Role: SDE 2
College: Not Specified
Interview Date: Not Specified
Interview Type: Full-Time
Result: Rejected
Difficulty: Hard
Rounds: 7 rounds
Topics Asked: HR Screening, Resume Discussion, Work Experience, Projects, Culture Fit, Data Structures, Algorithms (Stacks, Parenthesis, Two-Pointer/Sliding Window, Buy and Sell Stocks, Merge Sorted Array, Search in Rotated Sorted Array), Machine Coding, API Design, Behavioral Questions
Experience:
This candidate, with ~3.5+ years of experience, applied for an SDE 2 (Remote) position at Motive via a LinkedIn referral. All rounds were elimination rounds.
- Round 1: HR Screening (20 minutes) - Discussion about the candidate's profile, CTC expectations, and a disclaimer about limited hike potential.
- Round 2: Hiring Manager - Discussion related to resume, work experience, projects, culture fit, and genuine interest. This was considered a fitment and candidate knowledge check round.
- Round 3: Data Structures - A LeetCode medium problem related to stacks and parentheses (referencing parenthesis-based questions). There was also one follow-up question.
- Round 4: Data Structures - A LeetCode medium problem based on finding the maximum length given a condition (using two-pointer/sliding window). Another LeetCode medium problem from the "Buy and Sell Stocks" variations was also asked.
- Round 5: Data Structures - Two LeetCode problems: "Merge Sorted Array" and "Search in Rotated Sorted Array".
- Round 6: Machine Coding - The candidate received a full setup guide before the interview. This round was extensive, focusing on reading data, applying queries on that data, and coding queries in the form of APIs. It involved creating data object models, classes, and API creation. The candidate was able to produce the entire flow for one of two required APIs, and the postman setup worked well. For the second API, due to time constraints, the discussion focused on how it would be added.
- Round 7: Top Grading Round - This was the final round, which the candidate felt went great, discussing projects, team, and many "tell me about a time when..." behavioral questions. However, the candidate was rejected and felt the interviewer was looking for red flags.
The candidate expressed disappointment due to the rejection after clearing 6 rounds and the lack of proper feedback from HR.