Media.net

Role: SDE - 1

College: Not Specified (On-Campus Placement)

Interview Date: July 2025

Interview Type: On-Campus, Full-Time

Result: Rejected (Not called for HR round)

Difficulty: Hard

Rounds: 4 rounds

Topics Asked: Data Structures (Binary Indexed Tree, Tree, Binary Tree, Heap), Algorithms (DFS, Knapsack, Max non-decreasing Array length, String parenthesis balancing), CS Fundamentals (OS, DBMS, Computer Networks), SQL.

Experience:

The candidate experienced a campus placement drive for the SDE - 1 role consisting of 4 rounds.

Round 1: InterviewBit Platform Contest (90 mins)

This round had 3 coding questions.

• Question 1: "Stringoholics" (from InterviewBit)
• Question 2: A tree question: "Given a binary tree with n nodes and each node with values uniquely from 0 to n - 1. The value of each node is evaluated as the count of all nodes in its subtree with a node value less than the current node value." Hint: Use a Binary Indexed tree with DFS.
• Question 3: A complicated Knapsack question with space constraints (required O(n^2) space).

The candidate solved Q2 completely and Q3 partially. 8 students were shortlisted after a plagiarism check.

Round 2: Technical Interview 1 (Google Meet with Software Developer - 2 yrs experience, 60 mins)

This round involved 1 coding question and a few CS core questions.

• CS Core: Difference between a Binary tree and a Sorted array (standard Media.net question), OS and DBMS-specific questions (not very difficult).
• SQL: Find the second largest salary and followed by n largest salary. The candidate solved the second largest.
• Coding Question: "Find the maximum non-decreasing Array length." This was similar to a Leetcode Biweekly Contest Hard question. The interviewer expected an O(n^2) solution, and the candidate provided a correct O(n^2) approach.

3 students were shortlisted for Round 2, and after 2 days, the candidate received a call for Round 2.

Round 3: Technical Interview 2 (Google Meet with Software Developer - 6 yrs experience, 60 mins)

The interview pattern was similar to Round 2.

• CS Core: Questions on Semaphores, Shared and Exclusive locks (candidate forgot the name Semaphore but answered properties). Heap time complexity, and time complexity to form a heap with a given sorted array (candidate couldn't answer this).
• Coding Question: "Given a string S of opening and closing parenthesis. You can form two strings A and B where each character of S belongs to either A or B in the same order. You have to make sure both A and B are valid parenthesis strings. Return true if possible else false."

The candidate was rejected after this round, with the interviewer noting good DSA and CS core knowledge but a lack of projects using Data Structures in large-scale applications.