miscellaneous

I was recently asked this question in an interview:"Write a function that takes an array of integers representing image heights and sorts them into 3 columns such that the height of each column is roughly equal."For example:The goal is to distribute

One thing I've noticed is that DSA is rarely a major focus unless the role also involves core Software Engineering.The interviews tend to focus more on:Building AI agents and multi-agent systemsRAG pipelines, retrieval strategies, and evaluationLangC

Array Hash Table Binary Search Depth-First Search Breadth-First Search Graph Theory Sliding Window Binary Tree DSAThese are the problems faced by my junior anthony during interviews in chennai india1. Array & Two Pointers / Sliding WindowDescription:

Over the last few months, I interviewed with multiple companies(Tekion Corp, Amazon, New Relic, Nielsen, Crunchyroll) and received offers from some.The biggest change in my preparation was moving from “knowing the topics” to being able to design, imp

I have 5+ years of experience, and the role I interviewed for was Senior Software Engineer for Guidepoint.The interview process had five rounds: HR Screening Round – We discussed my experience and how it aligns with the role and the team. First Te

Be honest: how many of the problems in your “Solved” list could you solve right now, from a blank editor, with someone watching?When I asked myself that, the answer was uncomfortable.I had solved 300+ problems. On paper, I thought I was ready.But in

Posting my rejection list for last 2 months and experience in case it helps someone. Still It is an ongoing list.yoe :5+ current company: faang college: tier 1/1.5 location: IndiaKaseyaR1 : DSA Buy and sell stocks with fixed transaction fee for each

Over the past 12 months, I have sat in dozens of interview, stared into countless Zoom screens, and put my heart on the line for several different companies. After a grueling year of pushing through the "no's," the tides finally turned. I successfull

Hey guys, I know how the interviewing usually goes. I've been pretty active last year for job hunting. I'm sharing the questions that i was asked in some of the interviews that i gave last year. Check the website below https://reminiscent-troodon-d88

idk where to even rant about this but one of the worst phases of the interview process feels waiting for the decision after the final rounds. Recruiters take soooo long to get back to you if they dont ghost you that is. After investing weeks of time

My interview prep journey — what worked for meIn the last 1 month, I went through interviews with Nielsen, New Relic and Crunchyroll and received offers from all.I had been struggling with interviews for quite some time, so I wanted to share what wor

https://leetcode.com/discuss/post/8524882/google-l3-swe-interviews-content-safety-pmcnq/ https://leetcode.com/discuss/post/7370210/google-l4-amml-interview-experience-by-a-l685/ https://leetcode.com/discuss/post/7365000/googles-software-development-a

i lost twenty minutes of an interview looking for a solution that did not exist.graph problem, find the shortest walk that visits every node. i started hunting for something polynomial — a clever greedy, a topological trick, some DP over edges. i was

Hey everyone! 👋I’m happy to share that I recently cleared my Java Intern interview! 🎉The company conducted 4 rounds — 1 coding round, 2 technical rounds, and 1 HR round.🔹 Round 1 – Coding Round ( DEBUGGING )This round was a little different from the

YOE : 7 years Role : Senior Software EngineerSalesforce OA - 1 medium + 1 Hard bitmasking question Screening(1.5 hrs) - 2 medium DSA questions(30 mins) + 1 LLD question(1 hr) R1 onsite(1.5 hrs) - 1 DSA question + LLD(Connect 4 problem). shortest path

I used to memorize system designs. Uber = location service + Redis Geo + WebSocket. WhatsApp = message queue + delivery receipts + fan-out. Netflix = CDN + encoding pipeline + recommendation engine.Then I walked into an interview and got: "Design a r

Quest Hiring BarRaiser Round – Client: Bupa Insurance SDE-1 Interview ExperienceCompany: Quest Hiring Client: Bupa Insurance Role: SDE-1 / Backend Engineer Location: Gurugram Round: Round 1 – Technical + Coding + Backend Concepts Interview Mode: Tech

I knew the logic. I just couldn't code it.A company recently came to our college for placements.The test had 2 questions — one Medium and one Hard.I solved the logic for the Medium, but got stuck while taking the input in Java. The input format was s

I got rejected from Uber, Amazon, Flipkart, PhonePe, Swiggy, and Razorpay — all in the span of 3 months.Same pattern every time: I'd solve 2-3 problems easily in the phone screen, feel confident, then completely blank in the onsite round when the pro

So we were giving interview in SAP together and the mistake he did was he forgot to study about the company because we got to know that we have a interview at 2 AM in the morning.And he cleared 2 rounds nicely but in HR round the HR rejected him dire

after getting rejected a bunch, i started asking recruiters for feedback. most gave generic "we decided to move forward with other candidates" but a few were honest. combined that with self-reflection after each round.here's what i found after 23 int

my DSA was fine. i could solve mediums consistently. still got rejected 6 times in a row. here's what was actually killing me — none of it was about algorithms:mistake 1: coding in silencei'd read the problem, go quiet for 5 minutes thinking, then st

Today, I faced my first interview, and I didn't clear it.Of course, it was disappointing. But instead of seeing it as a failure, I'm choosing to see it as my first lesson.This experience taught me that there is always room to improve—whether it's tec

After grinding LeetCode I could solve most problems but still froze in live interviews — couldn't think out loud, tanked system design, and never got real feedback. So I built ThyncLabs: it runs a live AI mock interview (voice + whiteboard for system

went through interview loops at 4 fintech companies. system design at these places is nothing like "design twitter" — they don't care how you scale to 1B users. they care whether YOU understand what breaks when money is involved.heres the pattern nob

Got rejected from 3 companies in a row on the system design round. my architectures were fine — right components, right data flow. but every time the interviewer asked "what happens when [component] goes down?" i froze.turns out the happy path is onl

Last day, I sat in an interview and witnessed something that really made me think.Many candidates were willing to work for a ₹10,000 stipend, even when the company clearly stated that there would be no PPO (Pre-Placement Offer) after the internship.T

I've been through interview loops at Amazon, Google, and startups. After trying every resource out there, here's what I actually use now.For DSA: Pattern-based, not randomThe biggest mistake I made early on was solving random problems. 500 problems s

Oracle Interview ExperienceScreening Round Behavioral questions Resume discussion Discussion about using AI agents Round 1 One medium-level DSA question Java-related questions HashMap internal working in Java Behavioral questions Resume discussion Ro

I used to think a coding interview was simple:Get the problem. Find the algorithm. Write correct code.But the more interview experiences I read, the more I notice that many people do not fail because they know zero DSA.They get stuck because they hav

I recently earned the opportunity to join as a Backend Engineer Intern at a Series D-funded fintech company building products at the intersection of investing, wealth management, and capital markets technology in India.This post is a breakdown of my

Had an interview where I did well in DSA and computer fundamentals, but at the end of round 2 the interviewer asked this:A man is found dead in a locked room with no windows. The only things in the room are a puddle of water and a chair. How did he d

Contrasting Interview ExperienceInterviewer A Runs the round to maximize signal. Every question is set up to let the candidate show what they can do. Steers deliberately, with follow-ups in mind, so the discussion builds instead of drifting. Checks f

I recently took this assessment, and honestly, it was a incredibly refreshing and new experience compared to the standard algorithmic grinds. It really tests your actual day-to-day software engineering skills rather than trick puzzles.The 60-minute c

I was asked to define my own function signature because the requirement was only given with qualitative descriptionI was able to identify exactly which leetcode problem it wasthe input was supposed to be [[a,b], [b,c],...]and in the original leetcode

Hi Leetcode Community,I’m currently working as a Software Engineer-2 (Around 3 years of experience) at a large MNC and planning to switch companies in the coming months.My Leetcode stats:- After spending considerable time preparing for interviews, I

🚀 Recently interviewed at an early-stage startup — and it genuinely pushed me to rethink my preparation. The process had 3 rounds, and each one tested a very different dimension:🧠 Round 1: DSA Questions around Dynamic Programming, greedy optimization

"We’ve all seen it: someone solves a LeetCode Hard in 20 minutes with O(n) time complexity, but still gets a 'No Hire.' Why?In my recent experience (both as an interviewee and an interviewer), the bar has shifted. For Senior and Staff roles, the 'opt

I made a post last year: https://leetcode.com/discuss/post/7176708/100-interviews-50-companies-0-offers-by-dbhmq/After that post, I interviewed with 7 more companies including Oracle, Twilio, Salesforce, etc., and finally received an offer from Oracl

I failed my first frontend interview at a product company.Not because I couldn't code. Because I couldn't explain why I was coding it that way.The interviewer asked me why I used useCallback there. I said "for performance." He asked "what performance

🔹 IBM ISDL (Bangalore) – EDA Developer Tools🟢 Online Assessment (HackerRank) 2 DSA questions (Graph + DP) 10 MCQs 🟢 Screening Call Work related discussion Introduction and discussion on C++ and DSA What is this pointer in C++? Can we have a "virtual

Q1: Distinct primes in rangesYou are given an array of ranges int[][] ranges where each range is [l, r] (inclusive).Find how many distinct prime numbers appear in at least one of these ranges.If a prime appears in multiple ranges, count it only once

Hey everyone, I recently went through an interview process and wanted to share my experience. Hope this helps someone preparing!🔹 Round 1 : DSA + Resume DiscussionThe round started with a self-introduction, followed by questions on: My past work expe

My 2-Month Interview Journey: Rubrik, DE Shaw, Rippling, Jane Street & More [Rejected]Hi everyone,Over the last 2 months, I have been actively interviewing for SDE 2 and Backend Engineering roles. Unfortunately, it has been a tough season, and I have

DSA round:part 1: I was given a snippet of code in the language I chose before the interview, then I was asked some basic/fundamental questions about the language as well as pointing out what is wrong with the code.I was able to identify major flaws

Status: B.Tech CSE (Pre-final Year) Position: SDE Intern (Backend) Location: Remote / India Date: Early 2026**Round 1: **Online Assessment (90 mins)2 Medium DSA questions (Sliding window and a standard Two-Pointer array problem).15 MCQs on OS, DBMS,

I’ve been doing a lot of interview prep lately (ML system design + system design especially), and I realized something:Grinding problems isn’t the hardest part. The hardest part is knowing what a strong, rubric-aligned answer actually looks like.For

⚠️ Note: Video Lectures Are Available, Link In Comment Section!This series is designed to help you improve Dynamic Programming. From beginner to advanced level, this series covers 12 DP Patterns In which we'll be focusing on recursion, memoization, t

I’ve been doing a lot of interview prep lately (ML system design + system design especially), and I realized something:Grinding problems isn’t the hardest part. The hardest part is knowing what a strong, rubric-aligned answer actually looks like.For

I’ve been doing a lot of interview prep lately (ML system design + system design especially), and I realized something:Grinding problems isn’t the hardest part. The hardest part is knowing what a strong, rubric-aligned answer actually looks like.For

*I am preparing for internships/entry-level roles and using LeetCode as part of my preparation. For those who recently cracked coding interviews, what helped more: solving a high number of questions or deeply understanding common patterns or can you

I’ve been doing a lot of interview prep lately — especially ML System Design and Large-scale System Design — and I realized something important:Grinding problems isn’t the hardest part.The hardest part is knowing what a strong, rubric-aligned answer

Grinding problems isn't the hardest part.The hardest part is knowing what a strong, rubric-aligned answer actually looks like.For coding rounds, resources are everywhere. But the moment you step into: → ML System Design → Large-scale System Design →

I’ve been doing a lot of interview prep lately — especially Machine Learning System Design and Large-scale System Design — and I realized something interesting:Grinding problems isn’t the hardest part.The hardest part is knowing what a strong, interv

If you’re preparing for coding interviews, chances are you spend a lot of time on LeetCode.You solve problems. You learn patterns. You track your progress.But one thing many candidates still miss is real interview-style practice.Because in actual int

hello leetcoder , i am cse student ,please share data science interview,leetcode question like sql,database etc.*****

Hi people!! Can someone help me with this problem i need the approch and code also sample test cases to check my codeThis question was asked in an interview. I looked for answers in the internet but wasn't satisfied so help me guys!!!Candle Bunch Mar

Hi everyone,I’ve solved 500+ problems on LeetCode over the past year, mostly mediums and some hards, and I’m comfortable with most common patterns (arrays, hashing, binary serach, linked list, stacks, binary trees, graphs, DP).Recently I started look

Noticed something after recording myself during mock interviews: I go completely silent for 20-30 seconds while thinking. Multiple times per problem.To me it felt like 2-3 seconds. On the recording it was brutal - long awkward pauses where the interv

I’ve been doing a lot of interview prep lately (ML system design + system design especially), and I realized something:Grinding problems isn’t the hardest part. The hardest part is knowing what a strong, rubric-aligned answer actually looks like.For

Two things actually helped me: I recorded myself solving problems and played it back. Noticed I'd go completely silent for 20-30 seconds without realizing. Interviewers think you're stuck when you're just thinking. Forcing myself to narrate everythin

Hi everyone,I’m writing this post with genuine hope that someone here might be able to guide me or point out what I might be doing wrong.I graduated in 2024 and soon after graduation I joined a well-known product-based company as a SWE-1. Before that

Anyone else have this gap? At my desk, I'm fine. Timer on, problem up, I work through it. But the second there's another human watching me on a video call, my brain turns off.I tried all the usual advice do more problems, practice with friends, use a

Has the SWE interview process changed lately? Are companies still following the usual pattern of LeetCode-style coding + System Design + LLD, or has the format evolved with the rise of AI/GenAI tools?Curious if the focus is still heavily on algorithm

anyone who has recently gone through the summer 2026 sde intern interview process? i’m trying to understand what the two interviews mentioned in the process are about.from what i’ve heard, each interview is around an hour and includes both a leetcode

Hi everyone,I wanted to understand the current market salary standards for SDE2 roles in India with around 4.5 years of experience.For context: Experience: ~4.5 years Current role: SDE2 Education: B.Tech from a Tier-2 private university Previous expe

I’ve been doing a lot of interview prep lately (ML system design + system design especially), and I realized something:Grinding problems isn’t the hardest part. The hardest part is knowing what a strong, rubric-aligned answer actually looks like.For

Java + DSA Most Asked Questions:

Real Java Interview

I am a b.tech graduate of 2025 and grinding dsa and system design for my job switch , I wanted to know if DSA is still being heavily focused for interview or is DSA not being asked in interviews ( at PBCs ) now .Any kind of guidance or insight will b

Real Java Interview

Grinding problems isn't the hardest part.The hardest part is knowing what a strong, rubric-aligned answer actually looks like.For coding rounds, resources are everywhere. But the moment you step into: 👉 ML System Design 👉 Large-scale System Design 👉

Real Java Interview

Recently, I was asked to Design a Rate Limiter (LLD) in a Product-Based Company interview.At first glance, it sounds simple.But then the interviewer added constraints:• Rate limit users based on userId + tier (Free / Premium) • Support multiple algor

Got a random email today offering to buy my browser extension for $4k.It’s an interview-focused extension I’ve been building on the side, and this is the first time someone reached out with an actual “buy it” offer.I’m not desperate to sell (I have a

Need advice on what to do to get an interview for SDE-2 @ any well-paying MNC or startup. Background - Backend + Android ~4 YOE @ Samsung R&D Nodia, no ratings, no promotion, toxic culture ... DSA - Intermediate, LLD/HLD - have knowledge but needs pr