ZS Associates

Role: Software Engineer

College: Not Specified

Interview Date: 2025-10-03

Interview Type: On-Campus

Result: Selected

Difficulty: Medium

Rounds: 4 rounds

Topics Asked: Coding (AP/GP/Fibonacci, Grid DP), JavaScript MCQs, OOPs MCQs, SQL MCQs, Communication Assessment, OOP concepts, DSA (Linked List, String Manipulation), SQL (Joins, Aggregate Functions, Schema Design), Database Design, Puzzles, Behavioral Questions, Projects

Experience:

This candidate was selected for a Software Engineer role after 4 rounds.

Round 1 (Online Assessment - OA): This was a 60-minute round with coding and MCQs.

• **Section 1 (Coding):** 2 medium problems. One involved implementing AP/GP/Fibonacci-style sequence logic, and the other was a Grid DP variant (similar to Minimum Path Sum but asking for maximum).
• **Section 2:** 6 MCQs on JavaScript.
• **Section 3:** 6 OOPs MCQs.
• **Section 4:** 6 SQL MCQs.

Round 2 (Communication Assessment): A short assessment to evaluate reading, writing, and spoken English (basic comprehension and expression).

Round 3 (Technical Interview 1): This 1-hour round focused on OOP, DSA, and SQL.

• Started with a discussion on the four pillars of OOP.
• Discussion on project experience.
• **DSA (3 questions):** Middle of the linked list, Longest palindromic substring, First non-repeating character in a string. All solved optimally.
• **SQL:** 2 questions involving joins and aggregate functions. Both solved, but one optimal variant was challenging.

Round 4 (Technical + Behavioral Interview 2): A mix of technical design, SQL, and behavioral questions.

• Revisited the SQL query from the previous round.
• Discussed hobbies/motivations.
• **DB design:** Designed a schema for the Asia Cup end-to-end and wrote multiple queries based on it, with a good discussion on DBMS concepts and trade-offs.
• **Puzzle:** "Two cubes make a calendar" puzzle, solved with one hint.

Tips: Strong grasp of DSA (practice edge cases and optimal time/space), solid DBMS & SQL fundamentals (joins, aggregates, schema design), good understanding of OOP concepts, and thorough knowledge of resume.