Senior Software Engineer, Site Reliability Engineering, Home and Assistant

Google

Let's simulate a coding interview scenario. I'd like you to solve a problem and articulate your thought process as you go. Imagine you're given an array of integers. Your task is to write a function that finds the length of the longest strictly increasing subsequence in that array. A strictly increasing subsequence is a sequence of numbers from the array such that each number is greater than the previous one, and their original order in the array is maintained. For example, in the array [1, 3, 2, 4, 5], one possible increasing subsequence is [1, 2, 4, 5], and the longest increasing subsequence is [1, 2, 4, 5], which has a length of 4. Another possible increasing subsequence is [1, 3, 4, 5] which has length of 4. Your function should return 4 in this case. Another example is [10, 9, 2, 5, 3, 7, 101, 18]. The longest increasing subsequence is [2, 3, 7, 18], which has a length of 4. Your function should return 4. Can you describe your approach and then implement the function? Consider edge cases, like an empty array or an array with only one element. How would your approach handle those? What is the time and space complexity of your solution?

Google

API Design Question: E-commerce Product Catalog Let's design a simplified API for an e-commerce product catalog. Imagine you're building the backend for a website like Amazon or Etsy, focusing specifically on how products are stored and retrieved. This API will allow client applications (like web browsers or mobile apps) to browse, search, and view product details. Define the Core Entities: What are the essential attributes of a Product? Consider attributes like product_id, name, description, price, category, image_url, and inventory_count. Are there other attributes you would include? Justify your choices. Design the API Endpoints: Propose the main API endpoints for interacting with the product catalog. Focus on the following functionalities. Provide example requests and responses (in JSON format) for each endpoint: Retrieve a product by ID: (/products/{product_id}) Search for products: (/products?keyword=example&category=example) List products by category: (/categories/{category_name}/products) Considerations: How would you handle pagination for large product lists? How would you implement filtering and sorting options in the search endpoint? (e.g., filter by price range, sort by popularity). How would you handle different image sizes and formats? Example Scenario: A user searches for red shoes on the website. Describe how the API would be used to fulfill this request, including the specific endpoint called, the parameters passed, and the format of the expected response.

Google

Tell me about a time you had to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). What were the key terms, and how did you ensure compliance while working on the project? Consider these points in your answer: Context: Briefly describe the project and the purpose of the NDA. Who were the parties involved, and what information was being protected? Key Terms: What were the most important clauses or restrictions outlined in the NDA? This could include limitations on sharing information, reverse engineering, or using the protected information for purposes outside the scope of the agreement. Compliance Measures: What specific steps did you take to ensure you and your team complied with the NDA? Did you implement any specific procedures, such as data encryption, access controls, or regular training? Challenges: Did you face any challenges in adhering to the NDA? If so, how did you overcome them? Did you need to seek clarification on any terms or consult with legal counsel? Outcome: What was the result of the project, and how did the NDA contribute to its success? Did the NDA effectively protect the confidential information, and were there any lessons learned from the experience? For example, perhaps you worked on a project involving a new algorithm for a company. The NDA might have restricted you from sharing the algorithm with anyone outside the project team, reverse engineering it, or using it for any other projects. You might have implemented access controls to limit who could access the algorithm's source code and conducted regular training sessions to remind the team of their obligations under the NDA. You should talk about how you proactively avoided violations and made sure your actions were fully within the legal scope of the agreement.