Grab initially contacted me in December. I took their Codility test and passed it with 100%.

However, their interview tool, Gabi, rescheduled my interviews 10-12 times. After that, I stopped updating my schedule.

Six months later, HR called and asked if I was still looking for opportunities. They then scheduled two rounds of interviews:

• Round 1: Problem Solving and Data Structures
• Round 2: System Design

In Round 1,

I was asked to check if an anagram of string A is present as a substring in a larger string B.

Example: A = "aacd", B = "adccbeerrccdcaabbbbb".

This should return true, as "adccbeerrccdcaabbbbb" contains the anagram.

Then, I was asked to check if a target sum is present in a subarray. I was also required to handle negative numbers.

I was able to solve the first question completely, and for the second, I provided an approach on how it could be solved.

Round 2:

I was asked to design a multiplayer board game.

I asked for functional and non-functional requirements, then listed the components that would be required. After that, I designed a high-level overview of the data flow.

I was also asked to write classes and outline their functionality.

I wrote some classes, but due to time constraints, I explained how the overall flow would work and which classes would contain specific data and methods.

After I completed the design using a centralized architecture that would manage game states, I also discussed how the system would scale and how data would be distributed.

Near the end of the interview, the interviewer mentioned that they had expected me to design a P2P network, and then nothing further was said.

This should have been communicated earlier if I was heading in the wrong direction.

Also, in system design interviews, unless an architecture is fundamentally flawed, each system can be designed in more than one way.

After this, there was no update from HR. I contacted them, and they informed me that I was rejected and advised me to prepare better for system design in the future.

Check if an anagram of a string is present as a substring in another string.

Check if a target value can be summed up using values of a subarray. Handle negative cases as well.

Design a Multiplayer board game. Include low-level and high-level designs for the same.