It was pretty simple.

You start off with an assessment through CodeSignal. It's 70 minutes and proctored. The questions start off easy and then progress to medium/hard level. You can pick any language.

The recruiters are typically helpful. They give you a lot of interview prep for the "power day," which is four interviews.

• You have a standard DSA problem that's typically medium level. Practice LeetCode, but it's doable.
• Then there's a design problem where you create a backend system for a credit card application. I guess the design problem might vary if you are applying for a front-end or data engineer role.
• Then there is a behavioral round with three questions.
• Finally, there is a case study. It starts off with some conceptual questions. I had one around chatbot usage. Then you analyze some code and, based on a table of data, give an output. And finally, you get to make some code improvements and recommendations.

I declined the offer because I applied for a role in one location, then magically it closed about two weeks after. It was in New York, and they wanted me to relocate to McLean. The recruiter mentioned a salary range for New York which was like $20k higher than what they wanted to offer me for McLean. No thank you.

Codesignal - I don't remember the specific problems, but I assume they were from a question bank. Practice LeetCode easy/medium problems focusing on arrays, string manipulation, collections, and using pointer/sliding window approaches.

Power Day Rounds (4 interviews, 1 hour each):

1. Coding: Given a string, find the total count of a specific character. They expect an O(1) solution as the optimal approach.

2. Design: Create a backend design for a bank application. Watch YouTube videos by Exponent; they are very helpful. You should list out requirements, identify all the components to address each point, provide some sample database table schemas, and some sample REST APIs. There will be follow-up questions based on your design. Generally, these videos cover similar components; it's about how you explain them. Recommend specific technologies for each component to strengthen your decisions.

3. Behavioral: I don't recall the exact questions, but they are typically like: "Tell me about a time you had to learn something new" or "Tell me about a time when you had multiple priorities." These are standard STAR format interview questions that can be found widely on Google.

4. Case Study: I had one involving a chatbot. They ask conceptual questions such as the pros and cons of a chatbot at a bank and how it can help customers. Be familiar with data and privacy concerns related to chatbots. Code analysis is simple; just know the basics of Java and understand Object-Oriented Programming (OOPs).