Recent Software Engineer Interview Questions

Prashanth A. - "We are asked to calculate Sum(over value) for time in (t - window_size, t) where key in (key criteria). To develop a function to set this up. Let w be the window size. I would have an observer of some kind note the key-value, and for the first w windows just add the value to a temporary variable in memory if the key meets the key criteria. Then it would delete the oldest value and add the new value if the new key meets the criteria. At each step after "w", we would take the sum / w and store"See full answer

Aelaf G. - "This depends on the list of documents and the length of the documents. My implementation will use Trie with node containing the following: class TrieNode { is_end: boolean, instances: { docid → [wordpositions] }, children: array[26] } Look up for a word will give result instances{docid:wordposition...} dictionary (which can be further improved by methods like max instance on a document....you name it...) Trie space is proportional to the total characters in"See full answer

Sourav K. - "We can use a pool of memory where each index we can store the parent of current index then we can use same lca approach for array instead of pointers."See full answer

Karthik R. - "Good Discussion on the distributed messaging queues (Complex topic with lot of nuances) Liked the mind-map style drawing of requirements and metrics capture Touched on different types of queue styles (point to point, pub-sub, fan-out/fan-in) Storage and WAL usage was interesting Some distributed queue challenges that could be helpful to highlight / expand are: Message guarantee / semantics - Ordering of messages across different servers Replication Master slave architecture or Pe"See full answer

Robert H. - "The addition of an intermediate "sanitization" ML is something Neeraj used in the Uber Eats design and again seems kind of outside the scope here and redundant. This can simply be built into the AI response model to save a step. It's not clear what benefit this step provides, and he basically said we should have it "just because it would be good" and there's no concrete reasoning why to include it. Adding a Kafka queue to handle the thumbs-down ratings? For what purpose do you need a queue othe"See full answer

Khushbu R. - "General Approach (using Max-Heap) Use a max-heap (priority queue) of size k. For each point: Compute the distance to P. Push it into the heap. If heap size > k, remove the farthest point. The heap will contain the k closest points to P. import java.util.*; public class KClosestPoints { static class Point { int x, y; public Point(int x, int y) { this.x = x; this.y = y; } // Euclidean distance squared (no need to take square root) p"See full answer

Bravin V. - "I aim to utilize hands-on activities to apply the knowledge I've acquired, safeguard the organization from threat actors, and contribute to its growth."See full answer

Rohit B. - "class Solution: def missingNumber(self, nums: list[int]) -> int: Sorting approach n = len(nums) s = n*(n+1)//2 r = s - sum(nums) return self.r l = [3,0,1] print(missingNumber(l))"See full answer

Shivani N. - "did well but messed up dequeue"See full answer

Poha - "Design the cache, set policy like LRU or other custom policies."See full answer

Sue G. - "Abstract class A class that can have Abstract methods - without implementations and Concerete Methods i.e with implementation. Can have private, protected and public access modifiers. Supports Single inheritance i.e a class can extend only 1 abstract class Can have constructors Mainly used when sharing common behaviors Interface Class A collection of abstract methods ( can have static and default methods also - onwards of java 8) Public, static, final are the access"See full answer

Malay K. - "For any project based questions, it is important to structure your response clearly, showcasing your thought process, technical skills, problem-solving abilities, and how your work added value. Besides the STAR method, you can also use this kind of framework: 1. Start by selecting a relevant project (related to the role) Give the project background and what specific problem it solved. 2. Align the project's objective and your role Be specific about your role: were you the le"See full answer

Kun P. - "need to handle cases where src and dst overlaps: src starts before dst // start copying from end dst starts before src // start copying from beginning"See full answer

Vidhyadhar V. - "public class CircularBuffer { private T[] buffer; private int head; private int tail; private int size; private final int capacity; public CircularBuffer(int capacity) { this.capacity = capacity; this.buffer = (T[]) new Object[capacity]; this.head = 0; this.tail = 0; this.size = 0; } public void enqueue(T item) { if (isFull()) { throw new IllegalStateException("Buffer is full"); } buf"See full answer

Malay K. - "While answering such a question, it is important to focus on personal growth, learning, and how the experience improved your teamwork. You want to demonstrate self-awareness, humility, and an ability to adapt. I had this experience while working on a cross-functional project that involved collaboration between the engineering and marketing teams. In the interview, I shared a story when I misjudged someone and showed unconscious bias towards due their gender, ethnicity or age. It was embarrassin"See full answer

Anonymous Unicorn - "input_logs = [ f"{senderid} {receiverid} {transaction_count}" "1 2 2", "3 2 42", "2 2 22", "1 1 12", "2 1 1", "2 5 4", "4 2 15" ] input_threshold = 20 exptected_output = [ list of user_ids that made more than 20 transactions sorted by number of transactions in descending order "3", # 42 transactions "2", # 27 transactions (22 + 1 + 4) #"4", # 15 transactions #"1" # 14 transactions (2 + 12 + 1) ] def gettopapi_users(logs, thres"See full answer

Anonymous Unicorn - "Count items between indices within compartments compartments are delineated by by: '|' items are identified by: '*' input_inventory = "*||||" inputstartidxs = [1, 4, 6] inputendidxs = [9, 5, 8] expected_output = [3, 0, 1] Explanation: "*||||" 0123456789... indices ++ + # within compartments ^ start_idx = 1 ^ end_idx = 9 -- - # within idxs but not within compartments "*||||" 0123456789... indices "See full answer