Panda Guru LogoPanda
Guru

De Shaw SMTS | Reject

Screening Round

Questions:

Question 1

Given an array A and servers n, find the minimum total time it will take to complete all tasks. Constraint: You have to pick the tasks in sequence.

Case 1: [10,10,10,10], n = 2
Ans: 20
Example: In the above case, you can schedule 10, 10 to server 1 and 10, 10 to server 2, hence the answer is 20.

Case 2: [10,20,30,40], n = 2
Ans: 60
Schedule 10, 20, 30 to n = 1 and 40 to n = 2. Now some can say why don’t we choose [10,40] and [20,30] and minimum time is 50. But the array you are choosing should be continuous (given).

The interviewer gave 20 minutes. I wrote a working code in 3 minutes using binary search. He tested it by giving inputs.

Question 2

  1. What are the major components of a flight booking system?
  2. How will you determine the cost?
  3. How does the payment gateway system work?

The questions were very vague and all were verbal communication without any coding.

Communication Skill Test:

  1. Tell me about a time when you were stuck and didn’t know how to proceed.
  2. How do you deal with a person who is slacking (not working)?

Gave my answers and they were pretty satisfied with the interview. Since I solved the DSA question quickly and handled other questions well.

Candidate's Approach

I used binary search to solve the first question efficiently and managed to write a working code in just 3 minutes. For the flight booking system, I provided verbal answers to the components and processes involved, but the questions were vague and did not allow for a coding demonstration.

Interviewer's Feedback

The interviewer seemed satisfied with my quick solution to the DSA question and my responses to the communication skill test. However, there was a lack of engagement and enthusiasm during the interview.