Headout

Role: SDE-2

College: Not Specified

Interview Date: May 2022

Interview Type: Off-Campus

Result: Cleared (implied offer)

Difficulty: Not Specified

Rounds: 3 rounds

Topics Asked: DSA, Java, Spring fundamentals, ACID Properties, SQL vs NoSQL, OOPS concepts, HLD, LLD, Project discussions.

Experience:

The candidate, with 2 years of experience at a product-based startup, interviewed for the SDE-2 profile.

Round 1 (1 Hour): This was an elimination round. It included one DSA question, specifically "Increasing Triplet Subsequence" (LeetCode problem). Following this, questions were asked on Java and Spring fundamentals, ACID Properties, the difference between SQL and NoSQL databases (and when to use each), and OOPS concepts with examples and output problems. The candidate cleared this round.

Round 2 (1.5 Hour - HLD + LLD): This round focused on High-Level Design (HLD) and Low-Level Design (LLD). The LLD question involved implementing a logging library that not only printed logs but also triggered events (e.g., sending messages to Kafka Broker or SQS) if a specific protocol was received, while being compatible with future mechanisms. For HLD, the candidate was asked to design Cowin, which involved discussions around functional and non-functional requirements, handling OTP at various stages, and the database design for slot availability. The candidate felt they were very close to a final solution for LLD and had a good discussion for HLD. This round was cleared.

Round 3 (1.5 Hour - Hiring Manager): This final round primarily involved project discussions. The candidate was asked to perform an HLD of their most favorite project, detailing the design decisions made.