𝗠𝘆 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝗦𝗪𝗘 𝗦𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲
A detailed breakdown of my interview rounds, DSA problems, approaches, follow-up questions, and key learnings.
𝗥𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝟭: 𝗧𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗽𝗵𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗰 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄:
The first round was primarily focused on getting to know me and understanding my technical background.
Some of the topics discussed were:
• 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 — I started by introducing myself and talking about my background.
• 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗟𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 — I was asked about the programming languages I knew and to rate my proficiency in each language on a scale of 𝟭–𝟭𝟬
• 𝗖𝗼𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗲𝘀 — The interviewer asked about platforms such as 𝗟𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗖𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀, including how many questions I had solved on these platforms.
• 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀 — We also had a discussion about the projects I had worked on, the technologies I used, and my contributions.
𝗥𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝟮: 𝗗𝗦𝗔 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄
The problem asked was:
𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘀. 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁?
Then, I asked a few clarifying questions regarding the input format and how the solution should be implemented. I then understood that I needed to design functions such as:
• 𝙖𝙙𝙙() → to add a new number from the stream
• 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙈𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙖𝙣() → to return the current median
During the interview, I first proposed a vector-based approach and coded this solution on the Google interview document. The interviewer then asked me to optimize it.
I suggested using a two-set, which would allow the add() operation to be performed in O(log n) time. The interviewer then gave me a hint by asking how the approach would handle duplicate numbers. To address this, I discussed the two-heap approach using a min-heap and a max-heap, which supports efficient insertion and median retrieval while handling duplicates correctly.
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Since I had not solved this problem before, the discussion developed naturally as I explored different approaches. This experience reminded me that technical interviews are not only about immediately presenting the optimal solution. They are also about communicating your thought process, responding to follow-up questions, and improving your approach step by step.
If we have already encountered a problem during practice, it can be tempting to provide the optimized solution immediately. However, without sufficient mock-interview practice, it may be difficult to demonstrate the reasoning and communication expected in an interview. In this case, because I had not seen the problem earlier, I focused on explaining my ideas and refining the solution through discussion, which made the conversation productive.
(Leetcode Link : https://leetcode.com/problems/find-median-from-data-stream/description/)
𝗥𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝟯: 𝗗𝗦𝗔 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄
The problem statement was :
𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗮 𝗻𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺𝘀, 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗸. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗸.
Again, the initial problem statement was intentionally broad, so I asked Some clarifying questions, such as:
• Is every system connected to every other system?
• What information is provided as input?
• How can we identify whether a system is under attack?
• What exactly does the network structure represent?
After discussing the problem further, it became clear that the network was represented as a 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗵.
I wanted to add my approach to solving this problem during the interview. Based on the inputs provided by the interviewer, I first constructed the graph using an adjacency list. I then used a set to store the systems under attack and applied Breadth-First Search (BFS) to traverse the graph and count them.
The interviewer also asked a few follow-up questions, including:
• What data structures are used in DFS and BFS, and how do they differ?
• Does BFS always find the shortest path?
I hope this experience helps someone preparing for their software engineering interviews.
#Google #GoogleInternship #SWEInternship #SoftwareEngineering #InterviewExperience #DSA #LeetCode #CodingInterview #ComputerScience #InterviewPreparation
