The interview process for the Software Development Engineer (SDE) role was structured and focused on assessing both technical and behavioral competencies.

It began with an online assessment, which included data structures and algorithms questions.

After clearing that round, I was invited to a series of technical interviews, where I solved coding problems in real-time using Python. The questions involved problem-solving, edge case handling, and time/space complexity analysis.

Additionally, I was evaluated on my understanding of core computer science concepts, such as:

• Object-oriented programming
• System design basics
• Debugging

The final stage involved behavioral interviews based on the company’s leadership principles and past experiences, covering scenarios like working in a team, handling failure, and ownership.

Can you write a function to find the first non-repeating character in a string?

This question tested my knowledge of data structures, particularly hash maps (dictionaries in Python), as well as my ability to optimize for time and space complexity. I walked through a brute-force solution first, then discussed an optimal approach using a two-pass algorithm with a dictionary.