Summary
I participated in Commvault's 2023 on-campus interview for an SDE/SDET role, consisting of an online assessment and a rigorous 6-7 hour coding round focused on OS-related memory management. Despite successfully designing and partially implementing the solution, I was rejected after the second round due to memory optimization challenges.
Full Experience
I recently participated in the Commvault on-campus interview experience for an SDE C++/Java & SDET role in 2023. The entire process consisted of three rounds: an online assessment, a long coding round, and a technical interview. Over 350 students from my college met the eligibility criteria of an 8+ CGPA to participate in the initial online assessment.
Round 1: Online Assessment
This round had a duration of 65 minutes, split into 40 minutes for coding and 25 minutes for MCQs. There were 15 MCQs, each worth 1 mark, and 3 coding questions, each worth 21 marks, totaling 78 marks. The coding questions were moderate, but the time constraint was significant. I managed to solve only two coding questions in this round.
Round 2: Long Coding Round
I was selected for the second round, which was an intensive 6-7 hour long coding challenge conducted in a VM environment. The HR team facilitated VM setup on our laptops the day before. On the day of the round, we had a detailed problem description session, allowing us to clarify any doubts. Following this, we were assigned to individual mentor meetings where we discussed our progress and sought assistance. The mentors emphasized the importance of meticulously designing data structures, elements, and functions for an efficient problem-solving approach. After completing the design, we needed mentor approval before proceeding to code. Candidates who struggled to find a viable solution were politely asked to leave.
I successfully designed the problem, including all required functions, data types, and methods, and obtained my mentor's approval. I then proceeded to implement 2-3 functions. However, I encountered significant challenges with memory optimization, leading my code to consume more memory than allowed. My mentor generously provided additional time for me to devise an alternative approach, but unfortunately, I couldn't arrive at a solution at that moment. As a consequence, I was requested to leave the meeting, concluding my interview process. Although I wasn’t selected for the next round, I deeply valued the support and guidance provided by my mentor throughout this challenging experience.
Interview Questions (1)
Tasked with managing code and data segments with specified sizes. The long coding round question revolved around managing code and data segments with specific sizes. The data segment had a size of 64 KB, whereas the code segment had a size of 2048 KB. Each segment could store only four processes at a time, with the code segment being capable of storing a process size of 512 KB and the data segment a size of 16 KB. Code segments stored char array values, while data segments stored only int values. The task was to create a process represented by a char array that stored arithmetic statements, such as calculations for the area of circles or rectangles. These processes needed to be stored in both code and data segments. In the code segment, each statement needed to be stored from index 0 to 512 KB. If the statement size was less than 512 KB, the remaining space needed to be left empty, and the subsequent process statements were stored from the 512 index onwards. The data segment, on the other hand, only allowed integer values to be pushed. For instance, if a process statement had the form "l = 5;", only the integer value 5 needed to be pushed into the data segment, while the entire statement was stored in the code segment. However, in cases like "p = l + 5;", where a value was calculated, the entire statement was stored in the code segment, and the resulting value of "p" had to be pushed into the data segment (e.g., the value 10 if "l" was 5).