Status: Offered
Education: One of the top 7 IITs (non-circuital 2024 passout)
Years of Experience: ~2 Years (1 year 11 months)
Current Role: Software Engineer at Product based company

I wanted to share my interview experience with Spotnana! I interviewed for their Backend Engineer role based out of Bengaluru.

The process moved fairly quickly and consisted of 3 eliminatory rounds (2 Technical/DSA and 1 Hiring Manager). Here is a detailed breakdown of how it went.

Round 1: DSA & Problem Solving (HackerRank)
This was a pure coding round conducted on HackerRank, focusing on Dynamic Programming.

• The Problem: A classic Game Theory / DP problem. Two players, Alice and Bob, are playing a card game with a given array of cards. They take turns (starting with Alice) choosing either the first or the last card from the remaining list, adding the card's value to their score. Assuming both play optimally, the goal is to find the maximum points Alice can obtain.
  (Note: This is very similar to the "Predict the Winner" or "Stone Game" pattern on LeetCode).

• Expectations: The interviewer expected production-ready code. I had to write the complete logic from scratch, handle edge cases, and explicitly generate and test it against custom test cases.

• Result: I implemented the optimal DP approach, the code ran successfully against all test cases, and I was moved forward to the next round.

Round 2: Advanced Data Structures (HackerRank)
This round tested heavy implementation skills and attention to detail under time pressure.

• The Problem: Implement the All O(1) Data Structure.

• My Approach: I structured my solution using a Doubly Linked List combined with a HashMap to achieve the O(1) time complexity constraints for incrementing, decrementing, and fetching the max/min keys.

• The Reality Check: While my logic and architecture were spot on, the implementation was massive. I ended up hitting a segmentation fault and ran out of time before I could fully debug it.

• Silver Lining: I made sure to communicate constantly. I walked the interviewer through my exact thought process and the DLL-Map architecture. They highly appreciated the effort and were satisfied with my logical approach, even without a perfectly compiling final submission.

• Result: Got a callback 3 days later for the final round!

Round 3: Hiring Manager (1 Hour)
This round stepped away from live coding to focus on system design, past experience, and cultural fit.

• Deep Dive: We went through the backend projects listed on my resume.

• Architecture & Design: I was asked to explain a recent project end-to-end, including drawing out the High-Level Design (HLD) of the specific team and architecture I worked within at my current company.

• Behavioral: The interview wrapped up with standard behavioral questions. It ended on a very positive and conversational note.

My Biggest Takeaway & Advice:
Always try to ask engaging, thoughtful questions to the interviewer at the end of every round. It shows genuine interest in the product and the engineering culture, and it leaves a strong lasting impression—especially in rounds like my second one, where communication saved the day despite a segmentation fault.

Hope this helps anyone preparing for Spotnana or similar backend roles. Keep grinding!