Interviewer was clear with interview structure, aim was to solve maximum number of question in <1 hr ( 50 min or so, last 10 min for QA).
Tip :
- Solution doesn't need to be optimized (interviewer will tell you if that's the case though), but try to solve it as fast as you possibly can.
- Practice Backtracking, dp and Trie(String) based questions.
- Practice Lettcode Hard, as most of the questions have 2 parts to solve, if you are able to realize that you can do it, right and quickly.
I was asked https://leetcode.com/problems/combination-sum/ (Spent all of my time on only single question)
I was completely lost in backtracking, I came up with something at last but it failed in 1 corner-case.
Interviewer was very friendly and helped when I asked for the help, but I think I crumbled under pressure, although I've solved this before like 5-6 months ago, I couldn't even write it properly.
I think I did 3 things right,
- Asked clarifying questions.
- Asked for help when I was lost in backtracking to send logic in right direction
- Wrote simple example and then added edge cases to it.
I think I didn't do few things correctly
- Wasted lot of time in finding a clue in question that leads me to logic, instead of asking for help.
- Wrote unnecessary comments that I shouldn't have.
- Bit distracted due to surronding noise and my laptop keyboard was unresponsive in between for like for a min or less.
- Just solved 1 question.
Probably will be a reject.