Thanks LC community.

Status: 5 yoe MNC
Date: Jun 2020

Prep: LC alone. Solved around 150 [30:100:20] in span of 45-60 days.

Technical phone screen (45 mins):

• Binary Search. variation of (https://leetcode.com/problems/divide-chocolate/)

Virtual Onsite (5 rounds, 5 different days, 45 mins each):
all of them were in IST night, so I had interviewers mostly from US.

1. graph traversal (topo sort), interviewer spent around 10 mins discussing the problem,it was intentionally very ambiguous, I took some time to ask right questions.
   20 mins to code it up(there was expectation to parse raw input into graph DS and spit out in desired format) , and rest for follow-ups

2. String parsing, distant relative of https://leetcode.com/problems/compare-version-numbers/. Spent considerable time on discussing various approches and trade-offs before started to write code. Finished right on time.

3. Googleyness.
   Race against deadlines. follow-ups.
   given/received -ve feedback?
   how do you reduce scope of projects.
   I dont remember much here, should be pretty easy to answer.

4. String parsing (again), its DFS/BFS on strings. follow-ups. Finished right on time.

5. This one was a bit different, a distributed system was described to me and asked to code up few components. There were few interfaces defined already. lot of talking, bit of coding in this round. This round was concluded 10 mins early!

Observations:

• I did mistake of scheduling some other interviews in the morning time for round-2. It exhausted me by the night when I had to give Google Interview.
• Interviewers need data points. Make sure you focus on your strengths, if you code super-fast ensure you display it. If you are heavy on logical thinking- ask really tough & correct questions, discuss super cool edge cases. Speed is the key.
• Dont have conversation for >3 mins before start of the interview. Time is crucial. Be always aware of time,switch b/w pseudo code, comments based on time left.
• Take continous feedback from your recruiter, he/she can share good data points on what went wrong/missing. You will have opportunity to fill that gap in the following rounds.
• Have competing offers.

I had strong feedback in all rounds, except one. (based on recruiter's feedback), HC, team match, offer done over 2 months.

Result: Offer.