Little Background
Current Company: Service-based
Years of Experience: 2.5 years

I applied for various roles through the careers portal and received the online test for one role on the same day.

Online Test (Nov 2024)
✅ 1 Easy and 1 Medium LeetCode question – Solved both, all test cases passed.

Round 1: DSA (Mar 2025)
🔹 Merge Intervals - Solved
🔹 Min Path Problem – Initially implemented a DFS solution, but when the interviewer asked if DFS guarantees the minimum path, I quickly recognized that BFS was more appropriate. I explained the corrected BFS approach, and the interviewer was satisfied without asking for the code.
✅ Positive feedback.

Round 2: HLD (Hiring Manager)
🔹 30 mins Behavioral
🔹 30 mins HLD – Designed Amazon Lock System. Took time in gathering requirements as it was my first real HLD.
❌ Feedback: Not a fit for SDE-2.

Round 3: LLD
🔹 Behavioral + Designed a Rate Limiter. Started with Token Bucket, moved to Sliding Window.
✅ Feedback: Positive.

Update after round 2 & 3
The following week, the recruiter informed me that my LLD round went well. However, the hiring manager wasn’t inclined to proceed with me for the SDE-2 role and asked if I would consider an SDE-1 position instead. Since the recruiter wasn’t handling SDE-1 hiring, they suggested I take another round focused on HLD with a different hiring manager, as their decision would carry more weight. I agreed, and the round was scheduled with another team.

Round 4: HLD (Another HM)
🔹 Designed Review and Rating system – Covered entities, APIs, scalability.
🔹 Asked about system health monitoring – partially answered.
✅ Feedback: Hire Call from HM.

Round 5: Bar-Raiser
Note: Since all the previous rounds went well, the recruiter mentioned that the bar-raiser round would be a combination of DSA and behavioral questions.

🔹 Unexpectedly asked to design BookMyShow. Focused on consistency but didn’t cover full HLD due to time.
🔹 DSA: 2D Matrix DP problem (Leetcode Medium) – Coded it, but later realized a bug.
🔹 No direct Behavioral: Talked about my current role, how my day looks like, current team size. The interviewer expected to-the-point answers rather than detailed explanations or stories.

The entire interview loop took around a month to complete.

After two working days, I received an automated rejection email. The recruiter mentioned that the Bar Raiser round didn’t go well, and I wasn’t fit for the SDE-2 position. So, I asked if there was any possibility of being considered for an SDE-1 role. Since they were handling only senior-level hiring, they offered me two options: a permanent SysDev-2 role in a different team, or a 12-month contract for the same SDE-2 position in the original team. But I didn’t end up taking either.

Overall, it was a great experience — I learned a lot throughout the process. The recruiter was kind and shared detailed feedback after every round.