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INTERVIEW PREPARATION (without DSA)

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Shuvojit Kar
I'm energetic, ambitious person who has developed a mature and responsible approach to any task that I undertake, or situation that I am presented with. I am excellent at working with others to achieve a certain objective on time and with excellence. Customer Engineer| Al/ ML |AI Infrastructure | Cloud Migration |Technical Solution| Vertex AI| Cloud Database |Cloud Networking |DevOps Engineer| Technical Blogger| Generative AI| Google Cloud Ready Facilitator 🌐Linux Linux Professional Institute Certificate Technical Writer \ Cloud Networking Cloud Computing \ Cloud Infrastructure Cloud Consultant \ Customer Engineer 🌐Virtualization - VMware, vSphere, vCenter Server 🌐Programming Skill Technical Skills Proficiency in languages like Java, Python, Scala, or JavaScript. System Administration: Experience with Linux/Unix systems, Windows Server. Networking: Understanding of network protocols, routing, VPC, Subnets, Firewalls, VPNs, Load Balancers, switching, and firewall configurations. Cloud Platforms: Experience with AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud Platform. Databases: Knowledge of SQL and NoSQL databases like MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB. Scripting: Ability to write scripts for automation using Bash, PowerShell, or similar. Monitoring and Logging: Familiarity with tools like Nagios, Prometheus, Grafana, ELK Stack. Configuration Management: Experience with tools like Ansible, Puppet, Chef. DevOps: Knowledge of CI/CD pipelines, Jenkins, Docker, Kubernetes. Security: Understanding of security best practices and tools, Cloud security best practices, IAM, Security Groups, Compliance. Infrastructure as Code: Terraform, CloudFormation, Ansible Compute Services: EC2, GCE, Azure VMs. Storage Solutions: S3, GCS Customer Service Skills:- Communication: Strong verbal and written communication skills. Problem-Solving: Ability to diagnose and resolve technical issues efficiently. Interpersonal Skills: Building and maintaining relationships with clients. Training and Education: Ability to conduct training sessions for clients. Project Management: Managing customer projects and ensuring timely delivery. Knowledge/experience in configuring and supporting devices such as Cisco, Juniper, Checkpoint, etc. Knowledge Cloud Migration, Presale, Data Center relocation, Go-to-Market Strategy. Certifications: AWS Certified Solutions Architect Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert Google Professional Cloud Architect Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA)

Here’s what you should prepare, even without deep DSA knowledge:

  1. System Design Basics Learn about scalability, high availability, microservices, API gateways, caching.

Tools to explore: System Design Primer on GitHub

  1. Cloud Concepts Be confident in explaining IaaS vs PaaS vs SaaS, VMs, containers, load balancers, autoscaling.

Know basic GCP services: Compute Engine, Cloud Run, GKE, BigQuery.

  1. Technical Scenarios Practice answering questions like:

"How would you design a solution for a client needing low-latency processing at the edge?"

"What steps would you take if a cloud deployment failed during rollout?"

  1. Code Reading/Debugging You may be shown a short piece of Python or Java code and asked to explain or fix it. Practice basic syntax, loops, conditionals, and API calls.

  2. Behavioral Questions STAR format: Situation, Task, Action, Result.

Be ready to discuss: conflict resolution with clients, managing tight deadlines, working cross-functionally.

✅ Google Roles Where DSA Is Not a Core Focus (or Not Asked at All):
These roles focus more on business acumen, communication, system integration, and technical understanding — not algorithm-heavy coding.

1. Customer Engineer (Cloud)
Focus: Pre-sales, architecture guidance, demos

Expectation: Systems knowledge, cloud architecture

DSA: ❌ Not expected

2. Technical Account Manager (TAM)
Focus: Post-sales, support, escalation management, customer success

Expectation: Understanding systems & APIs, not writing code

DSA: ❌ Not asked

3. Program Manager (Technical)
Focus: Project ownership, stakeholder alignment, process improvements

DSA: ❌ No coding rounds, but might assess tech understanding

4. Solutions Architect / Partner Engineer
Focus: System integration, technical presentations, POCs

Expectation: Architecture > Algorithms

DSA: ✅ Light coding only, mostly system design

5. Product Support Specialist / Technical Solutions Specialist
Focus: Troubleshooting, customer issues, API behavior

Expectation: Read code, not necessarily write advanced algorithms

DSA: ✅ Light (sometimes debugging questions or simple logic tasks)

6. 🔍 Is there a DSA Round?
✅ Yes — but light.
TSC is a technical, customer-facing role. You are expected to:

Understand and read code

Write basic scripts

Debug logic
So, Google does include a coding round, but it’s not as hard as SWE-level interviews.

❗ Roles Where DSA Will Be Asked:
Software Engineer (SWE)

Site Reliability Engineer (SRE)

Data Scientist (Coding + Statistics)

Developer Advocate (Light coding + design)

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