Job Designation : SDE

CTC Breakup

Total CTC - 36.5 LPA
Fixed - 26 LPA
Variable - 3.5-7L
Sign-On Bonus - 1L
Anniversary Bonus - 1L
Relocation - 1.5L

Selection Process -

Online Assessment 1

It was difficult round consisting of 3 DSA questions for 120 min

1. Connected components of graph
2. Bit Manipulation
3. DP problem

Online Assessment 2

This was unique round compared to that of typical coding rounds, had one coding question and then system design round for 45 min.

1. Dynamic Programming question - weighted job scheduling which is classic DP problem with Binary Search.
2. System Design round -
   To give you context I was asked to design the backend system for a threading feature inside a chat app like Slack or Microsoft Teams that lets users reply directly to a specific message in a channel without cluttering the main chat feed.
   Based on this problem statements 3 questions were asked which include designing non-functional features, Data model and relationships and then APIs and it's core functionality. These more or less covers the entire system design part.

Technical round

1. This round was entirely based on the Online Assessment 2 round held for 70-80 min roughly.
   Firstly, on the DSA question which was asked they start by asking why did you choose this approach, is there any other alternative and how did you draw to a conclusion that only this works.
   In short, you need to present your thinking ability and insights and present with some of test cases.
   Also, share your thoughts about the Edge cases.
2. On system design part, first I was asked to explain about the flow of building this feature and then questions on non-functional design features and their importance. Also I was asked to draw the ER model of the entire data bases which are gonna be used in building this feature. Asked to optimize the some of key features in the implementation part as well and was asked to write the code for API calls.

I was rejected after this round.

My learnings (what I feel went wrong) -

1. Coming to DSA, it went good I explained my approach from bruteforce to optimization using DP very well.
2. System Design is what I feel lacked, Asked about methods for durability of the data bases I explained about replicas, Write-Ahead logs and Backups but asked on more alternatives I stuck there. And also while designing ER model I feel that I was bit under-confident, and was asked to write API calls, I called two attributes where it can be done with calling one itself.
   These are the parts where I missed and answered remaining all of them but learnings are always know all the alternative methods as well and be confident on what you're designing along with valid explanations.

Though I didn't make it but I had idea of next rounds.

Mangerial Round

Complete resume grill and can expect any type of questions. Be prepared!

HR round

HR questions and assessing your work style and culture fit.

All the very best!! Let's crack it. I hope added some value for your time.