Mindtickle

Role: Software Developer Role (SDE-1)

College: Not Specified

Interview Date: July 12, 2025

Interview Type: On-Campus

Result: Selected

Difficulty: Not Specified (Questions ranged from easy to hard)

Rounds: 5 rounds

Topics Asked: Data Structures (BFS, Hashmap, Heap, Trie, BST, Hash Table, Linked List), Algorithms (DFS, DP, Bit manipulation), System Design (File System, DBMS, IRCTC database, React Component design), OOP, OS (processes, threads, virtual memory, paging, TLB, process synchronization, reader-writer problem), DBMS (ACID properties)

Experience:

This on-campus interview process for a Software Developer role at MindTickle involved 5 rounds.

Round 1 (Online Assessment - HackerRank): This round had 4 coding questions to be solved within 90 minutes. One question involved making array elements unique using only increment operators, counting the increments. Another asked to print the original array given sums of every subset. A total of 16 students were selected for face-to-face interviews after this round.

Round 2: The interviewer first asked for feedback on the online test. Then, a coding question was given: for a 2D matrix with 0s and 1s, print the minimum distance from the nearest 1 for every 0, which the candidate solved using BFS. Another question involved printing tree nodes in BFS manner using a DFS function, which was initially solved with O(n) extra space and time, then optimized with a hint to O(n²) without extra space. The interviewer also asked to design a file system using OOP and questions based on database concepts like ACID properties. Finally, the candidate was asked to design an IRCTC database, but the design wasn't up to expectation.

Round 3: This round started with questions about the candidate's summer internship at Dailyhunt. The interviewer then asked to design a React Component based on given requirements and write the code on paper, pointing out mistakes for correction. A coding question followed: given an array of integers, for each index, print the multiplication of every array element excluding the element at that particular index without using the division operator (e.g., for 4 3 2 5, output 30 40 60 24).

Round 4: This round involved a data structures question about designing a data structure to perform update (add/remove tuple) and query (get rank by player name, get player by rank) operations on player scores. The candidate initially proposed an array and hashing approach, then optimized it with a self-balancing BST and Hash Table. Another question was about implementing `allocate` and `deallocate` functions for a fixed-size object memory pool, solved using a linked list and hash table. Questions on Operating Systems (processes vs. threads, multithreading, virtual memory, paging, TLB, process synchronization, reader-writer problem code) were also asked.

Round 5 (HR Round): This was described as a friendly conversation, not feeling like a typical HR round. The interviewer discussed the interview process, asked for feedback, and inquired about relocation to Pune. The candidate was selected.