I applied for google's new grad position that is available on Sep 1. They contacted me a few weeks later to set up a phone interview. They gave me a list of categories to choose from (that I specialize in). Here were the choices: (choose 3) * Advanced Algorithms * Audio/video * Billing/payment testing * Compilers and software tools (linkers, debuggers, IDEs, etc.) * Computer vision * Concurrency, multi-threading, synchronization * Database internals * Distributed systems * Embedded software and real-time systems * Front end * Graphics and imaging * Information retrieval and data mining * Internationalization * Load and performance testing * Mac and iPhone development * Machine learning and AI * Natural language processing * Networking (TCP/IP and OSI stack) * Object-oriented analysis and design * Operating systems * Production Systems * Project Management * QA * Security and cryptography * System administration * Test automation * UI design and implementation * Web applications and multi-tiered systems * Windows development * Wireless applications They also wanted you to choose your top 3 languages. *********************PHONE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS:***************************** BASED ON WHAT YOU CHOSE, they will ask you to know certain things... I chose the software side, so my questions were focused on: 1.) Big-O and Algorithms 2.) C++, Java, C# 3.) System Design 4.) Sorting: 5.) Hashtables: 6.) Trees: 7.) Graphs: 9.) Discrete Math 10.) Operating Systems: processes, threads and concurrency issues. Know about locks and mutexes BOOKS RECOMMENDED (by Google) : 1. Review of Basic Algorithms: Introduction to the Design and Analysis of Algorithms by Anany Levitin 2. Programming Interviews Exposed; Secrets to Landing Your Next Job (Programmer to Programmer) by John Mongan, Noah Suojanen, and Eric Giguere **HIGHLY RECOMMENDED** Besides the questions listed below, they also asked: --Which would be better for situation X, Merge Sort or Quick Sort?