[NDA] Indeed | L2 | Japan | [Offer]
Anonymous User
6943
IndeedTokyoJapanInterview
  1. Karat Screening
  • Indeed use external vendor Karat (https://karat.com/) to screen candidates.
  • First part, I was asked to choose 2 out of 5 engineering topics (debuging, inheritance, coudn't remember more) and I needed to answer 3 for each. I would say those questions are focusing on your experience as an engineer.
  • Second part, I got 3 questions, start with a very simple one, then a follow up, then a harder follow up. The questions related to graph and I used both DFS and BFS to solve them.
  • 3 hours later, I got an email from recruiter saying that I passed the test. She seems surprised that I finished all three questions and said most candidates are expected to complete (or partially complete) the 2nd question only.
  1. Onsites
  • 2 codings (whiteboard, no computer) + 1 code review + 1 System Design + 1 Resume Deep Dive (Behavior). 1 hour apiece.
  • 1st interview was coding, I was asked one question, similar (but not exactly the same) to a quite famous hard problem in Leetcode. I came up with a solution right away and explained, then I started to code. Just when I started to code, I realize my approach didn't use all the information (sorted) given, I mentioned that to the interviewer. He said I can either choose to think more or code my current approach. I chose the latter, since I am confident I can finish then move back to think later (it's critical to have a working solution). My first approach turns out to be correct, bounded time complexity was optimal, but space was not. I still had 20 minutes, then I analyze the problem again, came up with the optimal solution in both time and space, barely finish it in time. We checked together, and I missed one edge case but quickly realized it after one vague hint from the interviewer.
  • 2nd interview was Resume deep dive. I talked with a director from Indeed, who seems to like me and I like him. We just talked about my and his past experience.
  • 3rd interview was "Code Review" interview. It's kind of strange you know, but as long as you are really experienced engineer, this is an easy round. You are given a broken code in Github, you need to make comments and answer questions related to codereview benefits.
  • 4th interview was coding, I was asked on question, a tweak from a medium problem in Leetcode. I know the solution the instant I heard it, so I just go on explain it. I coded and tested it, I realized by myself several edges cases that I didn't cover, so I fixed those. At the end, I think the code has no bugs. The interviewer at the end asked a very interesting follow up question, and he was happy with my answer.
  • 5th interview was system design, I was asked to design a quite simple API system. I followed the approach from ***. I was able to answer all questions the interviewers had for me regarding database, add-ons to the system, etc.
  1. Results
  • FYI: Indeed Level (Google Equivalent), L1 (L3), L2 (L4), L3 (L5), etc. Please correct me if I am wrong. Also, they break L2 into two titles, SDE II (L2) and Senior (L2). I was applying for Senior (L2)
  • I thought I did well, so I was expected I will get the level I was applying for. But no, I was shocked when the recruiter said they want to give me an offer, but as SDE II, not Senior. All feedbacks were great, except the system design. The feedback was that even though I had experience with distributed system, and was able to answer every thing, it lacked "DEPTH", so no senior. It was so strange, because I answered clearly anything he asked, and only move to others after he satisfies with the answer. After I pushed back about interviewer's unfair feedback (at least the way I felt), my recruiter told me my YOE is not enough, they only consider 10+ for senior. At that point, Indeed had changed from my first choice to my back-up plan, in case I failed the upcoming interview with another company.
  • Even though I felt unfair, but I think I learned a hard lesson : System Design is not as obvious as other interviews. Also, the approach from *** is too long, so maybe I should have spent more time on things that matter than estimate RPS or clarifying the API signature. Still, the problem with Indeed system design interview is that they don't let you know what to focus (unlike Amazon and Google), so I was complacent. Probably partially because what to focus will largely depend on the interviewer, probably no guideline exists. That lesson helped me a lot for my interviews after.
  • Good luck to every one!
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