Recruiter reached out on LinkedIn.

It took around 3 months.

The OA was LeetCode easy-medium plus a logic puzzle.

The recruiter screen was standard, covering background, etc.

The tech screening included 1 coding round (LeetCode medium, string + hashmap) and some light system design questions.

Onsite was 4 rounds:

• 1 coding (graphs/trees)
• 1 system design (music recommendation system)
• 1 behavioral (Spotify culture + past teamwork challenges)
• 1 case study (handling a real-time service outage)

The case study was the trickiest, feeling like a live debugging session under pressure.

LeetCode grind is key, but system design depth matters too. Practice as much as you can. Grokking System Design and mock interviews with an ex-Spotify coach on Prepfully were super helpful.

The interview process was a bit long but smooth, with no complaints.

Design a recommendation engine for a music streaming service like Spotify.