Online Assessment Round (Virtual)
We were given two DSA questions:

1. Roman to Integer
2. A string subsequence-based question (LeetCode Hard – exact one I don’t recall)

I was already familiar with both, so I completed them in under 30 minutes.

Round 1 – Technical (Virtual)
The interviewer was an SDE and very friendly.

• DSA:
• • Two Sum – I explained the approach and coded it live in an online compiler. Passed all test cases and explained time and space complexity.
• • Length of Last Word – Again, live coded and explained.
• DBMS:
• • Theoretical questions on ACID properties, Normalization, DDL/DML/TCL, and some SQL queries.
• • I stumbled a bit on LIMIT and OFFSET, but the interviewer explained it to me mid-discussion.
• OOPs:
• • Explained the 4 pillars (Encapsulation, Abstraction, Inheritance, Polymorphism) with examples.
• He concluded by asking a GFG-style puzzle, but due to internet issues, the call dropped. I followed up via email and he said he was satisfied, so no need to rejoin.

Duration: ~1 to 1.5 hours.

Round 2 – Technical (Virtual)

• Interviewer focused heavily on OOPs concepts, and I had to implement the logic in code after explaining each concept.
• Mixed up Java & C++ syntax a bit (he was a Salesforce dev), but still managed to impress him.
• Final task was to find frequencies of characters in a given string – explained and coded it successfully.

Round 3 – Technical (Onsite)
This round was tough.

• I almost missed the interview due to travel confusion but reached just in time.
• The interviewer (Tech Lead) wasn’t onsite, so we connected via Google Meet.

Questions:

• Linked List Problem: I struggled as I hadn’t practiced writing the entire structure from scratch (used to solving function-based in LeetCode). I still explained the logic.
• Array Problem: Check if two sorted arrays are equal – passed the test cases, but couldn't optimize my 3-loop solution.
• DBMS: Deep dive into normalization, LIMIT/OFFSET, and a design question.

Unfortunately, I was quite nervous, and the lack of preparation for full implementation and DBMS theory showed.

Personal Reflection:

• The first two rounds went great – I felt confident in both DSA and OOPs.
  Round 3 hurt due to:
• • A large gap (1 month) between rounds
• • Nervousness
• • Unfamiliarity with full code implementation in Linked List
• I was told later that I didn’t make it. But honestly, this was one of the most enriching interview series I've been through.