Summary
I interviewed for a Software Engineering Intern position at Hackerrank, advancing through two rounds focusing on my open-source work and system design challenges, but ultimately received a rejection.
Full Experience
My first interview experience for a Software Engineering Intern role began when I received an email inviting me directly to an interview with Hackerrank's CTO. This invitation was a direct result of my GitHub profile and past open-source contributions. After sending in my resume, I received a Calendly event to schedule a 20-minute interview with the CTO.
The interview with the CTO went really well. He asked me about my past open-source contributions, specifically what parts I had contributed to and how I implemented those features. I felt positive about this initial discussion.
Following this, I received a call and an email indicating a positive result, which led to the final interview with a Senior Software Architect. This second interview lasted about half an hour. During this round, the architect asked deep questions about React, focusing on its implementation aspects. We also discussed features Hackerrank was looking to implement and the best practices or approaches for applying specific features. A particularly tough question for me was: "How can we avoid the use of containers, when we are developing something similar to GitPod?" I found myself unable to answer this question effectively, and I suspect this might have led to my rejection for the SWE Internship.
The very next day, I received my rejection mail.
Interview Questions (2)
The interviewer asked about my past open-source contributions, specifically inquiring about which parts I contributed to and the implementation details of those contributions.
Given a scenario of developing something similar to GitPod, how could one approach this while avoiding the use of containers?
Preparation Tips
My journey to the interview began with my GitHub profile and open-source contributions, which caught their attention. For those aiming to build a strong GitHub portfolio, I'd suggest contributing to open-source projects relevant to your tech stack. Many popular repositories offer "good first issue" labels, which are excellent starting points for beginners. Understanding Git and GitHub is fundamental. I also leveraged tools like GitHub Readme Stats to display my contribution statistics, top languages, and to add other details like social icons and project links to my profile.