Summary
I experienced a multi-round interview process with Bounteous x Accolite for a software engineer role, which included an Online Assessment, two Technical Interviews, and a Manager Interview. Despite clearing all rounds, the position was ultimately closed due to an internal decision, leaving me unmotivated.
Full Experience
Round 1 : Online Assessment On 24th Feb 2025, I appeared for the Online Assessment round, which had approximately 30–35 questions.
The major topics covered were DSA, SQL, Computer Fundamentals, and one coding question of medium difficulty. I solved it successfully, with 7 out of 10 test cases passing.
I found the SQL questions a bit challenging, while the fundamental topic questions were relatively easy.
After completing the round, I received an email on 26th Feb stating that I had cleared the OA round and that the interview would be conducted within 20 days.
Now, I’ve started preparing for the interview.
Round 2 : Technical Interview 1 ( 50 min ) 12 May 2025:
The interview lasted about 50 minutes. First, the interviewer introduced herself, and then I introduced myself (she had 3–5 years of experience).
We began by discussing my full-stack project — a social media application — for around 10–15 minutes. She asked follow-up questions such as:
While designing the schema, what important factors should be maintained?
Why did you choose MongoDB as the database?
Next, she asked DBMS-related questions on topics like normalization, anomalies, 1NF, 2NF, and partial dependency.
After that, she gave me one DSA question: the 3-Sum problem. First, I explained the brute-force approach verbally, and then I solved it using the sorting + start/end pointer method. She then asked me to write the complete, running code for it. After writing the code, she asked me to remove duplicates, so I used a Set data structure to store the results.
Then, she moved to one easy SQL question, which I solved in 5 minutes.
After about a week, the HR called me at 2 PM and informed me that my second technical interview was scheduled for the same day after 5 PM. I accepted and revised all topics in the next two hours.
Round 3 : Technical Interview 2 (85 min) 3 june 2025 :
Interview with Manager:
I started with my introduction, and then he asked me an interesting question:
“You have a client who is using your calculator. You need to improve the calculator’s features. What methods would you use?”
We discussed this for about 20 minutes. He also asked a few Computer Science fundamentals questions.
Next, we moved to DSA:
Cycle detection in a linked list – I explained the solution verbally.
Removing duplicate contact numbers – discussed the approach.
Implement queue using two stacks – I shared my screen and implemented the complete code in 25 minutes. Initially, the code wasn’t printing any value, but after 5 minutes of debugging (by adding print statements at different places), I fixed the issue.
He then asked follow-up questions and moved to sorting algorithms:
Explained Merge Sort and Quick Sort in detail.
Implemented the complete code for Merge Sort.
Finally, he asked:
How can we swap two numbers without using a third variable?
The interview ended with him asking if I had any questions for him.
I also Clear this round .
Final Verdict : After a month, I received an email from HR stating that the position was closed due to some internal decision. I felt truly unmotivated and upset because I had worked very hard for this role, especially coming from a tier-3 college.
Interview Questions (10)
While designing the schema for a full-stack social media application, what important factors should be maintained?
Why did you choose MongoDB as the database for your full-stack social media application?
Given an array nums of n integers, are there elements a, b, c in nums such that a + b + c = 0? Find all unique triplets in the array which gives the sum of zero. I first explained the brute-force approach verbally, and then I solved it using the sorting + start/end pointer method. I was asked to write the complete, running code for it and then to remove duplicates, for which I used a Set data structure to store the results.
You have a client who is using your calculator. You need to improve the calculator’s features. What methods would you use?
Explain the solution for cycle detection in a linked list.
Discuss the approach for removing duplicate contact numbers.
Implement a queue using two stacks. I shared my screen and implemented the complete code in 25 minutes. Initially, the code wasn’t printing any value, but after 5 minutes of debugging (by adding print statements at different places), I fixed the issue.
Explain Merge Sort in detail and implement the complete code.
Explain Quick Sort in detail.
How can we swap two numbers without using a third variable?
Preparation Tips
After clearing the Online Assessment round, I started preparing for the subsequent interviews. Before my second technical interview, I revised all topics within two hours.