[baseethrowaway]

Not an interviewer in Google, but have been in Google.

I've read CtCI, used the mentioned and/or other websites for problem solving and have had 10+ interviews on pramp.com and interviewing.io, both as an interviewer and interviewee.

Due to my experiences and experiences of other people that I know, my conclusion is that the interviewing process has not changed. Google has a pool of thousands of questions, so you likely did not hear the questions that they'll ask you before coming there, unless it's the question to establish whether you're a programmer at all or not (phone screen). Like learning to drive -- you don't go out and memorize every road by heart, but learn how to act on the road and interpret situations, signals and signs. Those resources shouldn't teach you the questions, but teach you how to really be you in an interview and perform at your nominal level.

After going through the above resources, my impression is that they have helped me type faster, make less mistakes in boilerplate and think more about the problem when it's given, before diving into it. Certainly, I do remember a few "tricks" more than I used before going through them, but overall, I think they've helped me very little with the problems in interviews and more with my behavior in interviews. The pattern that I've always seen is that intelligent people who code well pass the interview more often than not and that less intelligent people and/or those who don't code well don't pass ever.