Google Round 1 Plan

Python · mentor mock every 3 days · Hack2Hire Google question bank

Goal: solve one Google medium problem in Python within 45 minutes while explaining your thinking out loud. For new-grad and junior roles (L3), Round 1 is usually coding only, so system design gets a small daily slot.

Schedule

Mentor mockBuffer / reviewPick a day to see its plan. Problem numbers link to LeetCode.

Day 1 Python list

• from collections import defaultdict, Counter, deque
• import heapq — it's a min-heap. For a max-heap, push -x
• from bisect import bisect_left · from functools import cache
• sorted(arr, key=lambda x: (x[1], -x[0])) · enumerate · zip
• ''.join(chars) · float('inf')
• [[0]*n for _ in range(m)] — never [[0]*n]*m: the rows end up being the same list

How to talk through every problem

1. Clarify + edge cases
2. →Small example by hand
3. →Brute force + complexity
4. →Optimize
5. →Get the interviewer's OK
6. →Code
7. →Trace the example
8. →Time / space

Mentor mocks

• Ask for a Hack2Hire Google question you haven’t seen, in a plain Google Doc, with no code running.
• Ask for one score per area: algorithm · code quality · communication · testing.
• Spend the next morning’s first 2 hours on the lowest score.

Target: about 100–120 problems total. One problem you understand deeply beats three you looked up.