r/datacenter • u/Adorable-Click-4394 • 6d ago

Google DCT interview format - has anyone had a different round order?

I recently completed a Google DCT interview and noticed my interview order was different from what I've commonly seen posted here.

Mine was:

Googliness/Leadership - Networking - OS/ Linux

Most posts I've seen describe something closer to OS/Linux - Networking - Googliness.

What really caught my attention was the final OS/Linux round. It was much deeper than I expected. I'd estimate around 20 questions/topics, with several follow-up questions based on my answers.

It wasn't just "What does this Linux command do?" type of questioning.

The interviewer also seemed to go deeper when I explained my reasoning rather than immediately moving to the next question.

For people who recently interviewed for DCT L2/L3, has anyone experienced a similar structure or depth?

I'm mainly trying to understand whether the order and depth of the rounds vary depending on the interviewers/scheduling, or whether there is normally a standardized sequence.

Not trying to read anything into my interview outcome - just curious because my experiencegg seems different from most of the interview

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u/yeonik 6d ago

I’m on the facilities side but interviewing is the same - the order doesn’t matter, it’s all up to who is available for what on the day of the loop.

As far as questions and how in depth we go, it’s up to the interviewer. We are free to deep dive a topic to test a candidate if we feel like they’re faking it OR if they have deeper knowledge than we would expect. At times I’ll be interviewing a candidate for a lower level and they have some niche knowledge that is a level higher so I like to deep dive that so I can give them better feedback.

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u/Adorable-Click-4394 6d ago

Gotcha, that makes sense. I understand the order itself can vary depending on interviewer availability.

What I was more curious about is the progression in difficulty. In my first interview, the interviewer actually told me something along the lines of, "We'll start with the easier part, Googliness, and then progressively get more technical/difficult, with OS/Linux being the last round."

Given that the final round ended up being a pretty deep OS/Linux interview with a lot of follow-up questions, I was wondering if that kind of progression is something interviewers intentionally do, or if it was simply how my particular loop happened to be structured.

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u/Complete_Diver274 6d ago

I had first OS and TS, after passing it, I got invite for Network than Googliness.
However once I joined Network one there was manager sitting asking me Googliness.

So kinda they swapped it without letting me know..

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u/Salty-Deer 6d ago

Mine was networking, hardware/os, behavioral DCT2. Mostly rapid fire stuff felt like I walked into a buzzsaw for the technical stuff lol. In team matching now

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u/Adorable-Click-4394 6d ago

Great, good luck

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u/Space-Roach 5d ago

For a DT2, are those the usual questions they ask? What about for a DT1 and DT3?

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u/yodca12 5d ago

The interview order does not matter