Pine Labs

Role: SDE 3

College: Not Specified

Interview Date: January 2024

Interview Type: Full-Time (Off-Campus, Recruiter contacted)

Result: Not Specified

Difficulty: Hard

Rounds: 3 rounds

Topics Asked: Problem Solving, Data Structures, High-Level Design (HLD), Low-Level Design (LLD), Techno-Managerial

Experience:

A recruiter contacted the candidate in January 2024 for an SDE 3 position. The interview process comprised three rounds: Problem-solving and Data Structures, HLD and LLD, and Techno Managerial.

Round 1: Problem-solving and Data Structures
This round involved two coding problems:

• "Subarrays with K different integers" (LeetCode problem).
• "Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters" (LeetCode problem).

The candidate discussed the approach for each problem, then coded the finalized solution. Follow-up questions required clarification of the approach. Both problems were initially solved using a brute-force approach, then optimized.

Round 2: HLD and LLD
This round focused on system design. The candidate was asked to design a scalable Instagram-like social media platform. Expected aspects included requirement gathering and analysis, API design, database schema design, caching and hotspot management (celebrity problem), and a deep dive into newsfeed design with hotspot optimization.

Round 3: Techno Managerial
This interview was entirely focused on High-Level Design (HLD) and Low-Level Design (LLD). The manager initially asked to design a movie booking system similar to Book My Show. However, throughout the one-hour session, the interviewer constantly changed requirements and introduced unrelated questions, making it challenging to provide a coherent solution. The candidate described it as one of the most frustrating interview experiences.