The first step was a pretty simple coding challenge. There were two problems, one was pretty easy string manipulation, and the other was a more complex data structure related problem with a time requirement [O(nlogn)]. After I passed that, I moved on to a phone interview. This phone interview is still my worst interview to date. Not because the problem was overly challenging. Or even that I was under-prepared. It's because the phone quality was horrible. The interview sounded as if he were on speaker phone, 5-10 feet away from his phone, in a cement room, and a bit tinny or echoey. This combination was so utter atrocious, I couldn't understand 99% of what he was saying. It was so bad he had to type the problem to me, instead of tell it to me simply because I couldn't understand. Because of that, I couldn't ask questions really, when he tried to give me advice I couldn't understand it, etc. Overall, I failed here, but it was really disappointing to have such a horrible interview experience with such a big company as Google.

An HR person contacted a week after I submitted application online around mid Oct. The phone interview was then scheduled to be early Dec. The phone interview was awful. A guy called. He did not say 'Hi' or 'How are you?'. He did not even introduce himself. He was very quiet and did not speak clear English. I had major difficulty hearing and understanding his accent. He did not tell me his name until I asked him 20 min into the interview. He was not very responsive to my questions for clarification or 'am I on track' kind of question. He did not recognize some of the most basic C/C++ conventions ( for example, a ? b : c ). He told me that my code was hard to understand and he was not sure if that code could work. He prepared two coding questions. Per the communication delay, it took me 35 min to finish the first one. He seemed rather impatient and did not ask me the second coding question at all. He doubted 'did you prepare for this interview?'. Then he said 'Oh, you are from physics, not computer science'. Clearly, he did not think I could do C/C++. Oh well, good for him. His voice was low, down, unhappy, and robotic. I tried to sweeten the atmosphere twice, unsuccessfully. Honestly, I think it is the interviewer's job to make the interviewing atmosphere pleasant to both parties. If you tape record our 43min conversation, you would feel that I was the interviewer and he was the interviewee. I had very high expectation for a Google interviewer. He was utterly unprepared at the best. I am just disappointed. Later on, I learned from some friends that they had similar experiences with Google interviews. Some Google interviewers are really nasty to deal with, say the least. Google is a great place in general. But I am nowhere near desperate for an offer. I would not consider Google in any near future and I will tell my friends to be prepared for some Google interviews like this.