[T] Technical Program Manager III, Security, Google Cloud

Google

Tic-tac-toe is played by two players A and B on a 3 x 3 grid. The rules of Tic-Tac-Toe are: Players take turns placing characters into empty squares ''. The first player A always places 'X' characters, while the second player B always places 'O' characters. 'X' and 'O' characters are always placed into empty squares, never on filled ones. The game ends when there are three of the same (non-empty) character filling any row, column, or diagonal. The game also ends if all squares are non-empty. No more moves can be played if the game is over. Given a 2D integer array moves where moves[i] = [rowi, coli] indicates that the ith move will be played on gridrowi. return the winner of the game if it exists (A or B). In case the game ends in a draw return Draw. If there are still movements to play return Pending. You can assume that moves is valid (i.e., it follows the rules of Tic-Tac-Toe), the grid is initially empty, and A will play first. For example: moves = [[0,0],[2,0],[1,1],[2,1],[2,2]] Output: A moves = [[0,0],[1,1],[0,1],[0,2],[1,0],[2,0]] Output: B moves = [[0,0],[1,1],[2,0],[1,0],[1,2],[2,1],[0,1],[0,2],[2,2]] Output: Draw

Google

Let's design a rate limiter for an API. The rate limiter should: Limit the number of requests a user can make to an API within a given time window. Support different rate limits for different users or API endpoints. For example, a free tier user might be limited to 10 requests per minute, while a premium user can make 100 requests per minute. Similarly, some API endpoints might have lower rate limits than others due to resource constraints. Be highly performant to avoid adding significant latency to API requests. Be scalable to handle a large number of users and API requests. Be reliable and prevent accidental overloads that could cause service disruptions. Describe the architecture, algorithms, and data structures you would use to implement such a rate limiter. Consider the following: How would you store the rate limit counters for each user or endpoint? What algorithm would you use to determine whether a request should be allowed or throttled? How would you handle distributed rate limiting across multiple servers? How would you ensure the rate limiter is resilient to failures? As an example, imagine a scenario where a social media platform wants to prevent users from spamming their API with excessive requests to post updates. The platform has millions of users and thousands of API endpoints. Some users pay for premium access with higher request limits. How would you design a robust and efficient rate limiter to handle this scale and these varying requirements?

Google

Tell me about a time you faced a significant challenge and how you overcame it. To provide a detailed response, please consider the following: Describe the challenge:** What specific obstacles did you encounter? What made it difficult to handle? Explain your actions:** What steps did you take to address the challenge? What resources did you utilize? Did you seek help from others? Highlight your thought process:** What were your considerations when deciding on a course of action? What alternatives did you consider, and why did you choose your particular approach? Detail the outcome:** What was the result of your efforts? Did you successfully overcome the challenge? If so, what did you learn from the experience? If not, what would you do differently next time? For example, perhaps you were working on a complex software project with a tight deadline and encountered unexpected technical difficulties. Or, maybe you had to mediate a conflict between team members with differing opinions on how to approach a problem. Another example could involve learning a new programming language or technology in a short timeframe to meet a critical project requirement. When answering, be sure to provide enough context so the interviewer understands the situation and can assess your problem-solving skills, resilience, and ability to learn from challenges.