Applied for an L5 SWE role, got the recruiter screen, then had the full virtual loop across two days (they split it when your timezone is rough). Six rounds total: two coding, one system design, one Googleyness, one role-specific, one with the hiring manager.
The coding rounds were... fine. Graphs and sliding window. But what I did NOT expect was how much the interviewer's write-up matters. One of my rounds I thought went well. The HC summary I later got (in a debrief call, long story) showed the interviewer wrote "solved correctly but needed nudging on edge case." That nudge probably cost me a level.
System design was more open-ended than I was used to. They want you to drive it. I wasted the first five minutes asking clarifying questions because I was nervous, and the interviewer literally said "go ahead and just make some assumptions and start." So do that.
The behavioral round is real. They're listening for ownership and specificity. I had a good story about a cross-team conflict but I rushed the resolution part. What I should have done: slow down and give the outcome with numbers.
Got an L5 offer eventually. Took 9 weeks start to finish. Not the fastest.