations. Three interviews were really fun, four were really thought provoking, and one made me realize that I needed to go out and buy a couple books and do some reading. Everyone I spoke with during my visit was nice and down-to-earth and seemed quite humble despite their sheer intelligence.
Although parts were challenging, I just approached it as though it was a regular day at the office and not a big deal. So now that the process is over, I look back and wish it was more challenging. I always like a bigger challenge.