MY Experience: 1.1 year as a full time in a start up in Hyderabad and 10 months intern at Intel
Position: SDE 1
Location: Chennai, India
Offer Date: July 03 2024
Status: Offer Accepted
My Profile
B. Tech CSE
1.1 Years full time experience in a start up (not in development , working on raw postgresql ) (on campus)
10 months Intern in INTEL . (on campus opportunity , it is full of support role like solving incidents and service requests )
Had tcs Ninja ( After my graduation ) .
Interview Experience
Round 1 (Online Test, 120 mins)
There were 2 coding questions, 5 sql questions(3 medium level ,1 above easy and 1 easy sql querry ) and 5 aptitude questions . I am unable to answer the coding questions due to lack of time . But still able to make it to second round . Because each sql querry gets 50 marks which is same weightage as of coding questions .
Round 2 (Online screening round, Technical Interview, 1 Hour)
This was a screening round; the interviewer asked 1 DSA question (difficulty level: medium ) and 1 SQL query (difficulty level: Looks easy but not ) . It was taken by Principal Software Engineer .
Question 1(Rat & Poision Puzzle)
I am unable to understand the question initially . Even after further explaination I am still unclear about the question .
I am not able to come up any answer . So the interviewer moved to the next question
Question 2 (DSA)
Unique Paths
I heard this question for the first time . Because i am new to the dynamic programming . I dont know that it is a dp question . But
i had answered it using the recursion approach . After that he didn't even asked for the optimization . Asked the Space and
time Complexity . Coded it in VSCode and run it against the given test cases successfully .
https://leetcode.com/problems/unique-paths/Question 3 (SQL)
Seventh Highest Salary (without using LIMIT,RANK() , ORDER BY , COMMON TABLE EXPRESSIONS , SUB QUERRIES )
https://leetcode.com/problems/second-highest-salary/description/[ Hint : We need to use the JOINS and GROUP BY and COUNT ]
After all the questions i asked him about the work culture and how to come up with those kind of puzzles. He answered politely saying that " i dont expect correct answers from each and every one . We will observe the thought process of a candidate . 1 hr is very less time to asses the candidate but i can get to know his thinking capabilities atleast . "
IN OFFICE ROUNDS (Round 3 to 5 ):
[Note : For these rounds we have to be in persion in Chennai/Banglore Location ]
Round 3 : (1 hour)
This round was taken by again a Principal Software Engineer . He had a look on my resume initially . Asked why you want to change the role . Asked about my Current Organization and my responsibilities . Since i have worked on databases asked about the questions on indexes like what is index, what is the use and its pros and cons . After that since i wanted to work in a development team , what is the one thing that you wish to develop in your current organization . Asked about the static variable practicle use cases . After that asked about the use of Synchronized block . And the follow up for the synchronized block is , if there is train seat which is available and if the system is distributed system ie multiple servers were handling it . Suppose if Server1 has 2 threads coming and Server 2 has 2 more threads which are trying to book the same seat , how can you handle it ? It is a typical System Desing Concept Called Concurrancy Control Mechanisms. Asked to desing a system which can tackle the above problem . Finally ended the interview with a DSA Question : Find the even numbers in the given range whose set bits count are prime numbers . Here i wrote the prime number function in O(Sqrt(n)) but asked to optimize it further. He asked some questions on my projects as well . I am very much satisfied with my answers and expected the call for the next round . At the end i asked him about the projects that the chargebee have and its work culture . He told me about those things and also given a breif idea of what the chargebee is doing .
Round 4 (1 Hour):
It was taken by an Engineering Manager who had substancial experience as a software engineer and also as a manager . He had 13 Years of Experience in Tech Industry . Same Story goes again asked my roles and responsibilites in current organization and he introduced himself and his work exp . He asked me like "where is your passion lies , where you want to be in next 5 years or so. . Because you had internship in intel which deals with hardware and some kind of support . Now you are working in Databases ". After that he started with 1 DSA Question (Medium Difficulty)
Given an integer n , (n>0) and assume that the numbers from 1 to n are in circular manner . Now while traversing the array remove the elements alternatively . Return the final 1 element that is left at the end . Asked its time complexity as well . After this one asked some questions on my projects . He asked some questions on REST API Structure and its methods and also the use of API's . What really happens if we hit a particular URL in a browser . Asked one SQL Query which is based on employee salary ranges month wise which is very easy one . He asked what if the difference between the interfaces and abstract classes. He asked two things that i wish to present in the chargebee as well, like in my current organization . Similary the two things that i wish not to present here(chargebee) which are in my current organization . Finally he expected some questions from me . I have asked him about the work policy and from which state is from and his college name . I am very much satisfied with my answers so , I expected the positive feedback from him . And i got the call for the final round .
Round 5 (1 Hour):
This is the final round of interview with the Co-Founder of ChargeBee . He is very cool . First 10 minutes discussed about my education and my work in my current organization . He showed keen interest to know what i have been doing in my
organization . After that he came to know i have been working on databases , he asked me about the type of indexes that postgres supports . What is the advantage of using postgres over the mysql . He given me 3 relations and asked a simple query . After that he asked a question on system design for the use case like "Assume you have an entranc exam for the IIIT , applications were very high and students wrote the exam , now you have to display the result if they are selected display their rank otherwise display the text like you are not selected , Also note that at the time of result announcement time the requests were very high , how can you handle this one. ".I explained the desing using the load balancer and the Master Slave Architecture for Databases . He is very much happy to listen those things . Finally he asked some questions in my resume . Then he expected some questions from me . And i asked him who are the clients for ChargeBee. and how you got this idea . Then he explained me everything patiently . I expected a positive feedback from him . Finally HR told me that i had cleared all the rounds of discussions .
Conclusion
Cleard all the rounds of discussion .
Career Advice:
Sometimes things wont happen in the same way that we think about our career path . It feels really bad if you dont get the opportunity to work on the work you wished to do . I have been waiting to get in to the development centric roles . But couldn't make it in the last one year. But the experience that you will get while doing the other work will not go in to vain . Dont Loose Hope .
Keep Coding
Thanks for reading .