PreScreening Round
Questions:
- Number of Islands
- Follow-up regarding the area of the island
- Questions around concurrency, HTTP, REST, Load Balancing
Candidate's Approach
Was able to solve both the questions.
Interviewer's Feedback
No feedback provided.
Coding Round 1
Questions:
- Find the Celebrity Problem: Gave the indegree and outdegree approach but the interviewer wanted the O(1) space approach.
- Game Theory Based Question: Interviewer just wanted the approach.
Candidate's Approach
Provided the indegree and outdegree approach for the Celebrity Problem but did not meet the interviewer's expectations for the O(1) space solution. Was able to provide the approach for the Game Theory question.
Interviewer's Feedback
No feedback provided.
Coding Round 2
Questions:
- Word Break: Was able to code out the most optimal approach.
- A Heap based question: Interviewer just asked for the approach.
Candidate's Approach
Successfully coded the most optimal approach for the Word Break problem and provided the approach for the Heap based question, which seemed to satisfy the interviewer.
Interviewer's Feedback
Interviewer verdict was No Hire, which was surprising to the candidate.
Design Round
Questions:
- Design a key-value based DB.
Candidate's Approach
Demonstrated a good understanding of DynamoDB internals and provided a reasonable solution.
Interviewer's Feedback
Interviewer verdict was Hire.
HM Round
Questions:
- Gave a scenario of a task and asked how the candidate would approach it.
Candidate's Approach
Provided an approach to the task scenario, and the interviewer looked satisfied.
Interviewer's Feedback
Interviewer verdict was Hire.
Additional Notes
Heard back from the recruiter after around 1.5 months that the feedback for both Coding 1 and Coding 2 rounds were negative.
Learnings
- While practicing DSA, make sure to convey your thought process clearly to others.
- Do mock interviews if you have issues with nerves.
- Don't just practice standard questions if you have solved them before; it creates a habit of skipping the dry runs and thought-building process.