Application
I applied online. I interviewed at smallcase (Bangalore) in Apr 2022
Interview
My interview process started in april-may.
The interview process was:
- Technical Interview
- Backend Assignment
- Live Coding Round
- Complex Database design Round
- System Design Round
- Cultural Fit Round
◉ Technical Interview round involved questions on projects mentioned in the resume along with questions on technologies mentioned in it and basic questions on design patterns, mid level DSA question.
◉ In Backend Assignment round, a portfolio tracking API application has to be submitted within a week with proper documentation of API being
Optional: hosted in AWS or cloud.
◉ In Live Coding Round, walkthrough of the assignment application with additional features to be implemented within a time limit in the same project.
◉ Complex database round, In this interviewer shared problem statement and asked to design schema with proper justification of database choice. Then asked to solve problem statements to implement complex queries to fetch the data accordingly.
◉ System Design Round included to design the live chat system similar to youtube and then give pseudo logic to solve the problems and asked about how to handle scalability, fault tolerance etc.
◉ Cultural Fit round was a behavioural type round with the CTO where we discussed various aspects of challenges faced related to tech, normal life. Asked about hobby, day to day activities. suggestions on smallcase work and improvement areas.
The entire interview process was smooth and took around 5-6 weeks to complete. I absolutely enjoyed the whole process as for me nivetha was handling the process and throughout the process she was helpful and supportive to make sure that these periods goes seamless.
Interview Questions
- First round: Given 6 digit number from that try to find two pairs which make the smallest sum together when done n1+n2.
- First round: How to handle queues fault tolerance etc.
- Live coding round: Asked to add external API to fetch data to further compute and asked how to handle the async process.
- Complex Queries like Get prices of stock from date1 and date2. (based on given granularity) - daily, weekly, monthly. I choose SQL to achieve it.
- System design round: live chat of youtube stream
