Goldman Sachs Interviews

Goldman Sachs Interview Experience | Corporate Treasury – Software Engineering Analyst

Date: 4 days ago

Experience: 2.7 years

Round: Technical Interview (after HackerRank)

Duration: ~60 minutes (Interview ended in ~45 mins)

Platform: Virtual (Google Meet / Zoom)

🧩 Round Details

The round was scheduled for 60 minutes, but it lasted around 45 minutes.

Surprisingly, I was asked only one main coding question — unlike many other Goldman Sachs interviews I had read about (which usually include two coding questions). no response from recuriter

⚙️ Coding Question (Asked in Interview)

The interviewer shared a problem that involved and kafa related question :

A grid (matrix) containing integer values, where you have to move from a source cell to a destination cell while collecting maximum possible points.

You could move in specific directions (up,right), and the goal was to find the path that collects the maximum points.

all test case pass also done with dry run

My journey through the Goldman Sachs SDE interview process was quite extensive, unfolding over several months. It began with an Online Assessment where I tackled two LeetCode medium difficulty DSA problems. This was followed by a Coderpad round, where I faced a graph problem involving virus propagation in a unidirectional, acyclic graph, and a follow-up extending it to multiple initial infection sources.

The Superday consisted of three rounds. The first DSA round presented me with a problem to find the top K tallest buildings from a given list of heights. Another graph problem was asked, which I don't recall precisely, but it was described as a direct LeetCode medium requiring BFS and topological sort concepts, primarily an implementation task. The Software Engineering round delved into my resume, OOPS principles, and different Java HashMap types along with their time complexities. I also encountered a puzzle question and general SDLC practices.

The System Design round focused on designing an LRU cache, alongside further resume-based questions. Finally, the Hiring Manager round was predominantly behavioral, with only a few basic technical inquiries.

I successfully received an offer. The entire process, from initial application to offer letter, took about 2-3 months, with each round's result taking roughly two weeks. Patience is definitely key when interviewing with Goldman Sachs.

My interview journey for the Associate role at Goldman Sachs consisted of several distinct rounds, meticulously testing my skills in various domains. I'm excited to share the details from my 2.3 years of experience.

Coderpad Round 1

This was my first coding assessment, where I was presented with two DSA questions:

1. The first problem was an easier version of a Trie-based question, specifically focusing on implementing insert(word) and countWordsStartingWith(prefix) operations. The interviewer referenced this problem for context.
2. For the second question, I had to find the size of the largest connected component within a forest.

Coderpad Round 2

Following the initial coding round, I faced another set of two DSA challenges:

1. I was tasked with implementing a custom class that would support two primary operations: insert(num) to add a number to the data structure and isTopK(num) to determine if a given number is among the top K most frequent numbers present.
2. The second question involved finding the first non-repeated character in a string. We then delved into an important discussion about how to adapt this algorithm for very large strings that might not fit entirely into a single machine's RAM.

Software Engineering Practices 1

This round shifted focus towards practical software engineering knowledge:

1. I was given a Java code snippet and my task was to identify any issues or bugs present within it.
2. The interviewer then probed my understanding of how HashMaps work internally and questioned me on different types of exceptions in Java.
3. A significant portion of this round was dedicated to a detailed discussion about my previous projects and contributions.

Software Engineering Practices 2

Building on the previous round, this one also focused on engineering practices, with a specific design challenge:

1. I was asked to design a rate limiter. We engaged in a meaningful discussion about various approaches, and I specifically talked about the Leaky Bucket algorithm. Subsequently, I was asked to write a code snippet for its implementation. The discussion also included considerations on how to select appropriate leak rates and bucket sizes for the leaky bucket algorithm.

System Design Round

The final round was entirely dedicated to System Design:

1. The discussion began with the Low-Level Design (LLD) of an oversimplified stock market system. This was a purely verbal discussion, with no coding involved.
2. We then extended this LLD into a High-Level Design (HLD) for the same stock market, which led to discussions about transactions and locking mechanisms within databases.
3. The round concluded with a thorough grilling of my resume, focusing on my experience and technical background.

My interview journey with Goldman Sachs for an Analyst position in Bangalore started with an Online Assessment (OA) conducted on Hackerrank. This assessment primarily tested my fundamental coding skills with problems focused on arrays, strings, and understanding time/space complexity.

Following the OA, I proceeded to a CoderPad Screening. This was a live coding session designed to evaluate my problem-solving speed, code correctness, and clarity of thought. During this round, I was asked to solve two distinct problems: Find the Length of Cycle in an Array and Number of Islands. For the 'Number of Islands' problem, the interviewer specifically guided me to use BFS over DFS, emphasizing its advantage in avoiding potential stack overflow issues.

The final and most intensive stage was the Superday, which comprised four consecutive rounds.

• Round 1 – Data Structures & Algorithms (DSA): My first DSA round presented two challenges. One involved finding the Minimum Characters to Remove from the left, right, or both ends to make a string palindrome. The second was a Binary Search Assignment, which felt very similar in concept to the popular 'Koko Eating Bananas' problem.
• Round 2 – Data Structures & Algorithms (DSA): In the second DSA round, I tackled the classic Coin Change problem, where I had to find the minimum number of coins required to make a specific amount. Additionally, I was given the Container With Most Water problem, which came with an intriguing follow-up question: 'what if the container is tilted?'
• Round 3 – Low-Level Design (LLD): This round shifted focus to design principles. I was tasked with designing a Traffic Light System that could dynamically adjust its wait times based on real-time traffic data, requiring me to consider various system components and interactions.
• Round 4 – Behavioural / HR: The last round was a standard behavioral and HR interview. We discussed my past projects, examples of ownership and challenges I've faced, how I handle tight deadlines and conflicts, and my overall motivation and career goals. A particularly interesting scenario-based question was posed: 'You overhear in a lift that a colleague, who was expecting a salary hike, is actually not going to get one. How would you handle this situation while maintaining professionalism and confidentiality?'

I applied for an Associate role at Goldman Sachs via a referral. My interview journey began with an Online Assessment, which consisted of two medium LeetCode questions. Following that, I had a CoderPad round where I tackled a Trie-based question and a simple DFS problem, all within an hour using C++. The main interview process involved four subsequent rounds. Round 1, focused on DSA, included some resume-based questions, a DSA problem based on hashmaps, and a Binary Search Tree question combined with two pointers. Round 2 delved into more resume-based discussions, a Java concurrency problem, SQL questions, and another LeetCode medium DSA question. Round 3 was a System Design interview where I was asked to design a high-level upload portal for internal users. The final round, lasting 30 minutes, centered on a parking lot problem, specifically how to efficiently calculate prices given varying strategies for weekdays, weekends, and specific hours (like 9 AM - 5 AM). This last round, unfortunately, led to my rejection; I found the interviewer somewhat unresponsive when I sought clarifications.

I recently went through the interview process for an Associate position at Goldman Sachs in Bangalore, which spanned from June to August 2025. The process was conducted online and consisted of an Online Assessment followed by four technical rounds, and finally a Hiring Manager round. I have 3 years of experience.

Online Assessment

The online assessment included 2 LeetCode-style questions: one easy and one medium, which focused heavily on time complexity. I successfully cleared this stage and received an invitation for the interviews within approximately three days.

Round 1 (Technical DSA ~1 hour)

In this round, I was asked to solve two DSA questions by coding on a shared editor. The first problem required converting a fraction string (e.g., "2/5" or "-2/5") into its decimal representation, including handling recurring decimals like "0.(6)" for "2/3". The second question was an easy-medium linked list problem, which I don't fully recall, but I successfully passed all the provided test cases. After two weeks, I received an email inviting me to the Superday rounds.

Superday Round 1 (DSA ~1 hour)

This round involved two DSA questions. The first question was to check if a string has a cycle, for which I had to write optimized code. The second question was to build a calculator, given an expression string like "(2*5+7)", and return the evaluated integer. The interviewer specified that it could include brackets, so I had to parse the expression and correctly handle operator precedence. I was able to solve both questions.

Superday Round 2 (DSA + System Design Lite)

This round combined DSA and a light system design component. The DSA question involved a 2D array: finding the maximum value path when travelling only diagonally up, diagonally down, or right. I explained a recursive approach first and then implemented an optimized solution, followed by discussing variations if movement directions changed. The data structures question asked me to design a structure for efficiently querying if at least two different customers visited the same store on a given day from a log file. I proposed a solution using a Map and Set, and we discussed follow-ups on implementing it with a database and the trade-offs between space and query efficiency.

Superday Round 3 (System Design – Twitter Clone)

This was a dedicated system design round where I had to design Twitter. The first half focused on Low-Level Design (LLD), detailing classes and models for Users, Tweets, and Follows. The second half shifted to High-Level Design (HLD) with an emphasis on scalability, particularly how to notify millions of users simultaneously. The discussion covered various topics like queues, database usage, caching strategies, scaling, microservices, and Kafka.

Superday Round 4 (Hiring Manager)

The final round was with the Hiring Manager. We had a deep dive into the architecture of my most recent project. I also answered questions on Agile methodology, including its pros and cons, and how I handle sprint delays. Leadership and situational questions were posed, such as how I would handle team conflicts and prioritize features against deadlines.

I successfully cleared all rounds and received an offer call for the Associate position an hour after my last Superday interview.

I joined the Coderpad round for an Analyst position at Goldman Sachs. The interviewer started right on time with introductions. I was asked two specific questions. I managed to solve both of them. For the second question, the interviewer provided a couple of hints when I was heading in the wrong direction, which I thankfully picked up and used to solve the problem. I am currently awaiting the final verdict.

A recruiter reached out to me for a Data Engineer (Hadoop/Spark) Associate position, given my 3 years of experience. The interview process began with a HackerRank round, followed by a CoderPad round. The final stage was a Super Day, which comprised multiple elimination rounds. Despite making it to the Super Day, I was ultimately rejected after the second round, as I didn't perform as well as required.

I applied directly on the Goldman Sachs portal, and soon after, a recruiter contacted me, providing a HackerRank test link for the first round.

1st Round - Online Assessment

This round consisted of two medium-difficulty questions. I successfully cleared this round and was invited for the next.

2nd Round - Coding (Codepad)

In this round, the interviewer presented two coding challenges. I was expected to provide the most optimal code. I successfully solved both problems, and all test cases passed within 30 minutes. This performance led to my selection for the Super Day.

Super Day Rounds

A week later, I participated in the Super Day, which involved three rounds conducted on the same day.

1st Round (DSA)

There were two interviewers in this round, each asking one question. I was able to partially solve the first design question but fully completed the second array problem with all test cases passing.

2nd Round (Low-Level Design)

This round began with discussions about my projects, followed by questions on NoSQL and SQL databases. I was then asked to design a system for a restaurant to track its most frequently ordered items. Additionally, there were Java-specific questions covering topics like the static keyword, garbage collection, and multithreading.

3rd Round (High-Level Design)

The final round involved designing a monitoring tool. Unfortunately, I struggled significantly in this round, partly because I felt my previous LLD round hadn't gone well, and I found myself unable to articulate a comprehensive solution.

Verdict

Ultimately, I was rejected after the Super Day rounds.

During my interview process for the SDEII role at Goldman Sachs in Birmingham, I was asked to solve a coding problem. I also noted a link to another LeetCode discuss post which might contain further details about a different problem.

I was reached out by a recruiter for an Associate position with a frontend (React) focus. I have 3 years of experience in product-based companies.

Round 1 (DSA)

This round focused on Data Structures and Algorithms.

• I was asked to find the second largest number in an array.
• The second problem involved processing a 2D array of [name, marks]. My task was to group marks by name, compute the average for each name, and then return the maximum average among all names.

Round 2 (DSA)

The second DSA round proved to be challenging for me.

• The first problem was Search in Rotated Sorted Array.
• The second problem was Find the Kth Largest Integer in the Array.

I didn't perform well in this round, which ultimately led to my rejection.

Round 3 (Javascript)

This round was focused on JavaScript concepts.

• There was a discussion around reduce, filter, and the spread operator.
• I was specifically asked to flatten a 2D array using the reduce method.
• There was also a complex JavaScript problem involving both reduce and filter, though I don't recall the exact specifics.

I received a rejection verdict, primarily due to my performance in Round 2.

This virtual panel interview for an Associate position at Goldman Sachs was a follow-up to my CoderPad interview. The day consisted of three separate rounds, each lasting about 60 minutes, all conducted on the same day.

Round 1: Algo & Data Structures

The first round began with interviewers asking several common Core Java questions related to data structures such as Lists, Sets, and HashMaps. Following this, I was given two coding problems to solve: first, implementing a HashMap from scratch, and second, finding the length of the Longest Increasing Subsequence. There was a minor hiccup as the interviewers expected me to code in Java, but I clarified that I had opted for Python during the recruiter's initial query.

Round 2: Software Design and Architecture

This round started with a brief discussion about the High-level Design of a significant project I had worked on at my previous company. Afterward, we transitioned into a discussion about the High-Level Design (HLD) for a URL Shortener website, similar to tinyurl. The focus was purely on discussing trade-offs and architectural considerations, without the need for any diagrams.

Round 3: SDLC & Resume

The final round was quite relaxed, feeling more like a casual conversation with colleagues. The interviewers thoroughly reviewed my resume, asking detailed questions about my past experiences and responsibilities. We also discussed various Software Engineering practices, including how I approach creating JIRA tickets. Overall, it was a very chill experience and not as intimidating as it initially seemed.

Super Day Verdict: I advanced to the "Bar Raiser" round!

I applied for the Analyst role at Goldman Sachs through a referral and received an Online Assessment link within a few days.

Round 1 - Online Assessment

This round consisted of two coding questions:

• One question involved using a stack to remove substrings where a character appeared K or more times consecutively.
• The second was a queue-based problem where I had to simulate a given problem statement.

Round 2 - Coderpad

This round also had two coding questions:

• A standard Grid Dynamic Programming problem.
• The classic problem of merging N sorted arrays into a single sorted array.

Superday

My Superday comprised three intense rounds conducted on the same day.

Round 3 - Data Structures

This round focused on data structures and algorithms:

• I was given a sorted integer array and an integer 'k'. The task was to maximize the frequency of any number by distributing 'k' among elements (incrementing them) until 'k' was non-negative. For example, with [1,3,5,8,10,11,12] and k = 3, the answer is 3 (incrementing 11 by 1 and 10 by 2 results in three 12s). I discussed brute force, binary search, and sliding window solutions.
• The second question was a standard Dynamic Programming problem on stocks.

Round 4 - Software Engineering Practices

This round delved into software engineering concepts and problem-solving:

• A problem revolved around finding shortest paths on exchanges, specifically involving negative costs. I explained the limitations of Dijkstra's algorithm and then detailed Bellman-Ford and Floyd-Warshall algorithms.
• Another problem was a standard sliding window question, which was exactly "Fruit Into Baskets" from LeetCode.

Round 5 - Software Design and Architecture

This was a system design focused round:

• We started with an in-depth discussion about my current projects and Kafka.
• Following that, I was given a problem statement similar to "Design Twitter". I thoroughly explained the Functional Requirements (FR), Non-Functional Requirements (NFR), APIs, Entities, and High-Level Design (HLD). My HLD included components such as Load Balancers, Microservices, Caching, CDNs, Asynchronous Processing, S3, DynamoDB, and various Fan-out services. It was a very engaging and insightful discussion, and I learned a lot.

An hour after the Superday, I received a call from HR, informing me that I needed to attend a Hiring Manager round at their office.

Round 6 - Hiring Manager Round

This round primarily focused on behavioral questions, exploring my past experiences and how I handle various situations.

I am now waiting for the final result for the Compliance Analyst role.

Background

• I have 4 years of experience and am based in India.
• A recruiter initially reached out to me through Naukri.
• The team I was interviewing for was Compliance Engineering.

Interview Structure

The overall interview process was structured as follows:

• Screening: HackerRank Online Assessment (2 hours)
• Round 0: CoderPad Interview (1 hour)
• SuperDay Rounds (Onsite Loop): These were scheduled for the same day.
• Round 1: Data Structures (1 hour)
• Round 2: Software Engineering Practices/DSA (1 hour)
• Round 3: Software Design and Architecture (1 hour) - I did not proceed to this round.
• Round 4: Hiring Manager Round - I did not proceed to this round.

Screening: HackerRank OA (2 hours)

I completed the HackerRank Online Assessment within 15–20 minutes. The questions were relatively easy.

Round 0: CoderPad Interview (1 hour)

This round involved two coding questions:

1. First Unique Character in a String: I used a two-pass fixed-size frequency array approach, achieving O(N) time complexity.
2. Trapping Rain Water: My chosen approach was a two-pointer scan from both ends, updating bounds and accumulating water.

I successfully coded the most optimal solutions for both problems, and all test cases passed.

SuperDay Round 1: Data Structures (1 hour)

This round focused on Data Structures with two problems:

1. Reverse Single-Linked-List in k-Groups
2. Longest Increasing Subsequence

SuperDay Round 2: Software Engineering Practices or DSA (1 hour)

I was given one main question for this round:

1. Shortest Path with K Hops/Free Edges

Unfortunately, I could only code this single question within the allocated hour, which meant I did not proceed to Round 3.

Verdict

I received a rejection after SuperDay Round 2.

During my recent online assessment for Goldman Sachs, I was presented with a problem that involved simplifying fractions. The core task was to take a string in the format "a/b" and reduce it to its lowest terms, ensuring the denominator remains positive. It was a straightforward implementation once the logic for handling negative numbers and using the greatest common divisor (GCD) was clear.

I recently appeared for my CoderPad interview round for an Associate position at Goldman Sachs. The interviewer was on-time. It started with an overview of what to expect during this round, followed by quick introductions.

The interview was focus on DSA. I had opted for Python as my language prior to the interview. The interviewer also mentioned that I'm allowed to use Google (no AI tools like ChatGPT) for looking up syntax, but not the whole code itself. I was asked two very easy questions which I was able to complete in about 30 minutes. The interviewer was helpful and provided hints as well.

First question: It was a very easy Array question which could be solved using Two-Pointers technique. I presented brute, better and optimal approaches, and we implemented the optimal approach (TC: O(N), SC: O(1)) after discussing the trade-off's.

Second question: A much easier variation of the "High Five" question that required just a Hash Map (no min/max heaps). This problem has only a single solution (TC: O(N) + O(M) where N is the size of the list and M is the size of the HashMap, SC: O(M))

The interviewer was satisfied with the approach and we tested all the edge cases for both the problems. The interview concluded with the questions for the interviewer.

TBH, I was pretty nervous before the interview since it has been a minute since I appeared for one. But when the questions were rolled, I felt confident. I prepared for the interview using LC-Tagged.

Awaiting result of the interview.

Experience: 3 years 1 month
College: One of the IIIT
Current Compnay: US based healthcare startup, prevously in a Media giant.

Tech: Python backend

Hi Everyone,
Recently I got OA link from Goldman Sach and solve both questions.
1. A string of Alphabets, you have to find out the appearance of each charecter. [EASY]
e.g: aaEEbghf
o/p: 2a2E1b1g1h1f

2. Not exactly remember but question is like below-
Encode a string and decode it. A lot of Exception I have to handled, in question it was mention there will be a good number of exceptions, you have to handle it without try-catch block. After multiple iteration I was able to solve the questions. [HARD - because test cases were locked]

OA date: 27th July, 2025

When I'll get the HR call? I checked in online they are saying within 10 days most of the cases.

Hi everyone,
I recently went through the Goldman Sachs Summer Analyst internship hiring process and wanted to share my experience. Hopefully, this helps anyone preparing for it!

Online Assessment (1 hour)

Multiple MCQs + 3 coding problems + 1 situation-based essay.
Topics: DSA, OOPs, and some basic math.

Interview Process (3 eliminatory rounds)

Round 1 (Technical)

Discussion about one of the projects from my resume.
DSA Question: Rotten Oranges variation (fruits instead). Given a test case and asked to dry run it.
Follow-ups and discussed edge cases.

Round 2 (Technical + HR)

Again discussed a project from my resume.
HR: Challenges faced while doing the project.
The interviewer gave a case and asked how I would implement that scenario in my project (follow-up question).
DSA Question: Given two strings s and p, find all starting indices of anagrams of p in s.
JavaScript questions were linked to the DSA problem — for example, how I would implement the logic and handle the results on the frontend for this DSA question.
Follow-ups, discussed edge cases, and time complexity.

Round 3 (Technical)

Discussion about one of the projects from my resume.
DSA Question: Given currency conversion rates, determine if there exists a conversion path that can yield a profit.

Each round lasted ~30-40 minutes.

Verdict: Selected 🎉

Lately, i got the opportunity to interview at Goldman Sachs, as they had visited my campus.

Round-1: Online Assessment:
This consisted of mulptiple MCQs and three coding problems and one situation-based essay. This round was for an hour. Topics included DSA and OOPs.

Round-2: Technical-Round-1:
This consisted of two problems and around 30-35 minutes. We were required to explain our approach and write a pseudo-code and make a dry run with around 2 test-cases.
I was also asked about my projects in this round with some crux-working explaining.
The first problem was Rising Temparatures and second one was "Candy" on leetcode. These were fairly doable problems and i could do them in the required time after some optimisations while dry-run. The interviewer seemed to be pretty happy.

Round-3: Technical-Round-2:
This usually consists of a hard-level leetcode questions, my peers were asked DSA. However, i wasnt asked any DSA and was thoroughly grilled on my resume, asked me in-built library functions, encrytion techniques, Computer Networks, Docker and ci/cd pipeline, architecture. I found this round pretty hard and the evaluation seemed to be unfair as i was asked tougher questions compared to others. It took me some time to process this round. It was very intimadating and "ab-normal" for an internship interview where you were being evaluated on problem-solving and not on software concepts. Anyways, i respect their decision and it is fair to be asked. Wish i had made it!

Would like to know if something like this has happened in your interviews!

Verdict: Rejected! :(

🟢 Round 1 – Technical + HR Blend

This was my first-ever interview, and I was honestly nervous. But the interviewer made me feel at ease from the start.

❓ Question: Tell me something that's not in your resume

I spoke about my role as the Technical Head at QCM, where we manage the club’s website, conduct quizzes, and handle role-based access. This led to a long technical discussion.

💬 We discussed:

• How we store quiz data
• Use of Apprite as BaaS
• Role-Based Access (RBA)
• How quizzes are conducted through our platform

🧠 DSA Question:

Given two strings A and B, find the minimum length substring of A that contains all characters of B (order doesn't matter).

My Approach:

• Started with a brute-force O(n²) solution and wrote the code
• Then optimized it using two-pointer sliding window, explained the logic clearly
• The interviewer was happy with the explanation — no need to write the optimized code

We ended with a few HR questions like:

• Tell me about a time you faced conflict in a team
• How did you resolve it?

🔵 Round 2 – Core DSA Problem

This round focused purely on DSA.

❓ DSA Question:

Given a grid with a start and an end cell. Each cell has some coins. Find a path from start to end such that maximum coins are collected.

💡 My Approach:

• Proposed a DFS solution

• Interviewer asked: “Why not BFS?”

  • Explained that BFS is suitable for shortest path/minimum-based problems, but for maximization, DFS helps explore all possibilities

• Discussed time complexity: exponential due to recursion

• Then I proposed DP with memoization to optimize the solution

💻 Coding:

• Wrote a clean recursive + DP solution with minimal bugs
• Interviewer was impressed with my clarity and approach

🟡 Round 3 – HR + Analytical + Tech

Though it was the HR round, it included some technical discussion too.

Topics Covered:

• Deep dive into my Walmart Sparkathon project
• Asked what improvements I would make if I rebuilt it from scratch with experience

❓ Unexpected Twist:

• Gave me a problem without specifying how to solve it
• I solved it using a DSA approach, which he appreciated
• Then he asked me to solve the same using MySQL
  • I struggled at first, but after some hints and back-and-forth, I managed to solve it
  • He was satisfied with my willingness to learn and adapt

HR Questions:

• Why should we hire you?
• Why is Goldman Sachs important to you?

✅ Final Verdict: Selected

All three interviewers were chill, engaging, and helpful. They weren’t just testing coding skills — they were observing my communication, approach, and mindset.

💭 Final Thoughts

An interview isn’t just about getting the correct answer.
People often treat interviews as one-way evaluations, but they're actually conversations.

If you're solving a problem:

• Speak your thoughts aloud
• Keep the interviewer in the loop
• Ask for hints if you’re stuck — don’t let ego stop you

Interviewers are not there to trap you — they’re there to understand your approach and help you succeed.

Feel free to reach out if you're preparing for GS or any similar SDE interviews. Happy to help! 😊

I had applied on 14/06/2025. I got OA link on 25th June 2025. It had 2 questions of easy-med level.

1. Persons A and Buses an encryption based system for their conversation. Each conversation message is encoded from the source and decoded in the destination using a shared private positive number key known to each other

2)Given a number 'x', and a range of 'y' , please find the count of all the numbers in' in that range, such that the product of the number 'n' and 'x' does not contain any digit from the number 'n'. General Constraints: All the inputs will be integers and below 10$ E.g., if x = 2, y = 10 and z = 15, then, 2 × 10 = 20 // Invalid, since the product contains 0 from 10. 2 x 11 = 22 // Valid

I was able to answer these.

Round 2: coderpad. 18/07/2025 This round has 1 easy question and 1 med level question.

1. Power question: https://leetcode.com/problems/powx-n/description/?envType=problem-list-v2&envId=n86csxy2

2. Recurring decimal: https://leetcode.com/problems/fraction-to-recurring-decimal/description/?envType=problem-list-v2&envId=n86csxy2

Unfortunately I made some mistake for 2nd question and after few days application got turned down.

Position - Associate (Software Engineer)
Location - Dallas, TX
Status - F1 student (May 25 graduate), 3 years fintech exp

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Application Timeline -

• Apr 27: Applied via careers portal
• May 28: Email requesting availability for CoderPad screening
• Jun 06: Round 1 – CoderPad
• Jun 17: Advanced to virtual panel interview
• Jul 09: Virtual panel (3 rounds)
• Jul 10: Advanced to hiring‑manager interview
• Jul 11: Hiring‑manager round
• Jul 18: HR call (compensation and basic info)
• Jul 21: Preliminary immigration call with Fragomen
• Jul 24: HCM call — verbal offer, written offer received an hour later

Interview Breakdown -

Round 1 — CoderPad (60 min)

• 10–15 min: introductions and resume deep‑dive
• Coding:
  • Medium — BFS/DFS
  • Hard — two‑pointer
  • Fully working code with test cases required

Virtual On‑Site (three 60‑min rounds, all in CoderPad)

• Data Structures: Low‑level design; LeetCode‑style medium design problem
• Software Engineering Practices:
  • 40 min resume discussion
  • Medium binary‑search question (coded during remaining time)
• System Design & Architecture: System design — design a platform like LeetCode (more open-ended)

Hiring Manager Round

• Scheduled for 30 min but lasted over an hour
• Purely behavioral questions
• Second half was mainly about the team and day-to-day activities

I cleared the hackerRank round from Goldman and got call after a week for coderPad round. Interviewer asked 2 questions 1 easy and 1 Medium.

Appeared for GS OA today Recruiter had reached out via LinkedIn Was able to solve both in about 50 mins. Lets see what happens next

I was refered to the postion by a friend. Got email after a month for Coderpad.

CoderPad Round:

1. Check if a number is Power of 10.
2. Provided student name scores, find the highest average grade in the class.

After 2 weeks I got the result and was selected for next rounds. All the 3 rounds back to back on same day.

Round 1 : DSA

1. Asked few questions around my work/resume and how my day to day work like.
2. Coding : Given a dictionary ={ cat, zat, force, zebra} and char Array = {a, c ,a ,k,z, e, t}, what is the longest word that can be formed. I though I might be able to use Trie for optmization, big mistake. This problem is has simple solution with freq map/count. I did provide that solution, but I was hung up on finding optimal solution, which might have ticked off the interviewer.

Round 2: Software Design They straight jumped to question: Design Twitter to post and Search tweets. Questions around what I did and why I built is that way. SQL/NoSQL etc etc.

Round 3: SDLC and resume: Just grilling around my resume and day to day work.

I was not confident on the interview I gave, It couldn't have been easier, yet I wasn't able to give my best. After 3 weeks got rejection email.

You are given a sequence of characters, representing a series of steps. You need to find the minimum number of characters required to encode this sequence using a special "repeat from the beginning" instruction, denoted by '*'.

The '' instruction means that the currently encoded prefix should be repeated from its beginning. For example, if you have encoded "AB", then "AB" would expand to "ABAB". If you have encoded "ABC", then "ABC*" would expand to "ABCABC". This repeat instruction can be applied multiple times implicitly (e.g., 'A*' for 'AAA').

Your task is to write a function that takes the un-encoded sequence as input and returns the minimum number of characters required to encode it.

Example:

Consider the sequence "A, B, A, B, C, A, B, A, B, C, D". This can be encoded as "ABCD" which has a length of 6 characters.

We can name the problem as: MINIMUM ENCODING LENGTH

Test Cases:

print(f"'AA': {findMinChars('AA')}") # Expected: 2 (A + A) or (A* implies A repeated multiple times) print(f"'AAA': {findMinChars('AAA')}") # Expected: 2 (A*) print(f"'ABAB': {findMinChars('ABAB')}") # Expected: 3 (AB*) print(f"'ABABA': {findMinChars('ABABA')}") # Expected: 4 (ABA) print(f"'AAAAA': {findMinChars('AAAAA')}") # Expected: 2 (A) print(f"'ABCABCABC': {findMinChars('ABCABCABC')}") # Expected: 4 (ABC*) print(f"'ABABCABABCD': {findMinChars('ABABCABABCD')}") # Expected: 6 (ABCD)

✨ Interview Experience – Accepted Offer

Application Source:
Applied on my behalf by applyjobsforme.com – they handled the job application process for me.

🧪 Round 1: Online Assessment

The initial round was an online assessment consisting of 2 data structures and algorithms questions, both of which I successfully solved within the time limit.

• The questions were of medium difficulty, and focused on core problem-solving ability.
• The platform tested for edge cases and optimality.

💻 Round 2: CoderPad Interview (Live Coding + Discussion)

The interview began with a brief self-introduction and then moved into live coding via CoderPad. The interviewer was collaborative and encouraged thinking out loud.

✅ Question 1 (Medium): Top Student Scores Averaging

Problem:
You are given a list of [student_id, score] pairs. For each student, return the average of their top scores. If the top score is repeated, it should still be considered.

Example Input:

[[1, 100], [1, 100], [1, 100], [2, 99]]

Expected Output:

[[1, 100], [2, 99]]

✅ Question 2 (Medium): Fraction to Recurring Decimal

Problem:
Given a numerator and denominator, return the result as a string. If the fractional part is recurring, enclose the repeating part in parentheses.

• Examples:
  • 5/10 → "0.5"
  • 1/3 → "0.(3)"

I handled edge cases like negative numbers, zero numerators, and long recurring cycles.

🎯 Behavioral Segment:

• Discussed motivation, past projects, and challenges overcome.
• Shared an example of working under pressure and taking initiative.

✅ Successfully cleared this round. Got a call back for the Superday after nearly 2 months of wait.

🔍 Round 3: Superday – Data Structures Focus

Panel included two interviewers, each of whom asked one technical problem.

✅ Question 1: Trapping Rain Water

A classic two-pointer problem to calculate the volume of water trapped after rainfall.

✅ Question 2: Implement stoi (String to Integer)

Recreate the stoi function.

• Handled white spaces, sign, integer overflow, and invalid characters.
• Edge cases like " -42".

The focus was on string parsing, input validation

🛠️ Round 4: Superday – Software Engineering Practices

Another panel of two interviewers, this time focused on system and product thinking.

✅ Question: Low-Level Design of Google Calendar

• Designed a simplified version of Google Calendar with core functionalities:
  • Create, update, delete events.
  • Handle overlapping events.
  • Notification/reminder system.
  • Scalability for millions of users.
• Discussed use of:
  • Data models (event schema, user calendar),
  • Concurrency handling,
  • API structure, and
  • Design tradeoffs like consistency vs availability.

I made sure to cover both object-oriented design and real-world constraints (like syncing across time zones).

📄 Round 5: Resume Drill / Deep Dive

• Walked through resume projects and past roles.
• Emphasis on impact, technologies used, and challenges faced.
• They asked about one project in depth—how I designed it, what improvements I’d now make, and technical decisions behind it.

🎉 Result: Accepted Offer!

After multiple rounds and a considerable waiting period post-superday, I finally received an offer letter.

Round 1 - Technical (1 Hour) Interviewer: Friendly and supportive

Question 1:

Variation of Second Smallest.

Before coding, I was asked to clearly explain my understanding of the problem and approach.

I completely blanked out — couldn’t think clearly under pressure, even though it was a relatively simple problem.

I was expected to generate my own edge case test cases. Spent ~30 minutes on this and couldn’t make progress.

Question 2:

Twisted version of [LeetCode 1086. High Five].

Solved it in 5 minutes with a clean approach. Interviewer appreciated the solution and allowed me to retry the first question.

Back to Question 1:

Came up with a working solution in O(n log n), but the expected solution was O(n).

Applied via referral

R1 - OA

2 Medium DSA Questions.

R2 - Coderpad Round (Coderpad + Zoom - 60 mins 1 Interviewer)

1. Shortest Subarray to be Removed to Make Array Sorted
2. Number of Islands

Fumbled while solving first problem, but kept on communicating clearly and asking questions, eventually got the approach and coded it out. Solved 2nd question within 5 minutes.

R3 - Superday - Data Structures (Coderpad + Zoom - 60 mins 2 Interviewers)

1. Gas Station
2. Minimum Window Substring

Solved both the problems.

R4 - Superday - Software Engineering Practices (Coderpad + Zoom - 60 mins 2 Interviewers)

Resume questions based on Database, Sharding vs Partitioning, Explain keyword used in sql, Types of scans used in explain statement and it's advantages/disadvantages over others. Javascript question based on creating a debouncing function and possible optimizations.

R5 - Superday - Software Design and Architecture (Coderpad + Zoom - 60 mins 2 Interviewers)

Resume questions based on experience and projects. Path vs param query. LLD Design ATC (Air Traffic Control) System.

R6 - Hiring Manager Round (30 mins 1 Interviewer)

First HM asked if I had any questions for her, I had collected some questions prior to the interview related to the department and the application. Normal Behavioural Questions like Why switch So Early ? What would you do if someone took credit for your work ? How will you handle the confrontation if it gets physical ?

Verdict - Selected

Goldman Sachs Interview Experience

Current Profile

Company: Competing Investment Bank Base: 15.2 LPA Annual Bonus: 2.5 L Retention: 3 L

Recruiter Reachout on linkedin - Asked for Java specifically and all rounds to be held in java

R1 - OA (28 March 2025)

• 2 DSA Questions
• Classic 1-0 Knapsack - Medium
• Binary Search Question - Medium

R2 - Coderpad (28 April, 2025)

• Basic Array Average Question - Easy
• String Manipulation - Easy

R3 - Algorithms and Java Discussion (In Person)

• Hashmap Internals
• Java Deep Dive
• Time Complexities

R4 - System Design (In Person)

• Resume Deep Dive - Kafka, Cloud
• Notification Sending System: Multiple User Groups, Multiple Transports
• Multithreading Deep Dives

R5 - Techno-Managerial

• Resume Deep Dive
• DSA - Find Kth largest number in a Stream

H6 - Hiring Manager Round

• Normal Behavioural Questions

Got the Offer after a long long wait

Offer: https://leetcode.com/discuss/post/6938216/goldman-sachs-analyst2yoe-comp-bangalore-13ky/

I’m presently working at a good product-based company and have almost 3 years of experience.

Round 1 : OA (2 hr)

It consisted to 3 leetcode medium level questions. Couldn't remember exact questions.

Round 2 : CoderPad Interview (1 hr)

Question 1: It was a medium-level question involving hashmaps, but I couldn't find the exact one on LeetCode. Question 2: https://leetcode.com/problems/minimum-path-sum/description/

Rounds 3, 4 & 5 are kind of loop interviews scheduled on the same day.

Round 3 : Data Structures (1 hr)

Question 1: https://leetcode.com/problems/find-original-array-from-doubled-array/description/ Question 2: https://leetcode.com/problems/magnetic-force-between-two-balls/description/

Immediately after Round 3, I received an email stating that the remaining rounds had been cancelled. When I reached out to the HR, she mentioned that the feedback from Round 3 was very poor.

Just FYI Round 4 is Software Engineering Practices (1 hr) Round 5 is Software Design and Architecture (1 hr) Round 6 is Hiring Manager Round

Good luck to all!

My Goldman Sachs Interview Experience

I am a software engineer with two years of experience, and I was looking for better opportunities. After applying to Goldman Sachs with a referral, I received a call for an Online Assessment (OA) and subsequent interview rounds.

Online Assessment (OA)

The OA consisted of two questions, and I completed it within 15-20 minutes.

Round 1: DSA - 1 hr

This round focused on Data Structures and Algorithms. I was asked two questions. I felt this round went well; the interviewer seemed satisfied, and I was able to explain my solutions from the ground up, including optimizations, along with their time and space complexities.

SuperDay Rounds

After the first round, I received a call from HR to schedule my SuperDay, which I scheduled for the following week.

Round 2: DSA - 1 hr

This round also involved two DSA questions. It went pretty well, and I was able to answer all the interviewer's questions.

Round 3: Software Engineering practices - 1 hr

This round combined DSA and Low-Level Design (LLD). For the first 30 minutes, I worked on a DSA problem, explaining my approach using BFS and optimizing it with a priority queue. I also discussed the differences between BFS and DFS and their respective use cases, particularly in terms of pruning.

In the next 30 minutes, I was asked to design Splitwise. I began by discussing the application requirements, and once the interviewers were satisfied, I proceeded to define classes and their relationships. I wasn't asked to code due to time constraints, but the interviewer seemed content with my design discussion.

Round 4: Software Design and Architecture - 1 hr

This round started with an in-depth discussion of my current project, including its high-level architecture. Later, I was given a scenario and asked to determine suitable design patterns and the OOPS principles involved. Another question specifically about the Builder design pattern followed. I explained its use for creating immutable objects, resolving telescoping constructors, and performing validations. However, the interviewer asked me to consider its application in a multi-threading scenario, which I wasn't familiar with at the time, and I admitted that. Overall, this round heavily focused on project discussions and design patterns. I felt I could have performed much better in this round.

Round 5: Hiring Manager Round - 30 Mins

Around 20 minutes after completing the SuperDay rounds, HR called to inform me that I had cleared them and scheduled a call with the Hiring Manager. This round primarily consisted of 4-5 behavioral questions.

A week later, I called HR and was informed that the feedback was positive. I am currently awaiting a final response from the HR team. The entire process, from application to completing all rounds, took approximately one month. I found the interview process to be well-structured, and the interviewers were helpful, offering hints whenever I felt stuck.

Round 1 : 2 hour Hackerrank test with 2 Easy-Medium questions. I was able to successfully solve both questions within 20-25 minutes.

Round 2 : Coderpad round Q1. https://leetcode.com/problems/find-minimum-in-rotated-sorted-array/description/ Q2. Similar to https://leetcode.com/problems/trapping-rain-water/description/

Superday Round 3 : Q1. https://leetcode.com/problems/single-element-in-a-sorted-array/description/ Q2. https://leetcode.com/problems/combination-sum-ii/description/

Fumbled badly in the first question.

Round 4 : Q1. https://leetcode.com/problems/number-of-substrings-containing-all-three-characters/description/ Q2. https://leetcode.com/problems/word-ladder/description/

5-6 questions related to Java Concurrency (Runnable, Callable, ExecuterService, Thread Lifecycle) and JVM Garbage Collection.

Got a Rejection Mail after this round.

Edit : Updated the title to clarify YOE :D.

I applied through referral on GS portal and recieved an online assesment link after few days.

Round 1 - Online Assesment

Q1 - Decode ways

Q2 - Given a range of numbers [l, r] and an integer q. The task is to count all such number in the given range such that any digit of the number does not match with any digit in its product with the given number q.

I completed both the questions and got an email asking for my details and that interview will be scheduled soon.

Round 2 - Coderpad.

Got a call from HR, 2 months after the OA for scheduling interview.

Q1 -Trapping rainwater disguised as compute snowpac.

Q2. The question asked was about a bishop on an 8x8 chessboard. I was given the starting and target coordinates and had to find the minimum number of moves for the bishop to reach the target. If it was impossible, I needed to return -1.

Since I completed both the questions with optimal implementation and edge cases, interviewer asked me a third debugging question.

Q3 - Given a program to find number of characters (including spaces) between the given positions of two words. Debug the program so that it works for all the given test cases.

Interviewer gave around 5 test cases on which the program was failing. I was able to find three bugs and interviewer wrapped it up

Super day

From here on every round had a panel of two interviewers interviewing.

Round 3 - DSA (Mandatory)

First interviewer asked first two DSA questions. Q1. Min Stack - A variation of this question was asked where I had to implement max stack instead of min. Q2. Number of Islands - A slight variation of this question was asked.

Second interviewer joined a little late and started with resume grilling and asked lots of question on project in current company.

Q3. Max path sum -A variation of this question was asked where we could make only diagonal and downwards movement.

Round 4 - Software engineering principles (Mandatory)

Q1. Given a logger class and three functions - a - startTime function with startTime and process id as parameters. b - endTime function with endTime and process id as parameters. c - print function - Prints all the completed process whenever invoked in ascending order of start time.

The program works as a stream class with continuous inputs being fed to it.

Q2. Convert integer to words - A variation of this question was asked where in the conversion has to be in Indian format instead of International. Q3. Decode ways Q4. Design a distributed cache system and some questions on scalability, load balancing, etc were asked. Q5. Some basic questions revolving around performance improvement in the cache system were also asked towards the end of the interview.

Wemt very well and was able to answer all the questions.

Round 5 - Design and Architecture

Q1. SQL query to find all employees whose salary is greater than their manager.

Q2. Predict the winner - Was asked to print the path of each of the players as well.

Q3. Find shortest distance from bottom left vertex to upper right vertex of a cube.

One of the interviewers did not join this round, so I had design round again next day.

Round 6 - Design and Architecture

Q1. Design LLD for BookMyShow (with full implementation).

Q2. How will you scale the system in case of increased traffic load?

Q3. Design LLD for rate limiter.

Q4. How will you handle a situation in a rate limiter where the window has space for just one request and multiple requests come at once from same user through different devices.

Round 7 - Hiring Manager

Q1. Why are you looking for switch so early Q2. Why GS Q3. Couple of behavioural questions.

Verdict - Selected

I applied directly on the GS career portal. The job title was "Global Banking & Markets - Eq GSET Platform - Associate - Bengaluru". I received a HackerRank test link after 8 days, which the recruiter had mentioned needed to be completed within 24 hours in the email. There were a total of 5 rounds. A peculiar thing to note was that all communications (OA/Interviews) were sent by email and not by any phone calls.

Online Assessment (120 minutes)

1. Non-repeating digit in product - GFG Count numbers in range such that digits in it and it's product with q are unequal
2. Coding Wars - LC 1395. Count Number of Teams

I got an email the next day itself stating that I cleared the test and they are moving my candidature ahead for the next level of interview processes. They also asked for some basic details and mentioned that the opportunity is a complete WFO. After 8 days, I received an email to provide my next 2 weeks availability for the CoderPad round.

CoderPad Interview Round (60 minutes)

The interviewer began with the introduction and mentioned that he was among the sister teams for whom they were hiring. The coderpad was initially set up for the Java language, although in the email, I had mentioned C++ as my preferred language. Upon request, the interviewer allowed me to use C++ and mentioned that for the upcoming rounds to use Java. The interviewer was engaging and helpful.

1. Apache log file contains a list of IP addresses. Find the IP address with the highest frequency. If multiple IP addresses tie for the highest frequency, then return the values in a comma-separated format.
2. Analogous to LC 42. Trapping Rain Water (given as snow instead of rain).

For the trapping rain water problem, I initially gave the O(N) space approach, and since there was time remaining, he asked me to optimise and then gave the two-pointer approach, but could not complete the coding. The interviewer said that I was on the right track for the optimal solution, just had to consider a few edge cases and mentioned that he was anyway happy with the previous approach.

Note: By this time, all those who are preparing for GS Interviews would know that the Trapping Rainwater problem is one of Goldman Sachs' all-time favourite problems, so make sure to practice and be familiar with all approaches (brute, better, and optimal).

Overall, I was satisfied with my performance and hoped to receive a call for Superday. Soon, I got an email within 45 minutes post-interview asking about my availability for the next rounds, and I gave my preference for next week.

I was expecting all 3 interviews to happen the same day. However got the invite to Panel Interview for Round 1 and 2 back-to-back on the same day. They also mentioned that each interview is an eliminatory round. It was supposed to be 1 week later, but unfortunately, I fell sick, so it had to be pushed further 1 more week. One thing I liked very much about GS is their flexibility to schedule interviews based on the candidate's availability. My preparation for the next rounds was from the past 3 months Goldman Sachs interview experience found on the Leetcode Discuss section.

Panel Interview - Round 1 - DSA (60 minutes)

This round was taken by 2 VPs. Began with introductions, and the first interviewer gave a problem with very little context. You are given a list of cities and a function/API boolean isDirectConnected(c1, c2). Implement boolean isConnected(c1, c2). While coding, I had to ask follow-ups, and both interviewers were helpful enough to provide hints if I was stuck anywhere. I took around 40 minutes, including recognising it was a graph + DFS problem and writing pseudocode, as the interviewers also stopped me in between asking some why/hows on the code. Later, the interviewer mentioned that the graph could be bi-directional, and I had forgotten initially to keep a visited array, so I had fixed that too.

The second interviewer then asked a question that if we have 1B numbers and want to find the top 1M numbers, which data structure would you use and what would be the time complexity of it? I told that we would use a min-heap and the T.C. would be O(NLogK). However, the interviewer had a slightly different opinion around the TC, and the interview was wrapped up by me asking a question on the GBM team.

I felt that the interview went good and was honestly preparing to appear for the 'Software Engineering Practices' round. However, I was a bit shocked to receive the rejection mail 10 minutes after the interview. I am not sure how I have messed up, perhaps taking hints to solve. All I know is that I could not have done much better, although I could be more confident. Maybe it's god's plan, anyway, back to square 1!

Here's my experience for a Software Associate. The process is usually long. Took sometime. YOE: 3.5yrs

1st round - DSA Find the first occurrence of a number in a sorted array. Easy Medium problem on arrays.

2nd Round - Java and DSA 1D Dp problem. Implement the navigatin of links in a browser - towards and backward. Overflow check in java.

3rd round - Java and DSA Trailing zeroes of n! easy medium 1D dp. Basic questions on OOPs like interfaces vs abstract classes.

4th round - LLD and HLD Hotel Management System Was expected to jot down the requirements. Design classes. Scaling issues and DB. Discussion on cache.

5th round - Managerial Questions on resume` Eg: What would you do if a PII data is sent to your mail by mistake? What actions would you take? Discussion on privacy of the data.

6th round - Managerial SDLC life cycle and discussion on my experience.

I had a coderpad round with GS this week(This was the first time i used coderpad btw)So, I was asked to write the code for two questions under 60 mins. I vaguely remember the questions , them being

1) Given a string , we have to find the longest uniform string and return an array of which first element will be the starting index of the uniform string and second element will be the length of that uniform string

-- I knew it was a typical sliding window problem and I straight up digged into the code but halfway down I struggled to finish my logic also the interviewer was kinda tough throughout the round like she had a frowning face which was making me even more tensed lol .

2. Second question was to calculate the bestAverageGrade..it's a typical problem asked in their earlier rounds ..i regret not practising this . While implenting the solution my logic was correct i fumbled on this one too as i was about to run it the time was up, and towards the end I knew I lost this one ..but it was a good experience. So,to anyone reading this hope this helps you. Good luck!!

💻 Online Assessment (April 2025- 1st week)

The OA had two problems:

• An easy-level hashing question.
• The "Decode Ways" problem — a classic Dynamic Programming question.

👨‍💻 CoderPad Round (May 2025 - last week)

I don't recall the exact problems, but they were straightforward for anyone with a solid understanding of DSA. Both were solvable within time limits without much difficulty.

🧠 Superday Rounds (12 June 2025)

Round 1: DSA

This was a problem-solving round focused on data structures and algorithms.
The first question was a medium-level two pointers problem.
I explained the brute-force solution first and then optimized it in terms of time and space complexity.
Solved it within 25 minutes with detailed explanations and passed all test cases without any runtime or compile-time errors.

Since I solved it quickly, the interviewer gave me a harder problem — not to code but to explain the approach.
I quickly provided the brute-force idea and mentioned binary search for optimization.
However, I struggled to articulate the helper function. The interviewer said I was close, but we ran out of time.
After the round, I realized it could’ve been solved using a greedy approach in the helper.

Round 2: Software Engineering Practices

This round was entirely focused on resume, Java, and Spring Boot.

Topics discussed:

• Mockito: What it is and why it's used.
• Caching: Detailed discussion since I had mentioned it on my resume.
• Dependency Injection: Different ways to inject and their implementations.
• API Versioning
• Parameterized Queries in Spring Data JPA
• SOLID Principles and the DRY Principle
• Application Scaling: told about load balancers, microservices, caching, kafka, CDN, etc.
• Discussion on Horizontal scaling

While I was able to answer most questions, I did struggle to frame a few responses clearly. Despite that, the round ended on a positive note with the interviewer wishing me luck for the next round.

Round 3: System Design + Java/OOPs + SQL

This round had two interviewers, but unfortunately, the call dropped midway and only one interviewer rejoined.

Here’s what we discussed:

Started with “Why do you want to switch?”

Then, the interviewer presented a medium-level SQL question involving GROUP BY, HAVING, COUNT, and a subquery. I initially solved it correctly using LIMIT. However, the interviewer followed up by asking me to solve the same problem without using LIMIT. I wasn’t able to come up with an alternative solution during the interview.

Next, we discussed:

• Java version used in my project — I mentioned Java 8.
• Asked about Java 8 Features

Then was asked to solve two easy DSA problems using Stream API. I wrote working code, but the interviewer was expecting specific functional operations. I admitted I hadn't used Stream API extensively but was familiar with forEach, map, filter, etc.

We then had an in-depth discussion on:

• OOPs concepts, especially Polymorphism.
• Covered both compile-time and runtime polymorphism.
• Was asked to write code implementations for both.

After 40 minutes, the interviewer had no further questions and invited me to ask mine. I asked for feedback, but was told that would be shared by the hiring manager.

📞 Result

Unfortunately, I received negative feedback after the third round and was not selected. I struggled with a follow-up SQL question and wasn’t able to provide the expected answers for those two Stream API-related questions.

Gave hackerrank test around 3 month ago. After a week, got a call for coderpad screening round, after multiple rescheduling it got scheduled on 18th june. 1st question for coderpad round was First Non Repeating character in String 42. Trapping Rain Water (the must do problem for GS) solved both of them correctly along with edge cases. On the same day got call from HR that coderpad round feedback was positive so they scheduled superday for 25th june.

Round1 2 DSA questions 1. Design a DS where insertion , deletion and getValue(Index) all should be in O(1) 2.Binary search on Answers Ship in D days

Answered 2 with optimal solutions

Round 2 2 DSA questions 1.Given a string representing a mathematical expression (like "3 + 2 * (1 + 1)"), evaluate the result by following the correct BODMAS precedence rules (Brackets, Orders, Division, Multiplication, Addition, Subtraction). 2. Make a Number Minimum by removing K digits

Unable to solve 2nd question

verdict :Rejected

I recently had a Super Day interview for an Analyst position at Goldman Sachs in the USA. The day was structured into three main rounds: Data Structures & Algorithms (DSA), System Design, and a combined SDLC/Behavioral/Managerial round, each lasting 45 minutes.

In the DSA Round, I was given four questions. First, I started implementing an LRU cache, specifically the put function, but the interviewer stopped me to move on after I completed a portion. The second question challenged me to combine two integer arrays into one without duplicates, with the constraint that hash-sets were not allowed. For the third, I tackled a dynamic programming problem: finding the maximum path sum in a matrix from top-left to bottom-right, only allowed to move right or down. This was framed as a fun scenario of maximizing national parks visited from Washington to Florida. I explained a DFS with memoization approach for this. Lastly, I discussed the optimal data structure for storing latitude and longitude, where I provided an in-depth answer about Quadtrees. I felt I answered all questions thoroughly and we even had five minutes for Q&A.

The System Design Round began with a fundamental question about REST APIs. The main challenge was to design a parking lot system with 100 spots and a single entry point, where vehicles are assigned a spot before entering. The discussion went deep into functional and non-functional requirements, identifying core entities, and designing APIs with their request/response structures. We also talked about database selection, SQL query optimization through indexing (including B+ trees), how to handle multiple entry points, and the use of in-memory versus database locks. I explained my logic for assigning spots using a hash-set for available IDs and a hash-map for assignments, all protected by locks for concurrency control.

The final SDLC / Behavioral / Managerial Round covered a range of topics. It started with resume-based questions. I then explained software testing and its various types, followed by questions about my past experience with testing and the SDLC methodologies I've followed. A significant portion involved describing my most challenging project and why it was difficult, leading to many follow-up questions. I was also asked if I'd ever faced an 'Out of Memory' exception, which led to a discussion on pagination. Finally, we touched upon debugging microservices in production and the concepts behind database indexing.

Despite feeling incredibly confident after the interviews and believing I answered every question, I received a rejection email three days later. I genuinely felt I couldn't have done anything more; I knew the answers to all questions and was happy with my performance. It felt like a significant setback, especially given my circumstances.

YOE: 4 I applied to Goldman Sachs through a referral from a friend on March 11.

🔹 Round 1 – DSA (Hackerrank Online Test): I received a Hackerrank test link on March 31 which included 1 easy and 1 medium-level DSA problem. ✅ Went very well.

🔹 Round 2 – DSA (CoderPad Interview on April 15): This round focused primarily on DSA. I was asked one medium-level coding question along with a few questions about my projects, Java, and Spring Boot. ✅ Went very well.

🔹 Super Day – April 28 There were four interviews scheduled back-to-back with different focus areas:

🔸 Round 3 – DSA: This round involved solving one medium-level problem end-to-end with code and test cases, and discussing the approach (not code) for another algorithmic problem. ✅ Went very well.

🔸 Round 4 – Software Engineering Practices: This round was all about core engineering principles—deep dives into Java, Spring Boot, SQL & NoSQL, design patterns, ACID properties, code reviews, and project discussions. I was also asked to demonstrate a service violating the Single Responsibility Principle and then refactor it correctly. ✅ Went very well.

🔸 Round 5 – System Design & Architecture: It started with a deep discussion on my current project, followed by designing a high-level architecture for an e-commerce platform. ✅ Went very well.

🔹 Round 6 – Hiring Manager Round: This round began with my career journey, followed by a behavioral question which I answered well. However, I was asked three aptitude questions and couldn’t solve any of them. ➖ Went average.

📩 On May 21, I received the final result—and I’m happy to share that I got the offer!

Compensation Details: post

Current Experience: 1.10 Years College: Tier-2 Previous Organization: One of the MNCs

One Employee referred me.

OA

Coder pad round: 1st questions - Return an array containing prime numbers whose product is x Examples: primeFactorization( 6 ) == [2,3] primeFactorization( 5 ) == [5] primeFactorization( 12 ) == [2,2,3]

2nd question - Given an array of non-negative integers representing the elevations from the vertical cross section of a range of hills, determine how many units of snow could be captured between the hills.

 See the example array and elevation map below.
                             ___
         ___                |   |        ___
        |   |        ___    |   |___    |   |
     ___|   |    ___|   |   |   |   |   |   |
 ___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___
 [0,  1,  3,  0,  1,  2,  0,  4,  2,  0,  3,  0]
                             ___
         ___                |   |        ___
        |   | *   *  _*_  * |   |_*_  * |   |
     ___|   | *  _*_|   | * |   |   | * |   |
 ___|___|___|_*_|___|___|_*_|___|___|_*_|___|___
 [0,  1,  3,  0,  1,  2,  0,  4,  2,  0,  3,  0]

 Solution: In this example 13 units of snow (*) could be captured.

2) Implement computeSnowpack() correctly. 3) Consider adding some additional tests in doTestsPass(). trapping rainig water question basically.

Super day:

1st round: https://leetcode.com/problems/car-pooling/description/ https://leetcode.com/problems/find-the-winner-of-the-circular-game/description/

2nd round: https://leetcode.com/problems/rotting-oranges/description/ https://leetcode.com/problems/single-threaded-cpu/description/

3rd round: DSA - Everytime somebody comes to the website, we write a record to a log file consisting of TimeStamp, PageId, CustomerId. At the end of the day we have a big log file with many entires in that format. And for every day we have a new file. Now, given two log files (from day 1 and day 2), we want to generate a list of loyal customers that meet the criteria of a) they came on both days, and b) they visited at least two unique pages

singleton class implementation Abstract vs interface. When we prefer abstract class ArrayList/linked list When we prefer array list and linked list Static Process vs thread Design pattern used Singleton class Ci/cd process How Build process happen Unit testing.. Which library? Write Unit testing for a class for database connection. Which java version and it's features

HM round: Discussion on projects on resume. Sdlc process Standard behavioral questions Why leave current company? Why GS? Situation based questions like

1. If an important client want some information about the other competitors. Then what you will do in this situation?
2. If your colleague work in remote location and sent you the completed work. But the work is not relevant to the project than what you will do in this situation?

Verdict: Selected.

Compensation - https://leetcode.com/discuss/post/6834428/goldman-sachs-analyst-bengaluru-selected-6pew/

other interview exp - https://leetcode.com/discuss/post/6834384/all-interview-experiences-switch-journey-vpu1/

Hello Everyone,

I recently had online assessment and codepad for goldman sachs. Solved both questions with all test cases passed. Moved to next stage got results in couple of hours after interview.

Codepad.

1.This is easy question. How ever it's more about how you answer and provide solution.

https://leetcode.com/problems/first-unique-character-in-a-string/description/

2. Meduim Question based on the String. we need to find distance between the two words.

String word = "Hello this is a leetcode" word1 = "this" word2 = "is"

so calculate median distance like this -> 4/2, is -> 2/1

so start with 2 for word1 and "is" word2. Distance is 3.

How ever code is already present we need to figure out the bugs and fix them. It's more of collaboration round.

I already cleard GS Associate few years back and giving the interview again.

I applied through a referral and got hackerrank link on March 30th and completed on that day.

Questions on Hackerrank test (Round-1):

1. Decode ways question : https://leetcode.com/problems/decode-ways/
2. Some Dp question involving coin denomination, don't remember exactly.

I was able to complete both questions with all test cases passing.

On April 7th, Hr scheduled Coder pad round and in this round I was able to code both questions optimally and got few followups for few test cases as well.

Questions asked on coder pad round(Round-2):

1. https://leetcode.com/problems/robot-bounded-in-circle/description/
2. https://leetcode.com/problems/trapping-rain-water/description/ with some modifications.

After a week I got a call from hr for the next round and it happened on 24th april. In this round I was asked one dsa question related to Graphs and i was able to come up with brute force approach and not able to optimize it. Later I was asked HLD of an e commerce website had discussion around what are different microservices i would require, what db i'm going to choose and tradeoffs and asked to write code for login page of the ecommerce website.

Exact Dsa question asked: You are given an array of objects, where each object contains the following properties:

name: a string representing the name of the object.

parentId: an integer representing the ID of the parent object. If the object has no parent, this value is null.

id: an integer representing the unique ID of the object.

Your task is to create a method that generates all possible paths from the root objects (objects with no parent) to the leaf objects (objects with no children). Each path should be represented as a list of names, starting from the root object and ending at a leaf object.

Example

Given the following array of objects:

List nodes = Arrays.asList(

new Node("A", null, 1),

new Node("B", 1, 2),

new Node("C", 1, 3),

new Node("D", 2, 4),

new Node("E", 3, 5)

{'1': ['2','3'],'2' :['4'],'3':['5']}

{'1':[{'2':[4]},{'3':[5]}]}

);

The method should return the following paths:

[

["A", "B", "D"],

["A", "C", "E"]

]

Constraints

The array of objects will not contain any cycles.

Each object will have a unique id.

The array may contain multiple root objects.

Objective

Implement the method findPaths that takes a list of Node objects and returns a list of paths, where each path is a list of names from the root to a leaf.

Next day I got call from hr and mentioned i will have two interviews on the same day and due to unavailability of me and panel it got postponed to may 7th.

Round-3: In this interview they asked about my current project details, what i have implemented, why we used certain things and later i was asked about what design patterns were used in my project. We had discussion around Factory design pattern, what is the necessity of factory design pattern and asked about singleton design pattern as well. Later I was asked two dsa questions and i was able to solve one completely and other one started with brute force and got to optimal approach,interviewer satisfied with my approach but didn't get enough time to code.

Dsa questions asked in this round:

1. https://leetcode.com/problems/backspace-string-compare/description/
2. https://leetcode.com/problems/first-missing-positive/

Due to some internet issue, next round that is supposed to happen on the same day got rescheduled to 13 th may.

Round-4: In this round, had discussion around my resume about my previous and current projects and discussed how we handle negative scenarios in my project and asked to write singleton design pattern first i write normal lazy instantiaion code, later i was asked to write without using synchronized keyword and i'm not aware of it. Had some questions about runnable and callable. What is synchronized keyword and some questions related to it. Was asked to design a system which will need to display all rows in a table in real time and in the db we will have millions of rows. I was also given a question related to strings, which i don't remember exactly and i'm unable to solve that.

After Round 4 I got call from Hr mentioning ,you will have final tech plus hiring manager round which was scheduled on May 19th. Round-5 (Final Technical plus Hiring manager round): In this round , had discussion around my resume, projects and standard questions like why are you looking for a change, why GoldmanSachs. Later it shifted to technical side and I was given this code and asked identify the possible bug .

public int add (int a,int b){
    int c = a + b;
    return c;
}

We discussed around overflow possibility and he asked to me write code to prevent it and throw an error, i was little nervous in this round and not able to write completely and the next question is to write generic max method which will take a class and returns the max value specified by the client, I didn't understand the question exactly after multiple followups and due to my nervousness, i'm unable to complete the code for this question. Next question was what data structures you will use and how do you handle if you have resturant and you want to maximize the staff utilization for taking orders from resturants, you will have customers, waiters, chefs.The goal is to maximize the staff utilization by the resturant. My approach is using queues and didn't answered properly how we can use threadpool after using queues to maximize the utilization and screwed up the interview. Later asked one behavioral question.

After so much preparation due to my nervousness I screwed up my last round and got rejected.

#GoldmanSachs #InterviewExperience #BestOfluck

I recently had a coderpad round for a Software Engineer position at Goldman Sachs. The interview was conducted via Coderpad and took place in June 2025. It covered a range of topics, starting with behavioral questions, then moving to a data processing task, and finally, a more complex algorithm problem involving time intervals and prices.

Hi folks,

I had my coderpad round with Goldman sachs two days back, I was asked two questions:-

1. Find the maximum number of non-overlapping activities, given their start and end times
2. Given a source and destination, print all the stations in the shortest path between them.

I was able to solve both the questions with optimized solutions.

I was asked two questions during my Goldman Coderpad interview. For Q1, I discussed it a lot but was unable to come up with a solution. For Q2, I moved to it when only 10 minutes were left. A power cut occurred at my end, and when I re-joined, the interviewer asked me to return to Q1.

Goldman Sachs Coderpad Interview -> I was asked two questions

1. Given a 2D grid, each cell has a item which has value >=0, we are standing at bottom left cell of the grid and need to reach top right cell. We can travel in right and up direction. E.g.

0 0 5 0 1 0 2 0 1
Ans : 8

2. A popular online retailer allows vendors to specify different prices in advance for the same item throughout the day. We now need to design an algorithm that helps identify the lowest price for the item at any point of the day.

Assumptions:

For the algorithm, assume all vendors are selling the same product and there is only one product being sold. Given a list that has vendor information - ( startTime, endTime, price ) of the deal, return a sorted list with different possible intervals and the least price of the product during the interval.

The interval is inclusive of start and end time.

All the 3 values passed by the vendor are integers.

sampleInput = { new Interval( 1, 5, 20 ), new Interval( 3, 8, 15 ), new Interval( 7, 10, 8 ) }; expectedOutput = { new Interval( 1, 3, 20 ), new Interval( 3, 7, 15 ), new Interval(7,10,8)};

I solved first question starting with brute force recursive approach and was able to pass all the test cases. Then I was telling optimized solution by memoization and bottom up tabulation but interviewer said brute force is fine and moved to 2nd Question. For 2nd question I was not able to solved it completely interviewer was friendly and gave me hints after hints I was able to write code completely but was not able to run it as time was over. Interviewer was pushing me to write production level code eg. appropriate variable names, function names for eg. I used i, j for row , column for 1st question he asked me to change it to row, column.

After 3 days I got email for Superday. My superday had 3 rounds of 45 mins each.

1. Data Structures and Algorithms -> 2 Interviewers joined the call. Started with introduction. Then asked role specific questios like 1) How will you setup mongoDB cluster? 2) How will you configure your application for MongoDB using Springboot. DSA question asked was as follows :-

1. List indicating a book. Each element in the list represents one page of the book. The page is space delimited.
2. List Glossary word list

Output: Create a glossary for each word in the glossary list which indicates page numbers where the word occurs.

I was able to solve this question. Then as time was still left so they asked question what if you have huge data and limited CPU RAM how will your sort the data? -> I told merge sort and discussing on the same.

2. Resume Depth - Interviewer grilled on resume. I struggled to answer few questions like I worked on TOCTOU issue and for resolving this issue I used atomicOperation. Then interviewer went to underlying details of atomic operations how it works and how will you implement atomic operation function and then taking this question to hashMap about how will handle concurrnecy in hashMap? I was not able to answer this question thoroughly.

3. Design and Architecture round - > I was asked Design Rate Limiter. I was able to design but at the end while discussing about scalability I failed to answer one question which what will you if your redis cache is out of memory? I knew concept of data sharding but got blank not able to answer it properly.

I got rejection email after 3 weeks.

Coderpad round: 60mins

Question-1 Find kth largest element. Gave heap solution. Satisfied with the approach. asked for TC and SC.

Question-2:

Given a 2D grid, each cell has a item which has value >=0, we are standing at bottom left cell of the grid and need to reach top right cell.So we need to reach from r-1,0 to 0,c-1 with maxValue. used DP. asked TC and SC.

Super Day:

Round-1: Software Engineering Principles (45 mins): Resume grilling mostly on my work-ex. Last 10 mins asked for Parking Lot LLD. Due to time crunch, wasn't able to frame my approach properly but gave the design.

Round-2: DSA

Question-1: Design data structure that stores an object that has following: Unique-Id-String Version- Integer From - TimeStamp To - TimeStamp

When a new version is inserted, last version To date should be updated to latest version from date and then latest veersion should be inserted.

Took about 30 mins to solve this as the question given was very vague and I had to ask all clarifying questions to give correct data structure.

Due to time crunch question-2 only approach was asked.

Question-2:

Given 3 category of people (lets say a,b,c) and no. of people of each category. Form max number of teams of 3 people such that no team contains all people from same category.

Ex: a = 2, b=1, c=3 Team-1: c c a Team-2: a b c so answer = 2; Gave greedy approach.

Round-3: Final Hiring Manager/Team round: Resume grilling

Hiring Manager Round (30 mins):

Asked few questions from resume

Few HR questions:

1. Give a project where you are pruod of youself.
2. You had more than one high priority tasks, how do you handle this situation.
3. Why GS?
4. Why are leaving your current company?

Verdict: Got the offer

Hey LeetCoders! 👋

I recently interviewed for the Java Associate role at Goldman Sachs, and I wanted to share the list of Java-focused core questions that were asked during my interview. These questions test both conceptual clarity and hands-on experience with Java.

YOE : 4.5 yrs
Current Role : SDE 2
Location : Bangalore

Here’s a list of the questions that were asked:

1. What is immutable in Java?
2. How does PriorityQueue work in Java?
3. Define an immutable class.
4. How is String immutable in Java?
5. Define a singleton class.
6. What is a functional interface?
7. What are the different types of functional interfaces?
8. What is a stream in Java?
9. What is the difference between final, finally, and finalize in Java?
10. What is the use of finalize() method?
11. What is the purpose of a singleton class?
12. What is the internal working of HashMap and HashSet?
13. How does HashSet store unique values?
14. What is the difference between DELETE and TRUNCATE in SQL?
15. What are ACID properties in the context of databases?
16. How can we define a method inside an interface?
17. Which keyword is used to define a method in an interface (Java 8 onwards)?

🔍 Your Turn!
If you know the answers or have been asked similar questions in interviews, drop your responses in the comments! Let’s help each other grow. 🙌

💬 Also, feel free to add your own Goldman Sachs interview questions in the thread!

Happy coding! 💻
#Java #InterviewExperience #GoldmanSachs #JavaInterview #LeetCode

Let me know if you’d like to add an intro about your background or tailor this for LinkedIn as well.

I interviewed for Goldman Sachs for Associate level in March, 2025.

Education - Circuital branch, top IIT.

Experience - 2.8 years experience Past Company - SDE2 at Product Based Company (26.4 base + 2.6 Bonus) LPA. Had ESOPs.

Process -

Got a message from recruiter on linkedIn. Applied without referral.

Screening round - DSA - Two easy questions. Solved both. One was on hashmap little logic building, another on reversing linked list. They made me run both code on coder pad with few test cases.

Had next four rounds on the same day - Super Day. Initially they scheduled 3 rounds, post the result they scheduled the 4th one in evening.

Round1: 2 DSA problems, both around trees. One medium other one LC Hard(Both were on BST, had some discussions around 1st question on optimizing return , the other one involved finding LCA and some further solving). Round2: 1 LLD and questions around HLD - This round wasn't that great for me (fumbled a bit in few HLD questions). LLD - LRU cache. The interviewer tried to dig deep in whatever I said, so I chose to not answer questions I was not sure of. HLD was mostly related to how we optimize writes in DB, around replication, archival, scaling and indexing of DB. Round3: Mostly HLD case study regarding how you would approach a production issue. Had questions aroung my current experience, projects and their HLD and some related questions around possibilites of failure of production.

Had positive feedback from the rounds and was called for a final round with the hiring manager

Round4 - Hiring manager round - Was supposed to be a non technical round of 30 mins. Hiring manager still asked some design questions (mostly easy) along with a couple HR type ques. Answered all correctly.

Round5 - Behavioral round

Verdict - Got the offer. 36 LPA base + ~10 LPA bonus + 1.6L relocation + ESOP equivalency bonus (of current company for current FY)

My interview journey for the Analyst role at Goldman Sachs, with 0.7 years of experience, began with a referral from an Associate Software Engineer.

Round 1: HackerRank Online Assessment (90 minutes)

Round 2: CoderPad Live Coding (60 minutes)

Super Day (3 Rounds Back-to-Back, Each ~1 Hour Apart)

Round 3: Data Structures and Algorithms (60 minutes)

Round 4: Java and Software Engineering Principles

Round 5: System Design

Final Verdict

I applied through job portal after recruiter contacted me. Soon after, I recieved a Hackerrank test link.

Round 1: Hackerrank test There were 2 Leetcode medium difficulty questions.

Round 2: Coderpad round

1. Interviewer gave 2 questions to solve in Coderpad platform. Language was Java, although upon request I was allowed to code in C++.
   • https://leetcode.com/problems/merge-intervals/description/
   • https://leetcode.com/problems/climbing-stairs/description/
2. After solving he asked me if the code was production ready, and discussed the potential issues.

Next three rounds were held a week later, as part of the Superday. There's going to be 2 interviewers in the panel here onwards.

Round 3: DSA round

1. I was given two problems to solve.
   • https://leetcode.com/problems/best-time-to-buy-and-sell-stock/
   • You're given a number of Cars, Trucks and Activa's. Each takes a parking space of 2,3 and 1 respectively. You're also given an integer array having empty slots. Return whether its possible to park every vehicle in those slots.
2. Asked me about one of my projects in detail.
3. Advantages of using Springboot while design APIs.
4. Dependency injection. What is Singleton Bean. Design a class which acts like a Singleton bean.

I stuttered a bit while explaining Dependency injection, other than that everything went well.

Round 4: Software Engineering Practices

1. You're given an integer array. Write a program that shuffles the array in random fashion.
2. Thread and concurrency
3. Design Reddit

I couldn't solve the DSA problem. Also I mentioned I had no experience in working with threads so she didn't porceed with the question. Also struggled with the design problem but interviewer helped me through it. Asked me to write appropriate SQL queries along the way. I feel I messed up really bad in this round.

Round 5: Software Design and Architecture

1. Design Bus ticket management system.
   • Part 1: Different busses with routes and bus stops are mentioned. Design an optimal approach that will give us the number of options a passenger will have to chose a bus for one point to another.
   • Part 2: Available tickets are also added to the problem. As bus moves from one stop to another, available tickets keep changing. How to design such a scenario.
2. Design Google docs(in the form of an array), with features like snapshot. Should be space optimized to the fullest. I gave her 2 semi optimal approaches, but we couldn't discuss further as time was up.

This round was also good imo, I could answer almost all the queries. Could be better if there was more time.

Verdict: Rejected I did not recieve any mail or call from recruiter post this. In application portal it shows 'Application Turndown', so I guess this is it.