Agoda

Role: Backend Staff/SSE (Senior Software Engineer/Staff Software Engineer)

College: Not Specified

Interview Date: Around July 2025

Interview Type: Full-Time

Result: Selected (down-leveled to SSE from Staff)

Difficulty: Medium/Hard

Rounds: 6 rounds + Online Assessment + HR calls

Topics Asked: Data Structures, Algorithms, API-based business logic, System Design, Behavioral

Experience:

This candidate, with 10 years of experience in Backend & Cloud technologies, applied for 4-5 relevant openings through Agoda's career page. The entire process took approximately 3.5 months.

Online Assessment (Hackerrank – 90 mins): This round consisted of 2 questions. The first was a Medium/Hard LeetCode-style problem involving Arrays & Sorting. The second was an API-based business logic problem where the candidate had to call a provided endpoint and consolidate data. The candidate received an email for an HR prep call the next day.

Prep Call (15 mins): An introductory chat covering background, experience, and willingness to relocate. HR explained the process, timelines, and relocation benefits.

Round 1 – Live Coding (60 mins): This round had 2 DSA questions, one easy and one medium. Questions included "Find max element in a dictionary at any time" and a "Monotonic stack problem". The interviewer focused more on the approach and reasoning rather than strict syntax. The candidate emphasized constant communication of thoughts. They solved both questions with hints when stuck between approaches, and the interviewer was satisfied with the reasoning. An invitation for the next round was received after 2 days.

Round 2 – Platform Round (60 mins): This round is typically for SSE/Staff/Lead roles. The candidate was asked to design a flight booking system. The discussion involved deep dives into booking contention, payments, failure handling, and syncing back with aggregators. The candidate struggled on one deep dive and assumed rejection. After 4 weeks of no response, an unexpected email for an HR call was received.

Preliminary Call with HR (30 mins): HR shared feedback from previous rounds and discussed expected compensation.

Round 3 – System Design (60 mins): This round focused on system design, although specific questions were not detailed in the snippet, it was part of a comprehensive technical evaluation.

Round 4(a) – Behavioral / Hiring Manager (60 mins): This round involved a discussion about past projects and behavioral questions.

Round 4(b) – Behavioral / Hiring Manager (60 mins): A deeper technical discussion on the candidate's most impactful project, along with some behavioral questions. The questions were noted as "very different" from the previous HM round. A week later, the recruiter informed the candidate of being down-leveled to SSE from Staff. After agreeing, a final HR + Director discussion took place to share the offer and benefits.

Overall Experience: The interviewers were professional and insightful. A downside was the long gaps between rounds, which could be frustrating. Upsides included great technical depth and transparency throughout the process, with good and relevant questions.