Software Engineer · Onsite · Coding

Google — Software Engineer ✅ Passed

Level: Unknown Level

Round: Onsite · Type: Coding · Difficulty: 6/10 · Duration: 60 min · Interviewer: Unfriendly

Topics: Arrays, Subsets, Backtracking

Location: Mountain View, CA

Interview date: 2026-01-13

Summary

Round 1: Coding

Question: I was asked to implement subset generation, first without duplicates, and then with duplicates.

Details

The coding question I received focused on generating subsets. I was first asked to implement the solution assuming no duplicate elements exist in the input set. Then, I had to modify my solution to handle the case where duplicates are present.

My Approach:

1. No Duplicates: I used a backtracking approach to explore all possible combinations of elements, ensuring each element is either included or excluded in a subset.
2. Duplicates: To handle duplicates, I added a condition to skip over adjacent duplicate elements during the backtracking process, preventing redundant subsets from being generated.

Key Insights:

• It's important to clarify whether the input set contains duplicates.
• Asking clarifying questions is crucial in interviews.

LeetCode similar: LeetCode Subsets, LeetCode Subsets II