I recently had an interview opportunity for a Java Backend Developer role at KPMG India. The initial job description highlighted core Java and SQL as essential skills, which I had prepared for. However, during the process, it became evident that the team also extensively uses Spring Boot and microservices, which I feel ultimately contributed to me not being selected.

The entire interview process consisted of four distinct rounds:

Round 1 - Online Assessment

This round comprised three coding questions. Two were mandatory, and the third was optional but would carry weight in subsequent rounds.

• Mandatory Q1: Interface implementation. I was given a Building interface and asked to implement School and Hospital classes based on it. This was fairly straightforward.
• Mandatory Q2: An SQL question focusing on aggregation and grouping, which I found to be easy.
• Optional Q3: This was similar to Q1 but involved handling a few more edge cases.

Two days after the online assessment, I received an invitation for the first technical interview.

Round 2 - L1 Interview (1 hour 10 minutes)

This round was conducted over Microsoft Teams. It started with a discussion about my prior experience, delving into projects I've worked on.

Following the experience discussion, the interviewer moved on to technical questions:

• A Java stream-based question to find the 3rd highest number in a list of integers.
• A DSA problem: Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock.
• Another DSA problem: The Two Sum problem.
• A conceptual question: "What are marker interfaces?"
• Another conceptual question: "What is a functional interface?"

After a couple of days, the third round was scheduled.

Round 3 - L3 Interview (35 minutes)

This interview was shorter but quite intense. It began with a deep dive into my previous projects.

The technical questions in this round covered a broader range:

• A Java stream problem: Given a list of names (first name last name separated by space), count the occurrence of each last name using Java streams.
• A core Java concept: "Explain immutable classes."
• An SQL concept: "What are left outer joins?"
• Another SQL concept: "What are the differences between primary key and unique key?"
• A Spring framework question: "Describe the Spring bean lifecycle."
• Two scenario-based Java code snippet questions:
  1. Given Parent obj = new Child();, can obj be used to call a method exclusively defined in the Child class?
  2. If a parent method throws IOException, and an overriding child method declares to throw Exception (a broader exception), will it compile and run?

After approximately 3-4 days, my final interview with a Director was scheduled.

Round 4 - Director Level Interview (30 minutes)

This round was primarily focused on behavioral and HR-type questions. We discussed my prior experience, reasons for leaving my previous role, and my motivations for wanting to join KPMG. There was also a critical thinking question posed.

Following this round, I tried to reach out to HR for feedback, but I received no response. It's been over a week now, so I understand that I have been rejected, though a simple email or call would have been appreciated for closure. Nevertheless, it was a valuable experience.