How do we prepare for a job interview at Google?

It's good to have long-term and short-term strategies as mentioned in the previous post. If you are just starting, try to broaden your Computer Science knowledge and strengthen your programming skills (assuming you want to work as a Software Engineer).

If you are closer to applying (about a year before you plan to apply), then here is my experience:
- Prepare well. Good preparation significantly improves the chance of getting accepted.
- Revise your resume multiple times. See https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140929001534-24454816-my-personal-formula-for-a-better-resume
- Only apply when you feel ready. You might want to apply to other places to practice first.
- Here are some good books to read and practice: "Cracking the Coding Interview", and "Programming Interviews Exposed".
- Practice solving coding problems. https://leetcode.com/ is a great place. https://www.topcoder.com is probably good too, but I haven't tried it yet.
- Practice coding on whiteboard since you're gonna use it during onsite interviews.
- Optional: Read "How Google Works" and "Work Rules" to understand more about Google's culture and get inspired.

Finally, the more determined you are, the more likely you will make it. So start sharpening your focus and strengthen your determination starting from today!

There are long-term and short-term answers.

Long-term, you should have a good grasp of Computer Science, such as you would get from a college degree. There are many ways to get this knowledge, of course, from an actual college to self study with online courses to job experience. You should be able to imagine a program you want to have, and then write it, and then explain what you did, why you did it, and where you made tradeoffs, for a start.

Shorter-term, there are some helpful resources. Many people recommend the book "Cracking the Coding Interview."

To prepare for my own interviews, I read http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2008/03/get-that-job-at-google.html and, even though it was more targeted at interviewers, https://sites.google.com/site/steveyegge2/five-essential-phone-screen-questions .

I also practiced a lot, by having someone else (who didn't have to be technical) ask me coding questions they found online, similar to the ones Google and other tech companies use to interview, and let me solve them, on a whiteboard when possible because that fits the real interview experience (coding on a whiteboard is surprisingly different from coding with a keyboard.)

Finally, a little tip I got which made me feel better: Bring your own thin-tipped dry-erase markers to the interview! Google only stocks thick-tipped ones for some reason, and you will effectively have more room on the whiteboard by drawing thinner lines.

Good luck!

Make sure you check the interviewing guide and tips Google publishes on their website!

https://careers.google.com/how-we-hire/interview/