Screening Interview
Questions:
- I was asked two questions: one easy and one medium.
- The second question was a variation of a popular question I had solved before, which I only realized during the implementation phase.
- The interviewer asked follow-up questions about the problem itself and some general algorithm questions, like why I chose BFS over DFS, how each works, and the trade-offs between them.
Candidate's Approach
- I completed the first question flawlessly in about 15 minutes.
- For the second question, I selected a complex example, which slowed down my dry run. I communicated to the interviewer that it would take a while to complete, but I continued debugging as per their insistence.
Interviewer's Feedback
No feedback provided.
Virtual Onsite
Coding 1 (45 min):
- I was given two questions: one easy and one medium.
- I solved the easy one flawlessly in 10 minutes.
- For the medium question, I initially proposed an O(N^3) solution, optimized it to O(N^2), and then further optimized it to O(N). However, I later realized my code didn’t handle some edge cases and had a more efficient O(1) space complexity solution.
Candidate's Approach
- I explained my approach to achieving O(N) time complexity before coding it out.
- After the interview, I recognized that I had made typos and my solution was not optimal in terms of space complexity.
Interviewer's Feedback
No feedback provided.
Coding 2 (45 min):
- I was given two questions: the first was medium difficulty, and the second was easy but had many edge cases.
- I solved the medium question without issues but struggled with the second one due to bugs and not clarifying edge cases.
Candidate's Approach
- I spent approximately 20 minutes on each question, but I felt uncertain about the second question due to the bugs and lack of edge case consideration.
Interviewer's Feedback
No feedback provided.
System Design (45 min):
- This was the most challenging interview for me, as I hadn’t had a system design interview before.
- I clarified the scope and designed the high-level design (HLD) but realized afterward that my design wasn’t scalable.
Candidate's Approach
- I pointed out the scalability issue to the interviewer, acknowledging that my design wouldn’t work effectively at scale. I felt this was my weakest round.
Interviewer's Feedback
No feedback provided.
Behavioral (45 min):
- This round was generally relaxed, and I connected well with the interviewer.
- I had stories that could be considered for an E5 level, but I realized I talked too much about failures and areas for improvement.
Candidate's Approach
- I reflected afterward that I should have focused more on my strengths rather than my weaknesses, making it hard to judge my performance.
Interviewer's Feedback
No feedback provided.