Applied on September 19th.

Received an email for a screening call on September 25th.

Screening Call - September 30th

Before this call, the recruiter asked questions via email regarding relocation, visa, and projects. During the call, they provided more details about the role, team, and the entire interview process. They informed me that the scheduling team would reach out to arrange a 30-minute call with the hiring manager.

Call with Hiring Manager - October 2nd

The hiring manager was very kind and friendly. They first introduced themselves and then asked me the following questions. It was an open discussion rather than a formal interview, and they also shared some of their stories:

• Tell me about a project you’re most proud of.
• How did you choose that topic?
• How did you decide the user requirements?
• What was the biggest challenge you faced while working on this project?
• What resources did you use when you were stuck? (Stack Overflow)
• How did you decide if the user requirements were right?
• Tell me about a time when you regretted something you did.
• What would you do differently if you could go back in time?
• Imagine you are working with a new team. How would you catch up to speed?
• Imagine you’re given a new feature to work with, and you have no idea at all or multiple ideas to implement it. What would you do?
• How will you present your problem to the rest of the team?
• Tell me about a time when you had a difference of opinion with a team member and how you resolved it.

By the end of the interview, the hiring manager took time to answer all my questions. It was overall a very good experience.

October 7th - Received an email from the recruiter stating I was selected for the next round.

October 17th - Coding Round

After a week of preparation, the day finally arrived. The interviewer was kind and helpful.

The interview was conducted on Coderpad.

She mentioned that she would ask one coding question and, if time permitted, move on to another. She then pasted the question:

"Given two integer arrays nums1 and nums2, return an array of their intersection."

I took time to read the question and walked through the example to ensure I understood it correctly. I then asked a few questions, such as whether the arrays were sorted. She replied, "Let’s assume they’re not." We then discussed an approach. She then asked, "How can you optimize this?"

Following that, she asked, "What if both arrays have repeated elements, and you also want to return the repeating numbers?"

Next, she inquired, "What if one array is small and the other is extremely large? How will you handle that?"

Finally, she asked, "What if, instead of two arrays, you’re given N arrays? How would you solve that?"

I was refining my approach after each question. I would say it was an open-ended discussion rather than a traditional interview.

In the last 10 minutes, she asked me to code the approach I had mentioned. I coded it while explaining each line. After the code was complete, she asked me to run it. There were a few issues with running the solution due to time constraints, so she had to end the interview, leaving some time for me to ask questions.

Overall, the interview went very well, and it was an open-ended discussion, which I liked very much. I am truly grateful for this experience.

I received an email a day later stating that I was not selected. I am disappointed, but I remain grateful for this learning experience.

Tell me about a project you’re most proud of.

How did you choose that topic?

How did you decide the user requirements?

What was the biggest challenge you faced while working on this project?

What resources did you use when you were stuck? Stack Overflow.

How did you decide if the user requirements were right?

Tell me about a time when you regretted something you did.

What would you do differently if you could go back in time?

Imagine you are working with a new team. How would you catch up to speed?

Imagine you’re given a new feature to work with, and you have no idea at all or multiple ideas to implement it. What would you do?

How will you present your problem to the rest of the team?

Tell me about a time when you had a difference of opinion with a team member and how you resolved it.