Salesforce

Role: SWE Intern

College: Not Specified (Campus Pool 2021)

Interview Date: July 2021

Interview Type: On-Campus

Result: Not Specified (Implied Selected to pass all rounds)

Difficulty: Medium to Hard

Rounds: 4 rounds (1 Coding, 2 Technical, 1 HR/Technical)

Topics Asked: Data Structures (HashMaps, Trees, Stacks, Heaps, Self-balancing BST), Algorithms (Binary Search, DFS, BFS, Searching Algorithms, Traveling Salesman Problem), System Design, SQL, Object-Oriented Programming (OOPS), Machine Learning, Projects, Behavioral

Experience:

Salesforce visited the candidate's college for SWE Internship at Futureforce in July 2021.

Round 1: Coding Round (HackerRank)
Three questions were asked: Basic, Medium, and Medium-Hard. These included questions related to HashMaps, a slightly modified problem, and a tree-based question. The candidate solved all three. Those who solved at least two were shortlisted (16 out of many applicants, 11 for interviews).

Round 2: Technical Interview 1 (30 Mins)
Started with introductions and discussion about college life and hobbies. The interviewer asked the candidate to explain the logic for one of the HackerRank questions. Then, 3-4 coding questions were asked:
1. Given a string of HTML tags, find if the given tags are in the right order (similar to matching parenthesis, using stacks).
2. Find median in a stream of integers (optimized using heaps).
3. Question on optimal data structure for games (self-balancing BST or heap).
4. A question on SQL foreign keys.
Given the candidate's CV had ML projects, many questions from that domain were asked. 7 candidates made it to Round 3.

Round 3: Technical Interview 2 (45 Mins)
This round focused on approaches rather than coding. Questions included:
1. Find a number in a sorted infinitely long array (binary lifting approach).
2. Graph traversals (DFS, BFS) and their data structures.
3. Time complexity of certain searching algorithms (best and worst cases).
The interviewer then asked to design a system for a taxi app similar to Uber. The candidate discussed data structures and algorithms, and the interviewer pointed out flaws for correction. The Traveling Salesman Problem and its approaches were also discussed.

Round 4: HR/Technical Interview (60 Mins)
This was a relaxed round. It involved questions about projects, challenges faced, and how they were overcome. Behavioral questions were also asked.