Initial Recruiter Call
Questions: The recruiter asked about:
- Why I was looking for a change
- What interested me in this role
- My expectations
Candidate's Approach
No approach provided.
Interviewer's Feedback
No feedback provided.
First Round: DSA Round
Questions:
- Binary Search Variant: Similar to Painter's Partition problem.
- Similar Problem: LeetCode Link
- Topological Sort Variant: A graph traversal problem requiring topological sorting.
- Similar Problem: LeetCode Link
Candidate's Approach
I discussed my approach for the Binary Search Variant with the interviewer, who was satisfied and guided me to fix missed edge cases. I solved the Topological Sort Variant optimally on the first attempt.
Interviewer's Feedback
The interviewer seemed satisfied with my performance, and I was informed later that I had cleared this round.
Second Round: DB Design/Resume Round
Questions: The round focused on database design, discussing:
- Architecture
- Latency
- Failure handling
- Scalability
- Multi-tenancy
- Monitoring
- Optimizations
Candidate's Approach
I discussed the service my team owned at Amazon and how I would build this service from scratch, which I had already thought about prior to the interview.
Interviewer's Feedback
The discussion was engaging, and I was confident about my performance. I was informed that I had cleared this round.
Third Round: System Design Round
Questions: Design a real-time monitoring system similar to CloudWatch or Prometheus with Grafana. Discussed:
- Functional and non-functional requirements
- Data model and system architecture
- Handling time windows for aggregation and metric ingestion
- Implementing a database from scratch using EC2 instances
Candidate's Approach
I proposed a solution using Time Series Database, Kafka, and Apache Spark for real-time monitoring. I explained MongoDB and Cassandra's architecture but struggled with search optimization techniques.
Interviewer's Feedback
The recruiter later gave positive feedback, and I moved to the next round.
Fourth Round: Hiring Manager Round
Questions: Discussed:
- Projects I worked on
- System scalability
- Monitoring strategies
- Behavioral questions about teamwork and handling failures
Candidate's Approach
It was a productive discussion where I shared insights about my projects and responsibilities.
Interviewer's Feedback
I was informed that I would proceed to the final HR round.
Fifth Round: HR Values Round
Questions: Focused on culture fit and situational questions, including:
- Handling failures
- Manager feedback
- Motivation for joining Dream11
- Personal experience with Dream11
Candidate's Approach
I realized I didn’t structure my responses well using the STAR framework, which may have affected the outcome.
Interviewer's Feedback
No feedback provided.
Post-Interview Experience
Questions: I reached out for feedback but received no response for almost a month. Eventually, I was informed that my values didn’t align with the company.
Candidate's Approach
No approach provided.
Interviewer's Feedback
No feedback provided.
Final Thoughts
Key takeaways:
- Practice DSA: medium-hard level LeetCode problems.
- Practice System Design problems on whiteboard.
- Prepare for Behavioral Rounds: Use STAR format to answer.