RingCentral

Role: Software Engineer – Fresher

College: Not Specified (On-Campus)

Interview Date: July 2025

Interview Type: On-Campus (College Placement Drive)

Result: Selected

Difficulty: Medium

Rounds: 3 rounds (Initial Screening, Technical Round 1, Technical Round 2)

Topics Asked: Data Structures (Graphs, Disjoint Set Union, Stack), Algorithms, OOPs (struct vs class in C++), Resume-based questions, HR questions, Redis, MySQL, REST APIs, System Design (project architecture, backend systems, databases, scalability, sharding, GCP cloud storage, physical data storage, structured databases).

Experience:

The interview process at RingCentral for the Software Engineer – Fresher role was structured and focused on both depth and clarity, testing real-world knowledge, communication, and thinking.

The process included an Initial Screening, followed by two technical rounds. Most candidates had 2 rounds, but a few, like this candidate, had a 3rd based on the panel. The timeline was fast, with the test, shortlist, and interviews happening in the same week.

Initial Screening (Online Assessment):

This round lasted 90 minutes and was conducted online via HackerRank. The focus was on Data Structures and Algorithms, specifically Graphs. Key questions included two graph-based problems, which the candidate solved using Disjoint Set Union (Union-Find) and Union by Size optimization.

Technical Round 1:

This round lasted 45-60 minutes and was conducted in-person. It focused on logical thinking, DSA, resume-based questions, and HR-fit. The interviewer started with an introduction and "Tell me about yourself," which guided the follow-up questions.

Coding problems included:

1. Reverse vowels, retain consonants. Input: "ringcentral" → Output: "rangcentril". The focus was on thought process, edge cases, and optimizations.
2. Remove duplicates from a list/string using a stack in Python. The interviewer also asked to extend this to C/C++ using pseudocode with a struct-based linked list.

A theory question was asked about the difference between struct and class in C++. Resume-based domain questions covered Redis, MySQL, and REST APIs. Discussion also revolved around past internship experience, including team size, global collaboration, responsibilities, tech stack, and the candidate's contribution.

HR-type questions included "Why should RingCentral hire you?" and "List three strengths and weaknesses" (with a tip to show improvement for weaknesses), and "How would your friends describe you in one word?".

Technical Round 2:

This round lasted around 1 hour and 15 minutes and was also in-person. It focused on the candidate's personal background, project architecture, backend systems, databases, and APIs. Icebreaker questions covered background, schooling, hobbies, and why engineering.

The candidate was asked to explain their favorite project, including showing an architecture diagram and walking through the system flow from user input to backend and database, describing module communication, libraries used, and database choice. Backend and database topics discussed included scalability, sharding, GCP cloud storage, physical data storage, and structured databases.

The candidate was selected, noting that confidence in the resume and projects, and the ability to explain things clearly, made a big difference.