This was a new grad role. A recruiter reached out regarding a job application from several months ago, requesting an expedited process to be completed within a week. I accepted, although the minimal preparatory period contributed to the negative outcome.

The process began with an online assessment featuring two medium-hard problems and a behavioral test. I passed with a perfect score.

I proceeded to a three-round onsite interview. I did well in the first two rounds but bombed the third when I was asked a challenging LeetCode hard problem (LFU Cache) I had not seen before. The interviewer demanded a perfect, optimal solution within 30 minutes. The interviewer's cold and terse demeanor throughout did not help.

It's frustrating that so much of one's career in this field is determined by RNG. Many colleagues interviewing for the same role received medium and easy problems and consequently got offers. I am further penalized with a year-long cooldown period.

Design an LFU Cache supporting get and put in O(1) time.