Hi everyone, I hope this is useful to all the devs/engineers out there since I know I was scouring the internet for some tips and tricks to crush this thing. So I have to return the favor.

Java Backend Role (Big City in the East Coast, USA)

The entire process took a little over 6 weeks, not exaggerating. It was exhausting but, hey, it was well worth the experience.

So, the Software Engineer Interview Day was composed of a 1-hour technical and 1-hour behavioral. 2 hours total, which isn't bad at all. BUT I completely bombed the technical interview lol my nerves got the better of me, but hey, I walked away smiling because the interviewers were really nice and supportive.

They send you an email that includes tips on preparing for the technical. Which includes brushing up on:

• Core Java
• Data Structures and Algorithms
• Object-oriented design
• Most importantly, getting familiar with HackerRank

Which I thought was great. I just spent the last 4 months grinding DSA every day, so what could possibly go wrong?

The interview was remote, and the interviewer had to pick one question out of 2 that they gave them on HackerRank. I think this is important to highlight because the question chosen is completely random and up to the interviewer.

So, going into the tech interview, I'm in a breakout room with one of the interviewers and I see your standard LeetCode medium question on there. I'll post the question below, but I hated the wording of the question and had to reread it multiple times to get a grip on how to tackle this problem. The interviewer also sympathized with how ridiculous the question was and even made a joke about how this was the best out of the two and mentioned how hard these things are. Which made me feel better, but I just completely blanked on the spot.

However, I was talking to him the entire time, describing my thought process and even asking for help. I was trying to find the optimal solution, but since the clock was ticking, I told him that I need to get some code on the screen and brute force the solution (mentioned Big O), which he was content about. I tried to communicate through the entire process and ask him questions.

We ran the tests and we hit 7/10 passed. After several attempts, we couldn't get the answer and had to move on because of time. I asked him what the optimal solution was and he said Hash Tables, which he admitted he would have never come up with. In all honesty, I was just glad that he was so down to earth about the whole thing.

Next, was the system design question. It wasn't bad, but nothing that I was expecting lol. It asked how to implement a chatbot with the client, if the client is idle after an x amount of time, and how the chatbot would interact with the existing system. I asked him about the restraints and requirements, and I was just over-complicating the situation lol. It was a very simple question, but I tried to spew all of my knowledge and capabilities, to flex that I know how to do all of this stuff.

The interface on HackerRank was less than ideal, but it's something you'll have to deal with.

At the end of it all, he reassured me I did fine and the questions were just BS. This made me feel better when entering the behavioral.

The behavioral was super laid back and just a normal conversation. Asked me about my experience and how I would tackle certain situations.

I walked away in a complete rollercoaster ride of emotions but I was ultimately grateful for having this experience.

Hope this helps, and with JPMC, you'll just have to grind LeetCode for a mid-level role in Java, I guess. No questions on Java concepts or OOD. So it's really up in the air and dependent on the interviewer. I'm not upset about my experience and I am just ready to tackle the next challenge. Cheers.