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Zynga SDE-2 Interview Experience 2024

Round 1 (DSA)

Questions:

  1. Given a text/String, return exactly K most frequent words.

    • Sample Input:
      text = "I am who I am" K = 1
    • Follow Up: How would you handle the case where there are more than K words having maximum frequency? It was suggested that in case of a tie, use a lexicographical order, which could be accommodated in the Priority Queue Comparator Logic.
  2. Stack Parentheses Question

    • Check if a given String is a valid Parentheses.
    • Case 1: Valid Parentheses
    • Extend the solution for Case 1 to return the length of the longest valid parentheses for the same string.
    • Case 2: Longest Valid Parentheses
Candidate's Approach

Solved the first question using a Map and Priority Queue. For the follow-up, discussed using a comparator for lexicographical order in case of ties.

For the second question, implemented the logic to check for valid parentheses and extended it to calculate the maximum length of valid parentheses.

Interviewer's Feedback

No feedback provided.


Round 2 (Low Level Design)

Questions:

Candidate's Approach

Provided a basic class design including:

  • Game
  • Player
  • GameLoader
  • BoardGeneratorService
  • GameInteractionService

Discussed high-level interfaces for the same. Initially placed the GameInteractionService in the wrong class but corrected it during the interview.

Interviewer's Feedback

Was grilled on the need for a GameInteractionService and its correct placement. The candidate took some time to correct the rationale, which may have contributed to the rejection.