Software Engineer Interview Questions

Anonymous Kingfisher - "The interviewer focused on the data models and steered the conversation there from the beginning. He had a specific design in mind and I just wasn't hitting it. He also wanted details on how I would implement the logic for splitting users into variants. I would recommend reading the LinkedIn blog on their AB Test system design."See full answer

Paras K. - "microservices is a part of an application where we differentiate the code/things into small parts that makes our application more independent like if one part is not working then that will not impact to our whole application"See full answer

Adesegun K. - "While all branches should ideally be tested, some are more critical than others based on the following factors: A. High-Risk or Business-Critical Logic Branches that handle authentication & authorization (e.g., login, role-based access control) Financial transactions or payment processing logic (e.g., tax calculations, refunds, invoice generation) Security-related branches (e.g., encryption/decryption, token verification) B. Error Handling & Exception Paths Branches that deal with error conditi"See full answer

Rick E. - " O(n) time, O(1) space from typing import List def maxsubarraysum(nums: List[int]) -> int: if len(nums) == 0: return 0 maxsum = currsum = nums[0] for i in range(1, len(nums)): currsum = max(currsum + nums[i], nums[i]) maxsum = max(currsum, max_sum) return max_sum debug your code below print(maxsubarraysum([-1, 2, -3, 4])) `"See full answer

Rishi G. - "Problem Statement: The Fibonacci sequence is defined as F(n) = F(n-1) + F(n-2) with F(0) = 1 and F(1) = 1. The solution is given in the problem statement itself. If the value of n = 0, return 1. If the value of n = 1, return 1. Otherwise, return the sum of data at (n - 1) and (n - 2). Explanation: The Fibonacci sequence is a series of numbers where each number is the sum of the two preceding ones, typically starting with 0 and 1. Java Solution: public static int fib(int n"See full answer

Azeezat R. - "/* You are with your friends in a castle, where there are multiple rooms named after flowers. Some of the rooms contain treasures - we call them the treasure rooms. Each room contains a single instruction that tells you which room to go to next. * instructions1 and treasurerooms_1 * lily* --------- daisy sunflower | | | v v v jasmin --> tulip* violet* ----> rose* --> ^ | ^ ^ | "See full answer

Anonymous Hyena - "A load balancer accepts requests from clients (e.g. web browsers on the Internet) and backend services (e.g. a web server). Load balancers are useful for replicating backend services onto multiple machines to meet increased demand. The design of a load balancer should address the following questions: What protocols should be supported? IP allows computers to communicate using packets, similarly to how people send letters. IP packets are addressed using an IP address and port number. "See full answer

Chirag C. - "was this techincal phone screen round or panel discussion round?"See full answer

Steve M. - "def split_count(s): return 2**(len(s)-1) `"See full answer

Meenakshi D. - "BETWEEN and HAVING clauses in SQL serve different purposes: 1. BETWEEN Clause Used to filter rows based on a range of values. Works with numeric, date, or text values. Can be used with WHERE or HAVING clauses. The range includes both lower and upper bounds. Example: Filtering employees with salaries between 30,000 and 50,000 `SELECT * FROM Employees WHERE salary BETWEEN 30000 AND 50000;` 2. HAVING Clause Used to filter **groups"See full answer

Zakery K. - "I told a story about having good intentions to help out a superior with a problem but I did so without seeking buy-in (permission) first. While I did solve the problem and provided value to him and my other colleagues, I was reprimanded for crossing boundaries and not respecting his privacy (I accessed his computer without his permission to deliver a resolution to a problem). While I had good intentions and the outcome was good, my approach left me with a negative mark and a life long lesson r"See full answer

Anonymous Stork - "You are working on a SaaS product that currently uses Basic Authentication (username/password) for API and application access. The security and compliance teams have mandated moving to a more secure, modern authentication mechanism — OIDC (OpenID Connect). Design the authentication system migration from Basic Authentication to OIDC. Discuss the architecture changes, the migration approach, and the rollout strategy. What are the technical challenges, impacts on customers, backward compatibility"See full answer

Scott S. - "To recount an experience from my last project . We were at the initial stages of designing a new data platform to enhance our trading analytics capabilities. The conflict arose over the selection of a data processing framework. I was advocating for Apache Spark due to its scalability and performance benefits, especially for handling large volumes of derivatives data. Another senior team member preferred a different technology they had more experience with, which they believed would be easier to"See full answer