1. Coding Test and Dates

It was an on-campus opportunity in early August 2022. The online test was conducted on HackerRank and consisted of two problems: one easy-medium level and one medium-hard level question, similar to LeetCode. The time limit was 2 hours. I cleared it.

1. Post-Interview Process

The interview was scheduled weeks after the test and lasted for 1 hour. Realistically, consider it 50 minutes, subtracting 10 minutes for introductions from both you and the interviewer. So, try to keep your introduction brief. Then it was time for problem-solving; they usually asked me two medium-level problems:

1. Stock Span Problem (Stack Problem - Medium)
2. Count Ways to Reach the N'th Stair (DP Problem - Medium)

For the first problem, I initially came up with a brute-force approach, which was O(n^2). The interviewer then asked me to optimize it. I came up with an O(n log n) approach, but the interviewer asked for an O(n) solution, which I was unable to provide.

The interviewer then asked me to move to the second problem, as only 20 minutes remained. They took 5 minutes to explain the problem and wrote it in the text editor with one test case. I quickly came up with a solution and explained it to the interviewer. We discussed the time and space complexity, as it was a DP problem. Then, they said, "Your approach is correct. Can you code it?" I started coding it but encountered a slight implementation error, and time was up. Eventually, I was rejected due to poor time management in the interview. I wasted time explaining things; explanations must be concise and clear.

Try to solve this problem while explaining it within a maximum of 15 minutes. Explaining and discussion should take around 5 minutes, and coding should take 10 minutes. This is the ideal time to solve it.

Try to use intuitive variable names, keep explaining while coding, and if you feel stuck, seek hints from the interviewer.