Role: SDE-1
College: Not Specified
Interview Date: Not Specified (experience published July 2025)
Interview Type: On-Campus
Result: Rejected
Difficulty: Hard
Rounds: 4 rounds
Topics Asked: Data Structures, Algorithms (Stringoholics, Tree with Binary Indexed Tree + DFS, Knapsack, Maximum non-decreasing Array length, Parenthesis balancing), CS fundamentals (Binary tree vs Sorted array, OS, DBMS, SQL - second largest salary, n largest salary, Semaphores, Shared and Exclusive locks, Heap time complexity, Clustered and unclustered Index), Projects
Experience:
This SDE-1 interview experience at Media.net describes a campus placement process with four rounds, as detailed in a GeeksforGeeks article published in July 2025. The candidate was not called for the HR round and thus was rejected. Prior to the contest, the candidate's resume and competitive programming profile ratings were considered.
Round 1: InterviewBit Platform Contest (90 minutes)
This round consisted of 3 coding questions.
- Question 1: "Stringoholics" (from InterviewBit).
- Question 2: A tree question: Given a binary tree with n nodes and unique values from 0 to n-1, evaluate each node's value as the count of all nodes in its subtree with a node value less than the current node's value. Hint: Use a Binary Indexed Tree with DFS.
- Question 3: A complicated Knapsack question with O(n^2) space constraints.
The candidate solved Question 2 and partially Question 3. Despite many students solving 2 questions, a plagiarism checker was used, and only 8 students were shortlisted, including the candidate.
Round 2: Technical Interview 1 (Google Meet, 60 minutes)
This round involved one coding question and a few CS core questions.
- CS Core Questions:
- Difference between a Binary tree and a Sorted array (standard Media.net question).
- Other OS and DBMS-specific questions (not very difficult).
- SQL question: finding the second largest salary and then the Nth largest salary from two tables (Emp_id, Emp_name and Emp_id, salary). The interviewer was fine with the candidate solving only the second largest.
- Coding Question: Find the maximum non-decreasing Array length. This was similar to a Hard question from a previous week's LeetCode Biweekly Contest - 118, though the interviewer asked it differently and expected an O(n^2) complexity, while O(n) or O(n log n) is possible. The candidate provided a correct O(n^2) approach.
Three students were shortlisted for Round 2, and after two days, the candidate also received a call for Round 2.
Round 3: Technical Interview 2 (Google Meet, 60 minutes)
This round followed the same pattern as Round 2. The candidate had only 15 minutes to prepare as they were taking another online test.
- CS Core Questions:
- Semaphores, Shared and Exclusive locks (properties were answered despite forgetting the name Semaphore).
- Clustered and unclustered Index in DBMS (basic property and usage).
- Heap time complexity, and time complexity to form a heap with a sorted array (candidate couldn't answer the latter).
- Coding Question: Given a string S of opening and closing parentheses, form two strings A and B where each character of S belongs to either A or B in the same order. Determine the number of possibilities. The candidate solved it from O(n^3) to O(n^2).
In both technical rounds, the candidate was asked to code in Google Docs. The candidate felt confident about getting a call for the next round. The interviewer hinted that the candidate was good at DSA and CS Core but lacked projects using data structures in large-scale applications, suggesting they would do better elsewhere for now.