First, a telephonic interview, mostly dealing with algorithms and data structures, in a language of your choice as mentioned on your resume. My preference was Java.

The interview lasted for about 45 minutes. It was more of a discussion where the interviewer expected you to know how hash tables work and if they are the best data structure for a given situation.

Most think they are, but we need to talk about conflicts and conflict resolution.

Alternate data structures, like trees, should be considered.

The second round was an online quiz test. The difficulty of the quiz is determined by your degree, I believe.

It didn't go as I had wanted. A few questions were on data structures in MCQ format. Then there were two coding questions.

One was straightforward and required efficient use of a data structure. The second question was unexpectedly on dynamic programming, which I was not able to code.

Important: Be very, very familiar with the HackerRank environment. They allow you to code in your IDE and you can later copy-paste into the browser, but make sure you are properly reading the input. Secondly, make sure you submit the answer, even if it's wrong or incomplete.

Can I use hash tables all the time for fast search operations?