Tower Research LLC | SDE 1 (Backend Post Trade) | Interview Experience (Rejected)
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interview experienceDSAInterview

Online Assessment (135 minutes) (Jan 2025)

The Online Assessment, conducted on the HackerRank platform, consisted of six questions: two coding questions and four theoretical questions covering Operating Systems, Database Management Systems, and Computer Networking.

Coding Questions

  • Java-specific question: This question tested Object-Oriented Programming concepts, particularly inheritance. Candidates were required to implement inheritance in Java using a provided template and satisfy the given test cases. The question was relatively straightforward for those familiar with OOP concepts.
  • DSA question: A medium-level Data Structures and Algorithms question.

Theoretical Questions

The remaining four questions covered various topics, including:

  • Python memory management
  • Python debugging (concepts of readline and readlines methods)
  • Banker's algorithm for deadlock detection
  • Python decorators
  • SQL injection prevention
  • Java context
  • Final keyword in Java functions
  • Synchronized method access in multithreading
  • Java class execution
  • Constructor overloading and polymorphism
  • TCP congestion control

Round 1 (1 hr)

After clearing the Online Assessment, I was invited to schedule Round 1. The HR did not provide information about the total number of rounds or the interview pattern.

This round focused on Data Structures and Algorithms:

  1. The interviewer initially asked a graph question similar to the "Max Area of Island" problem on LeetCode.
  2. After discussing my approach, the interviewer modified the question, which can be found in a LeetCode discussion thread.
  3. I solved the modified question, and the round concluded.

Initial Problem: https://leetcode.com/problems/max-area-of-island/description/
Modified Problem: https://leetcode.com/discuss/interview-question/5818732

Round 2 (45 min)

Round 2 was scheduled 3-4 days after Round 1. This round consisted of Java-specific questions, data structure-related questions, and rapid-fire questions. Some of the topics covered included:

  • Connection pooling
  • Difference between == and equals in Java
  • Deep and shallow copy
  • HashMap and Map implementation
  • Database connection process
  • String immutability in Java
  • Java equals and hashCode method relationship
  • String immutability in Python
  • Spring Boot and related connection classes
  • Memory allocation for primitive types
  • Heap and stack memory
  • String storage in memory
  • What happens when we do: int a = 10?

Unfortunately, I was not selected to move forward after Round 2.

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