Exp: 6 yoe
Current Company: product based
Sharing my interview experience at Snabbit for the SDE-3 role.
Round 1: Machine Coding (LLD)
The problem was to implement a simplified version of Twitter in Java. There was no database involved, and the focus was on designing a simple service with efficient data structures and algorithms.
Requirements:
postTweet: A user can post a tweet.follow: A user can follow another user.unfollow: A user can unfollow another user.getFeed: Return thekmost recent tweet IDs from the user and the accounts they follow, sorted in reverse chronological order.
Each tweet had a timestamp or an increasing sequence number to determine recency.
Discussion and approach:
We discussed the data structures and algorithms that could efficiently support these operations at scale.
I initially suggested using a PriorityQueue for retrieving the most recent tweets. However, we discussed the challenge of retrieving the top K elements without destructively removing elements from the queue. I then explored using a TreeMap-based approach.
The interviewer and I discussed the implementation approach, and towards the end, I was asked to use an AI coding tool to implement the LLD based on the notes from our discussion.
The focus was on the design, choice of data structures, and efficiency of the implementation.
Round 2: High-Level Design (HLD)
Problem: Design a like-counting service for a video-streaming platform.
The discussion focused on designing a service that counts likes for videos.
The key challenge was to design a system that could handle likes efficiently at scale.
Round 3: Hiring Manager (HM)
This round focused on my previous work experience, leadership, collaboration, and motivation.
Questions included:
- Walk me through the work you have done at your previous organization.
- What motivates you to join Snabbit?
- How do you mentor junior engineers? What is your mentoring style?
- How do you handle conflicts with the product or business team? Share a specific example.
- How do you manage working in a fast-paced environment?
The discussion was largely around ownership, collaboration, mentoring, and how I approach engineering challenges in a fast-moving organization.
Final Outcome
Cleared the interviews.
Overall, the process covered machine coding and LLD, HLD, and managerial discussions.
Hope this helps others preparing for interviews at Snabbit. All the best!