Screening Interview
Questions:
- Sum Root to Leaf Numbers.
- TC: O(N), SC: O(N)
- Minimum Window Substring.
- TC: O(N+M), SC: O(M)
The candidate provided optimal solutions, performed dry runs, and handled edge cases. The interviewer seemed impressed.
Candidate's Approach
The candidate effectively solved both problems, ensuring to cover edge cases and performing dry runs to validate their solutions.
Interviewer's Feedback
The interviewer seemed impressed with the candidate's performance.
Full Loop
1st Coding Round:
- Valid Palindrome II.
- TC: O(N), SC: O(1)
- Top K Frequent Elements.
- TC: O(NlogK), SC: O(N)
The interviewer asked follow-up questions with new constraints. The candidate addressed all edge cases and discussed potential test cases. However, there was a misunderstanding regarding the time complexity of heap operations.
Candidate's Approach
The candidate answered the follow-up questions and clarified the time complexity of heap operations. They did not argue against the interviewer's suggestion of using a sorted dictionary for an O(N) solution, as they were unfamiliar with that concept.
Interviewer's Feedback
No feedback provided.
2nd Coding Round:
- Similar to Continuous Subarray Sum.
- TC: O(N), SC: O(1)
- Similar to Binary Tree Right Side View.
- The question required returning a list of nodes in the left view top-down and then the right view bottom-up.
- TC: O(N), SC: O(N)
The interviewer gave positive vibes and seemed impressed.
Candidate's Approach
The candidate successfully tackled both questions, demonstrating a solid understanding of the required algorithms.
Interviewer's Feedback
The interviewer seemed impressed with the candidate's performance.
System Design Round
Questions: The candidate was asked to design a ticket booking system similar to Ticketmaster. The discussion included the booking process flow, UI considerations, and how to prevent double bookings for popular events.
Candidate's Approach
The candidate proposed using a Redis lock on tickets and SQS to manage bookings for popular events, believing their solution was strong.
Interviewer's Feedback
No feedback provided.
Behavioral Round
Questions: The candidate was asked common behavioral questions related to conflict resolution, teamwork, communication, and handling feedback. They structured their responses using the STAR method and provided metrics for relevant situations.
Candidate's Approach
The candidate effectively used the STAR method to discuss unique situations and provided metrics to support their answers.
Interviewer's Feedback
No feedback provided.
The candidate faced multiple rescheduling issues during the interview process and ultimately received a rejection without feedback. They expressed disappointment, believing they performed well in coding, behavioral, and system design rounds.