Software Engineer · Onsite · System Design

Google — Software Engineer ❌ Failed

Level: Senior-Level

Round: Onsite · Type: System Design · Difficulty: 7/10 · Duration: 60 min · Interviewer: Neutral

Topics: System Design, Data Structures, Algorithms

Location: San Francisco Bay Area

Interview date: 2025-11-15

Got offer: False

Summary

Round 1: System Design

Question: Design a storage system that can query all words within a lexicographical range.

Details

I had an onsite interview for a Software Engineer role. The design question involved creating a storage system capable of querying all words within a specified lexicographical range. For example, given the data set {"aa", "aaa", "ac", "f", "z"}:

• Input [a, b] should return {aa, aaa, ac}
• Input [a, aa] should return {aa}
• Input [b, z] should return {f, z}
• Input [ab, b] should return {ac}