Experience: 4+ years of experience in MNCs
Current Position: Software Engineer at well known MNC
Location: Bangalore, India
College: Tier 1
I won't share the questions to respect NDA.
I got a call from one of recruiter that they are interested in my profile and wanted to check if I am open for any change. I responded affirmatively and asked 2 months of preparation time to brush up my algorithmic and coding skills.
After 2 months....
Telephonic Round 1
Interviwer asked one question. Problem was focused on coding standard instead of algorithm. I've coded the solution completely but interviewer was not convinced with the way I coded the solution but I was given another chance and had to give another telephonic round after 2 weeks.
Telephonic Round 2
Interviewer asked a problem related to dynamic programming which was easy and I've coded the solution at a lightening speed. Then interviewer added some constraint on the problem. With little help I was able to code the solution and interviewer was happy with the solution.
After 3-4 days, I got a call from HR and feedback was positive (except one negetive point that I had to take hint) so I was invited for virtual onsite. I took 2 weeks to brush up my algorithmic skiils.
Virtual Onsite Round 1
Interviewer asked problem related to string with moderate difficulty. I coded it quickly without any bugs and then interviewer asked large scaled problem (something like how will you change the solution when you've millions os strings). I discussed a solution and interviewer was convinced ans asked me to code it. After I coded, he again asked me to further optimized the solution which took 1-2 minutes for me to figure out and 2-3 minutes to code the solution. Interviewer gave a vague hint as well.
Interviewer was very happy (because he said this is the exact solution I was looking for). and overall feedback was positive.
By the time I had solved around ~550 problems on leetcode (~90 easy, ~380 medium, ~70 hard).
Virtual Onsite Round 2
In this round Interviewer asked a problem related to graph + backtracking. Initially I was stuck with DFS (which was wrong) but interviewer asked me to code the solution. By the time I started coding I realized that it is backtracking instead of DFS so I added one extra line (interviewer knew that it is just one line to convert it from DFS to backtracking that's why he asked me code the DFS) to make it backtracking.
I've coded the solution without any bugs. Interviewer asked whether my solution is DFS or backtracking and asked me to explain my though process when I suddenly switched from DFS to backtracking.
He then asked me to share a scenario where making the solution backtracking will make the difference. I shared an example and interviewer was happy. I was struggling with space complexity but I've shared that it will be exponantial in nature.
Overall interviewer was happy but shared one moderatly negetive feedback that I did not ask the input format, graph size and assumed everything.
HR feedback
Got a call from HR that interview went well and then he scheduled 2 more rounds after a week.
Virtual Onsite Round 3
In this round, interviewer asked to code a player move in a game, which was easier to code but difficult to debug. I carefully coded the solution and found a bug as well which I fixed it later. I discussed time and space complexity as well. He then asked me the large scaled version of same problem and asked me to optimized. It was very difficult to come up with the solution but I gave O(1) solution by storing some metadata about the game.
Interviewer was convinced with the solution and he said that I am going in right direction. Since we were running out of time, he did not asked me code the solution.
Overall feedback was very positive.
By the time I had solved around ~570 problems on leetcode (~90 easy, ~400 medium, ~75 hard) of mixed varities.
Virtual Onsite Round 4
In this round, interviewer asked me a problem related to merge sort. I explained the solution, time complexity correctly and then coded the solution. I keep refining my code while I was coding. Then he asked to come up with set of test cases to test my solution which I did.
Similar to previous round, he extended the problem to large scale version. I was stuck for 10 minutes. I made some progess but didn't know how to proceed further from there. Interviewer gave some hints and at the end I shared the solution. Since time was running out, he did not asked me to code.
Overall feedback was neutral with little bit leaned on positive side.
HR feedback
Got a call from HR that interview went well and then he scheduled googleyness rounds after 1 day.
Googleyness Round
Typical Tell me a time when... kind of questions were asked in this round which I find easy to answer them.
In googleyness round, sometimes you might not have encountered a situation in the past which interviewer is asking about and that's completely normal. Since I had 4+ years of experience I had faced somewhat similar situations so I explained those. I would recommend to prepare a doc with typical googleyness questions like -
- Tell me a time when you had a conflict with someone who is senior to you.
- Strength and weekness.
- Are you team player ?
- As a developer how will you define success?
- Tell me a time when you went beyond your role and delivered something.
- Tell me a time when you did not have enough knowledge of some project but still you delivered it.
- Tell me a time when you failed.
- Tell me a time when you learned from your failures.
HR feedback
HR called me and shared the feedback which was positive. He then said that he has forwarded my packet to hiring committee.
Result
Hiring Committee has approved my packet for L4. Compensation details are under discussion.
Preparation Strategy
I'll post it soon.