Sharing my interview experience for anyone preparing for similar SDE roles. I wasn't selected, but the process was a good learning experience.

Phase 1 — Online Assessment (HackerRank)

The OA consisted of 3 coding questions:

1. Easy — Counting non-overlapping intervals

   • Relatively straightforward.
   • I was able to solve it.

2. Medium — Fibonacci-style problem

   • Similar to Fibonacci in terms of the recurrence/idea, but a bit more complex.
   • I was able to solve it.

3. Hard — Graph problem

   • Involved Topological Sort along with further optimizations.
   • I wasn't able to solve this one completely.

The OA was heavily checked for plagiarism, and out of around 70 candidates, only 9 were selected.

Phase 2 — Round 1: DSA + CS Fundamentals

There were 2 interviewers, both of whom seemed to be relatively junior SDEs.

The interview started with an introduction and then moved directly into DSA.

Problem 1 — Search a 2D Matrix II

LeetCode — Search a 2D Matrix II

I was able to solve the problem and explained three different approaches, including the optimal O(n) approach.

Problem 2 — Furthest Building You Can Reach

LeetCode — Furthest Building You Can Reach

I was able to solve this optimally using a Priority Queue (Min Heap).

Projects + CS Fundamentals

After the DSA questions, they asked about my projects and went fairly deep into the implementation details.

Some of the topics discussed were:

• WebSockets
• JWT
• Project architecture and implementation details
• Technical decisions made in my projects
• Operating Systems, which was asked quite thoroughly

I was able to answer most of the questions, and both interviewers seemed satisfied with my answers.

After this round, 3 candidates out of the 9 were selected for the next round.

Phase 3(Last Round) — Round 2: LLD

This round was initially supposed to be an AI-based coding assistant round, but the interviewer directly moved to an LLD problem.

The problem was:

Parking Lot System Design

At that point, I wasn't very familiar with LLD problems.

I started by clarifying the requirements and then designed the system based on them. I created the classes and components that came to mind and explained my thought process.

The interviewer constantly kept questioning several of my design decisions. The interview ended around 20 minutes earlier than scheduled.

I wasn't selected after this round.

Back to preparing for the next one. 🚀