I interviewed for a VP position on a low-latency application team. The process began with a phone screen using Coderpad, where I was given two questions: one LeetCode easy (find the first unique character in a string) and one LeetCode medium (minimum path sum).

They responded quickly and asked for my availability for a 4-6 hour window, potentially within a single day. I provided my availability, and they then asked for specific 6am-8am slots, as they wanted to include interviewers from India and London. I suggested Friday and mentioned Monday as an alternative if needed. They subsequently sent a schedule for an interview round on Thursday from 7am-8am. As it was already Tuesday and I wanted to avoid further delays, I agreed.

All interviews had two interviewers, except for one where the other person only joined for a few minutes in the middle. Everyone was polite.

The morning round involved two questions: first, a LeetCode easy (intersection in a linked list), and second, a LeetCode medium (meeting rooms II). I failed to provide the correct answer for the medium question.

In the afternoon, I had another round with a different interviewer from London. This involved a weighted graph question to find the shortest path from a source to a destination. The interviewer candidly admitted they didn't know the solution and were reading it at that moment. I presented my approach using BFS and DFS. I started writing BFS but became unsure if it was the most optimal approach, so I suggested DFS, which would involve traversing all possible paths to find the best answer. By this time, the interviewer had finished reading the solution, which I believe was Dijkstra's algorithm. I recognized that Dijkstra's algorithm solved this type of problem but couldn't recall it, so I couldn't understand their hints. Ultimately, they asked for the runtime complexity of a solution I was unsure of, and I was unable to answer that as well.

The next round followed immediately.

One interviewer asked an easy question related to meeting rooms, which I was able to solve. The other interviewer asked me to design a parking garage application at a low level, starting with the database schema. I believe I failed to satisfy this interviewer and may have responded rudely to a suggestion. I was somewhat frustrated from the previous round, trying to recall Dijkstra's algorithm.

They did not ask me to write and run code against any inputs in any round. They only asked to write the code and discuss the solution.

I had one final round scheduled for the next day. I joined the call, but no one else appeared. I emailed the recruiter, who informed me to drop off as the call had been canceled and they would provide an update shortly regarding yesterday's rounds. I already suspected I wouldn't receive an offer, but I didn't expect them to cancel a scheduled call without prior notification.

Morning round - First question was LeetCode easy (intersection in LL). The next question was LeetCode medium (Meeting Rooms II). I failed to provide the correct answer for the medium question.

Next round in the afternoon - another person from London - a weighted graph question to find the shortest path from source to destination. The interviewer told me straight that he didn't know the solution and that he was reading the solution right then. I gave him my approach using BFS and DFS. I started writing BFS but got confused that maybe BFS wasn't the best approach, so I suggested that DFS was the best approach and would have to traverse all possible paths to get the best answer. By this time, the interviewer had completed reading the solution, which I think was Dijkstra's algorithm. I knew Dijkstra's algorithm solved such problems but didn't remember what it was, and so I could not understand his clues. In the end, he asked me for the runtime complexity of a solution that I wasn't sure of, so I failed to answer that as well.

Next round was right after this round.

One interviewer gave me an easy question related to meeting rooms, which I was able to solve. The other interviewer asked me to design a parking garage application at a low level, starting with the DB schema. I think I failed to satisfy the interviewer there as well and might have replied rudely to a suggestion. I was a bit frustrated from my last round, trying to figure out Dijkstra's algorithm.

They didn't ask me to write code to run against any inputs in any round. They only asked to write the code and discuss the solution.