HashedIn

Role: Software Development Engineer - I (SDE-I)

College: Not Specified (Campus Hiring)

Interview Date: February 2025

Interview Type: On-Campus

Result: Selected

Difficulty: Medium

Rounds: 4 rounds

Topics Asked: DSA (DP, Strings, Array, Linked List - Cycle Detection), System Design (Flipkart-type app, API call flow, database schema, normalization, SQL query), Core CS (OOPs, Collections, Exception Handling), Projects.

Experience:

This experience details a campus hiring process for the SDE-I role.

Online Assessment: The first round was an online assessment lasting 90 minutes with 3 questions. It included 1 easy and 2 medium LeetCode-type questions. Candidates had to code and check against custom test cases, finding edge cases, as there were no provided test cases. Questions involved "Longest Palindromic Subsequence" (LCS variation) and another DP question on array partition.

Technical Interview - Round 1: This round started with an introduction. It included coding questions, where the candidate had to write code on paper or explain the logic. Questions like "Longest Palindromic Subsequence" (LCS variation, with a follow-up to find the second largest palindromic subsequence) and another DP array partition problem were asked. The interview also covered System Design, such as designing a high-level Flipkart-type application, including API call flow diagrams and database schema with foreign key references. The interviewer guided the candidate on database normalization.

Technical Interview - Round 2: This round began with basic coding questions, such as "Detecting Cycle in a Linked List" (Hare and Tortoise method). The discussion then moved to projects from the resume, focusing on why they were built, their purpose, and technical details. System Design was a significant part, involving designing a high-level Flipkart-type app with specific features. Candidates were asked to create API call flow diagrams and database schemas, followed by normalization questions and a SQL query based on the designed tables.

HR Round: This was described as a "chill round". It involved discussions on projects from the resume (why built, purpose, technical details) and general HR questions.

Preparation Tips: Practice LeetCode (Striver Sheet) for DP, Strings, and Array problems.