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Role: SDE Intern (AI/LLM)

College: Not Specified

Interview Date: Not Specified (Article date 2025-10-29, all rounds scheduled for the same day)

Interview Type: Internship (6 months), Referral

Result: Rejected

Difficulty: Medium

Rounds: 2 rounds (DSA, DSA + AI), HR (planned but not conducted)

Topics Asked: Data Structures, Algorithms, AI/GenAI projects, LLMs, Design-style problem (forming pairs based on priorities).

Experience:

The candidate received an interview opportunity for a 6-month SDE intern role with an AI/LLM focus through an employee referral. All interview rounds were scheduled for the same day.

Round 1 — DSA (1 hour): This round focused on core data structures and algorithms. Two LeetCode easy-medium problems were given: "Single Element in an Array" and "Container With Most Water." The candidate started with brute-force solutions and then discussed optimized approaches for both. After solving, the interviewer briefly discussed the candidate's projects. This round was perceived to have gone well.

Round 2 — DSA + AI (1 hour, back-to-back): The first half of this round involved a deep discussion around the candidate's AI/GenAI projects and understanding of Large Language Models (LLMs), primarily to assess interest and knowledge in the field. In the second half, a design-style problem was presented: "Form pairs (3 girls and 2 boys) based on certain priorities." The candidate had to write pseudocode and explain the reasoning. This round also went fine overall.

HR Round: An HR round was planned, but just before it started, the candidate was informed that the feedback from the previous rounds was not positive, and thus the HR round did not take place. The candidate believes their knowledge in AI/ML might not have been strong enough.