Role: Senior Software Development Engineer (Sr. SDE)
College: Not Specified
Interview Date: May '25
Interview Type: Full-Time
Result: Not Specified
Difficulty: Not Specified
Rounds: 6 rounds
Topics Asked: Background, Experience, Tech Stack, Role Expectations, Team Fit, Data Structures, Algorithms (Two Sum, Merge Sorted Array, Convert String to Postfix), High-Level Design, Machine Coding, Behavioral
Experience:
The candidate initially applied through Motive's career page but received no response. They then proactively messaged employees on LinkedIn for a referral, which led to a recruiter contact.
- Round 1: Recruiter Screening (15 minutes) - Discussion covered the candidate's background, experience, current tech stack, role expectations, and team fit. The recruiter then outlined the 6-round interview structure.
- Round 2: Data Structures and Algorithm - Questions included "Two Sum Problem" (LeetCode) and "Merge two sorted array into the bigger array" (LeetCode). The discussion covered brute-force, hash map-based, and optimized approaches, along with time and space complexity analysis and edge cases. Verdict: Strong Hire.
- Round 3: Data Structures and Algorithm - The main problem was to convert a string to its postfix notation and solve it, similar to the GeeksforGeeks "Evaluation of Postfix Expression" problem.
- Round 4: High-Level Design - The candidate struggled with scaling and designing search functionality effectively and deep-diving into Elastic Search.
- Round 5: Machine Coding Round - The candidate successfully explained the approach and drafted pseudocode but struggled to convert thoughts into executable code within the time limit.
- Round 6: Hiring Manager/Director Round - Not detailed in the provided snippet.