Phonescreen
Questions: LC Medium question, a tricky one related to intervals plus a follow up. I talked through my approach and coded it. The interviewer seemed to like it.
Candidate's Approach
No approach provided.
Interviewer's Feedback
Positive feedback received the next day, leading to scheduled onsites.
Virtual onsite round 1 - DSA 45 mins
Questions: Started out as a simple problem and gradually more complex extensions were added to it. There were at least 3 parts to it.
Candidate's Approach
I did the first part pretty quickly but took some time with the second extension. I made a few minor errors due to nervousness, found and corrected them during the dry run. By this time it was already 30+ mins. The interviewer carried on with the next extension. I only had time to talk through my thought process and discuss complexities and didn’t have time to code it up.
Interviewer's Feedback
No feedback provided.
Virtual onsite round 2 - DSA 45 mins
Questions: This was an LC Medium/Hard. The interviewer wanted me to talk about different solutions to the problem and the trade-offs between them.
Candidate's Approach
We spoke a lot, I explained my thoughts, the complexities, trade-offs and what kind of scenarios will fit each solution. I made a few mistakes which I corrected during the dry run, but there was one which I did not identify and the interviewer had to point out. In the end, I managed to cover a few more edge cases and got a working solution.
Interviewer's Feedback
The interviewer was really nice to talk to, and it felt like having a conversation with a colleague.
Virtual onsite round 3 - System Design 1 hour
Questions: This was my first system design interview ever, and I was completely caught off guard by the question.
Candidate's Approach
It took me a lot of time to properly understand the problem. I tried as much as I could, talking through everything I could think of. The interviewer kept probing, making me clarify what I had started. Thanks to that, I was able to come up with something. We discussed bottlenecks, estimations, etc.
Interviewer's Feedback
The interviewer was positive about my idea, which kept me going.
Virtual onsite round 4 - DSA 45 mins
Questions: This was definitely an LC hard problem. I talked through different approaches that came to my mind.
Candidate's Approach
I slowly realized that those approaches wouldn’t work as the interviewer shared a few more examples. I started to code it, but midway realized that it wouldn’t work. I spent the rest of the interview thinking with a few more examples and brainstorming.
Interviewer's Feedback
No feedback provided.
Virtual onsite round 5 - Behavioural 45 mins
Questions: Mostly standard questions, few scenarios specific to the team.
Candidate's Approach
No approach provided.
Interviewer's Feedback
The interviewer seemed happy with my answers. Positive feedback received. Passed HC.
Tips / Suggestions / Observations:
- Practising problems by typing solutions in google docs without any IDE.
- Keep talking! Say what you are thinking, it really helps the interviewer.
- Dry run your code! Try coming up with edge cases yourself.
- Don’t beat yourself up too much after a round.
- Prepare for each and every round seriously, including the team matching call with the hiring manager.
- The evaluation includes a lot of different details.
- Luck plays a factor in any interview. So don’t stress out!