Bounteous

Role: Software Engineer

College: Not Specified

Interview Date: Online Assessment: February 24, 2025; Technical Interview 1: May 12, 2025

Interview Type: Off-Campus, Full-Time

Result: Cleared (up to Technical Interview 2)

Difficulty: Medium

Rounds: 3 rounds

Topics Asked: Data Structures, Algorithms, SQL, Computer Fundamentals, DBMS, Project Discussion

Experience:

This candidate applied for an off-campus Software Engineer role after seeing a campus recruiter's LinkedIn post.

Round 1: Online Assessment

This round took place on February 24, 2025, and consisted of approximately 30-35 questions. The major topics covered were Data Structures and Algorithms (DSA), SQL, Computer Fundamentals, and one coding question of medium difficulty. The candidate successfully solved the coding question, passing 7 out of 10 test cases. SQL questions were found to be challenging, while fundamental topics were relatively easy. After clearing this round, the candidate received an email on February 26, stating that the interview would be conducted within 20 days.

Round 2: Technical Interview 1 (50 minutes)

This interview was held on May 12, 2025, and lasted about 50 minutes. It began with introductions, followed by a discussion of the candidate's full-stack social media application project for 10-15 minutes. The interviewer asked follow-up questions regarding schema design factors and the choice of MongoDB as the database. DBMS-related questions covered normalization, anomalies, 1NF, 2NF, and partial dependency. Subsequently, a DSA question was posed: the 3-Sum problem. The candidate first explained the brute-force approach verbally, then solved it using the sorting + start/end pointer method, and wrote the complete, running code. To remove duplicates, a Set data structure was used. An easy SQL question was also asked and solved within 5 minutes. The candidate cleared this round.

Round 3: Technical Interview 2 (85 minutes)

After a week, HR scheduled the second technical interview for the same day. This round focused on general Computer Science fundamentals and DSA. Questions included cycle detection in a linked list (explained verbally) and removing duplicate contact numbers (approach discussed). The interviewer then asked to implement a queue using two stacks, which the candidate successfully coded and debugged on screen. Sorting algorithms like Merge Sort and Quick Sort were explained in detail, and the complete code for Merge Sort was implemented. Finally, a question about swapping two numbers without using a third variable was asked. The candidate also cleared this round.