Servicenow Interviews

Assessment Structure

I recently took the ServiceNow QA Intern Online Assessment, and honestly, I went in thinking it would be a straightforward, conceptual test like 'Tell me what Agile is'. However, the current job market must be incredibly competitive because the OA felt like I was interviewing for a full engineering role! It covered everything from HashMap scheduling and Selenium automation in Java to complex 3-table SQL joins, Jenkins pipelines, and even prompt-engineering test cases—all for an intern position.

It was both hilarious and incredibly humbling at the same time. I started as a student but finished the assessment feeling like the industry now expects interns to be proficient in coding, testing, deploying, automating, optimizing, debugging, and maybe also making coffee. Nevertheless, it was a very memorable and humbling experience.

HR reached out to me for an interview opportunity at ServiceNow. The interview process began with a Round 1. This round started with a 15-minute discussion about my resume and previous experience. Following that, for the remaining 45 minutes, I was given two Data Structures and Algorithms (DSA) problems to solve. I successfully solved both problems completely. A week later, I received an email stating that I would not be moving forward with other candidates.

I recently interviewed for a Staff Software Engineer role at ServiceNow. The process started with a Hiring Manager Screen, which lasted about 60 minutes. This round included some behavioral questions, discussions about my work experience, my role, and the impact I've made. I was also asked to solve 2-3 coding questions which were quite straightforward. I had to implement a linked list and add several APIs to support use cases such as removing all duplicates and reversing a sublist given start and end indices.

The onsite interviews consisted of multiple rounds:

• Coding Round 1: I faced 1-2 behavioral questions. The main coding problem was a stock question with follow-ups: Given a list of stock prices, I needed to find the maximum profit if at most 2 transactions were allowed. The interviewer wanted a recursive solution first, followed by an optimized version. The follow-up extended this to allow max 'k' transactions. This is a standard DP problem, and I explained a memoization approach using a HashMap as a cache instead of a 2D table.
• Coding Round 2: Again, there were 1-2 behavioral questions. The coding challenge involved a company hierarchy represented as a binary tree, where I had to find the most relevant common department, which translates to finding the Lowest Common Ancestor. We then discussed what if the tree was an n-ary tree and talked about various optimization techniques.
• System Design Round: This round started with 2 behavioral questions. The system design problem prompt was displayed on a whiteboarding tool. It described a complex system involving uploading, supporting multiple GET endpoints, and orchestration aspects. We delved into design choices, tradeoffs, scalability, and monitoring. A significant portion of the discussion revolved around security aspects and access controls. I noted that I didn't have deep expertise in security-related conversations, and the interviewer probed to gauge my understanding in this area, as the team was particularly focused on security.

I applied for the Staff Engineer position at ServiceNow in Hyderabad through LinkedIn, bringing 10 years of experience to the table.

Round 1: Technical Interview

This round began with questions about my current work and projects. For the DSA part, I was given a problem focused on finding disconnected components in a graph, which I successfully solved using DFS. The feedback from this round was positive.

Round 2: Technical Interview

The second round also started strong. I was asked a DSA problem to find the number of paths from the top-left to the bottom-right of a grid with obstacles, which I solved using DFS. Following this, we moved to System Design, where I was tasked with designing an analytics platform. The requirements included moving data from various sources like MongoDB and RDS to an OLAP database for analytical queries. We discussed data ingestion pipelines, ETL processes, and strategies for query optimization. I received positive feedback for this round as well.

Round 3: Technical Interview

Unfortunately, the third round did not go as smoothly. The interviewer seemed unprepared and lacked clarity on what they wanted to assess. They randomly asked questions about ACID properties and various database concepts, frequently jumping to new topics before I could fully complete my answers. About 20 minutes into the interview, they asked me to design a Web Crawler. I had practiced this problem before and knew the approach, but the interviewer wasn't actively listening to my proposed solution. Instead, they kept asking unrelated questions that didn't align with my design. Every time I tried to clarify the requirements, they would move on to the next question without fully understanding my point. Midway through, I started to lose interest and stopped engaging fully due to the disjointed nature of the discussion.

I applied for a Senior Software Engineer (SSE) position at ServiceNow through their careers website. With 6.3 years of experience, I moved to the first round, which was a 1-hour technical interview. During this round, I was presented with two coding challenges.

My interview process at Servicenow for the IC2 position consisted of four rounds. The first round focused on data structures and algorithms, where I was given two coding problems. The second round also involved DSA, along with some JavaScript conceptual questions. The third round included a string-based coding question and a discussion about my past experience. Finally, the fourth round was a system design interview followed by more behavioral questions and a review of my professional background. I was excited to receive an offer!

ServiceNow | Senior Software Engineer | Interview Experience

Applied via Referral Current: 6 YEO | PBC

Round 1: Asked questions about current work and projects Java Concepts Two DSA Problems i. Minimum Increment to Make Array Unique ii. Another question on array (I don't remember) Feedback - Positive

Round 2: Java Concepts DSA - Something similar to Stock Buy & Sell LLD - Design a book lending system Feedback - Positive

Round 3: Detailed discussion on projects and resume scanning Java Concepts HLD - Design a notification system - asked a lot of follow up questions related to tech that was not on my resume (He wanted to ask questions about the tech used in their system) Some behavioural questions Feedback - Negative (Obviously, HLD did not go well)

Got the worst HR, she didn't know anything about the focus areas of the interviews. When asked, said that she is not aware of these details. Post R3, HR ghosted me for 2 weeks. After multiple follow ups, I got the feedback.

Piece of advise: Make sure you have a tech recruiter in loop, not just a TA.

Posting these details here so that others can be better prepared.

Interview Process:

1. Online Assessment:

• 3 problems: Difficulty was LeetCode Medium, Medium & Hard.

2. Technical Round 1:

• Introduction & Resume Discussion (5 mins).
• Asked about AVL Tree.
• A linked list problem: Reverse two segments of a linked list.
• A math puzzle.

3. Technical Round 2:

• Introduction & Project Discussion (10 mins).
• Basic questions related to ML and JavaScript (5 mins).
• A DSA problem, a slight modification of Kadane's Algorithm.
• A DP problem, a variation of the Minimum Sum Path on a grid with 2 follow-ups.

4. Technical Round 3:

• Project Discussion and Development-related questions (10 mins).
• A string-related problem (25 mins).
• I was asked to implement all DSA problems and run them on an online compiler. Interviewers provided edge cases.

Result:

Selected

Compensation:

89K per month for 2 months.

Round1: https://leetcode.com/problems/smallest-subsequence-of-distinct-characters/description/ I could not come up with the optimal solution. Likely a Reject. Applied through Careers page.

Hi all,

YOE: 5 (Java) Current Location: Hyderabad

Round 1: Simple DP based questions https://leetcode.com/problems/unique-paths/description/ and the follow up https://leetcode.com/problems/unique-paths-ii/description/. Quesitons on the project from resume and a little dive on them

Round 2: HR told me it would be a Coding + System Design.

Interviewer started with AWS services based questions like if we an API and a lambda integrated with it and the API is experiencing high latency what can be the issue causing high latency if there is no issue on Lambda side. How would you optimise your API if we are not allowed to improve memory/performance on lambda side.

DSA Question: https://leetcode.com/problems/maximum-coins-from-k-consecutive-bags/ (Don't know how they selected the question :|) After the first read question seemed a little tricky. Started discussing a Brute Force Approach by using an array to store coins on each coordinate of number line. Interviewer asked to improve on the space complexity as it is mentioned in the question that the number line can be infinte. Tried optimising but could not code the approach that I came up with afterwards.

P.S.- Haven't heard back after this round but doesn't seem will pass this round

YOE: 4.5 Recruiter reached out directly.

Round 1: DSA 1st question was a variation of: https://leetcode.com/problems/string-compression-iii/description/ Had to implement a search functionality, did it with binary search 2nd Question: https://leetcode.com/problems/wiggle-subsequence/description/

Round 2: DSA+System Design 1st Question was a hard DP question. A variation of https://leetcode.com/problems/count-palindromic-subsequences/description/

2nd Question: Design Instagram.

Received positive feedback for both rounds, recruiter told the HM round will be scheduled soon but then ghosted.

Hi, I registered for Hackerrank challenge in ServiceNow Women Tech Hiring Challenge.

1st Round - OA(Online Assessment)
Duration - 105 minutes , No. of Questions - 3
There were total of 3 questions and all were coding problems.
First question was something related to Binary Trees which I was not able to solve.
Second question was there was a binary integer array was given and we have to flip it based on some condition. I don't remember exactly the question but I was able to solve it and there were some error I was resolving it but then time was up.
Third question was based on string it was quite easy I was able to solve it quickly.

After few days I got a mail confimation saying that I have cleared the OA round and I'm moved to next stage of the process.

My interview was scheduled within few days.

2nd Round - DSA Round

I was asked valid Sudko question I was not able to solve this.

Verdict - Rejected.

Hi, gave a coding interview round for service Now on 20th june for System Engineer and Senior System Engineer role

the test was conducted on hacker rank. Only one problem(not sure if their were others , was not able to solve this.)

Problem: Longest Subarray a subarray of array a is defined as a contiguous block of a’s elements having a length that is less than or equal to the length of the array. For example, the subarrays of array a = {1, 2, 3} are [1], [2], [3], [1, 2], [2, 3], and [1, 2, 3].

Given an integer k = 3, the subarrays having elements that sum to a number ≤ k are [1], [2], and [1, 2]. The longest of these subarrays is [1, 2], which has a length of 2.

Given an array a, determine the longest subarray that sums to less than or equal to a given value k.

💼 HM Round Interview – JavaScript Deep Flatten + Type Grouping (with a Catch)

🔹 Part 1: Main Problem Asked

"You're given a deeply nested array with all kinds of values (numbers, strings, booleans, null, undefined, functions, symbols, objects).
Write a function that:

• ✅ Deep flattens the array
• ✅ Groups elements by their JavaScript typeof
• ✅ Tracks the frequency count of each unique value within that type (This was the followup of the main question)

🔸 Sample Input:

const input = [1, 'a', [true, ['b', undefined], [{} , null]], () => {}, Symbol('x')];

🔸 Expected Output:

{
  number: { '1': 1 },
  string: { 'a': 1, 'b': 1 },
  boolean: { 'true': 1 },
  undefined: { 'undefined': 1 },
  null: { 'null': 1 },
  object: { '[object Object]': 1 },
  function: { '() => {}': 1 },
  symbol: { 'Symbol(x)': 1 }
}

🔹 Part 2: Follow-Up Challenge – Runtime Error & Fix

While implementing this, I hit a TypeError:

Cannot read properties of undefined (reading '1')

🐞 Root Cause:

if (!result[key]) {
  result[key] = {};
}

❌ Incorrect check — I was initializing based on key (the value),
but should have checked result[type] instead (the group).

✅ Corrected Code:

if (!result[type]) {
  result[type] = {};
}

🔍 Bonus Follow-Ups Asked:

• Why does typeof null === 'object'?
  → Legacy bug. I handled it using: item === null ? 'null' : typeof item.
• How did you stringify symbols safely for keys?
  → Used item.toString() for Symbol(x) values.
• What if you needed to keep raw values instead of string keys?
  → Suggested using a Map or { value, count } objects instead of stringified keys.

✅ Outcome:

Handled edge cases, debugging, and recursion with safe typing and clean grouping logic.

Both versions of the solution:

✅ 1. With Frequency Count

function deepFlattenAndGroupByTypeWithFrequency(input) {
  const result = {};
function recurse(arr) {
for (const item of arr) {
if (Array.isArray(item)) {
recurse(item); // handle nested arrays
} else {
const type = item === null ? 'null' : typeof item;
const key = typeof item === 'symbol' ? item.toString() : String(item);
    if (!result[type]) {
      result[type] = {};
    }

    result[type][key] = (result[type][key] || 0) + 1;
  }
}

}
recurse(input);
return result;
}

🔸 Output Example:

{
number: { '1': 2 },
string: { 'a': 2, 'b': 1 },
boolean: { 'true': 2 },
undefined: { 'undefined': 1 },
null: { 'null': 1 },
symbol: { 'Symbol(x)': 2 }
}

✅ 2. Without Frequency Count (Just grouping by type)

function deepFlattenAndGroupByType(input) {
const result = {};

function recurse(arr) {
for (const item of arr) {
if (Array.isArray(item)) {
recurse(item);
} else {
const type = item === null ? 'null' : typeof item;
    if (!result[type]) {
      result[type] = [];
    }

    result[type].push(item);
  }
}

}
recurse(input);
return result;
}

🔸 Output Example:

{
number: [1, 1],
string: ['a', 'a', 'b'],
boolean: [true, true],
undefined: [undefined],
null: [null],
symbol: [Symbol('x'), Symbol('x')]
}

Interview experience for Round 1 (R1) – ServiceNow IC2 position

Position: Software Engineer (IC2) Company: ServiceNow Round: R1 – Technical Coding + Concepts Background: I currently work as a Machine Learning Quality Engineer, prepping for a software engineer transition.

Round Format

• Live online technical round
• Topics: DSA, JavaScript, React, CS fundamentals
• Coding on a shared editor (JavaScript)

Questions & My Approach

1. Next Greater Element to the Right

• Question: Given an array, print for each element its next greater element to the right (or -1 if none exists). Example: [11, 13, 21, 3] → [13, 21, -1, -1]

• My Approach:

  • Explained both brute-force (O(n²)) and optimal stack (O(n)) solutions.
  • Implemented the monotonic stack solution in JavaScript—clean, commented, CP-style.
  • Discussed edge cases like decreasing sequences and duplicates.
  • Provided reasoning and time/space complexity.

2. First Missing Positive Integer

• Question: Given an unsorted array, find the smallest missing positive integer starting from 1, in O(n) time and O(1) space. Example: [2, 3, -7, 6, 8, 1, -10, 15] → 4

• My Approach:

  • Described classic O(n) in-place hashing (index marking) approach.
  • Walked through a dry run, showed how negatives and out-of-bounds numbers are handled.
  • Wrote JS function signatures and code.
  • Highlighted edge cases (no 1 present, fully continuous arrays, all negatives).
  • Explained why this approach meets O(n)/O(1) requirements.

3. JavaScript & React Concepts

• Promises:

  • Explained promise states (pending/fulfilled/rejected), usage, chaining, and async/await.

• Callbacks:

  • Discussed as arguments for async ops, in React (event handlers, child-to-parent comm), and array methods.

• useEffect & useMemo:

  • Gave clear definitions, syntax, use cases, and sample code.
  • Explained when and why to use each for performance and side effects.

4. JS Fundamentals

• call, apply, bind:

  • Compared usage, argument passing, and context binding.

• Private Variables/Closures:

  • Demonstrated classic closure and ES6+ class fields.

• IIFE:

  • Explained syntax, use cases for local scope/data privacy.

• Hoisting:

  • Clarified what’s hoisted, difference between var/let/const, TDZ.

• Synchronous vs. Asynchronous:

  • Explained default JS sync nature, async via event loop/callbacks/promises.

5. Closure Coding Challenge

• Task: Implement a closure-based counter so each call returns the next increment.

• Solution:

  • Wrote a factory function returning an inner function that remembers a private counter.

How I Approached the Round

• Explained my thinking before coding, highlighted time/space tradeoffs.
• Used CP-style variable names and code structure.
• Gave edge cases, reasoning, and small dry runs for clarity.
• Related answers back to real ServiceNow product scenarios (edge-case bugs, async APIs, UI interactions).

Overall Impression

• Questions were practical, relevant, and tested core understanding.
• Clear communication and explaining the "why" as well as the "how" was appreciated.
• Prepping with LeetCode, React core, and real-world debugging scenarios helped a lot.

Hi everyone, I recently interviewed at ServiceNow for the Software Engineer (IC2) role at their Hyderabad office. Here’s a quick breakdown of the process:

🔹 Round 1: DSA Jump Game II

Minimum Number of Swaps to Make the String Balanced

🔹 Round 2: DSA + HLD Remove K Digits

Merge Two Sorted Lists (without extra space)

One basic high-level design question. Good discussion overall.

🔹 Round 3: Hiring Manager Situation-based and behavioral questions

Discussion on past work

DSA variation of Majority Element (More then 3 distinct elements)

One HLD problem

🔸 Hiring Paused After this round, hiring was paused for the team I was interviewing with. HR contacted me after ~10 days and asked if I’d like to interview for a different team. I agreed.

🔹 Round 4: DSA + DB Design Modified Maximal Square (with coordinates)

One database design question

🔹 Round 5: DB Design + DSA Basic DB schema design

Valid Parentheses

✅ Final Outcome Got the offer in May 2025.

🙋‍♂️ About Me 2.5+ years experience

Tier-1 college

Product-based background

Compensation Detail Let me know if anyone has questions! Happy to help 😊

I don't know how to comment while staying anonymous.

1. I had applied and forgotten about it, but after a few months, the HR reached out to me, I’d say it was pure luck.
2. I don't know the exact team.

Company : Service Now Location : Hyderabad YOE : 5.6 years Position : Senior Software Engineer (IC3) - Full stack Engineer

Round 1 - Coding

Question 1 : Leetcode 11. Container With Most Water

Solved it using standard 2-pointer solution for this problem

Question 2 : ⁠⁠Given 2n numbers, check if we can divide them into n pairs with each pair containing same element : Eg. [3,2,3,2,2,2] - [3,3], [2,2],[2,2] - Return true

Used a set and looped through the array and inserted the element if it does not exist in set and removed the element from set if it exists already. Returned true if set is empty at the end.

Few questions on Javascript :

-> Output based questions around Promises, setTimeout, this keyword, || operations on different data types.

Answered all these questions correctly

Open ended design based question :

Design database schema and APIs for handling Credit and Debit transations in a bank

This section went well too as I incorporated all the follow up questions in my design

Round 2 - Coding

Question 1 :

Akash wants to distribute candies on his birthday. There are A people and he has two types of candies. B candies of the first type and C candies of the second type.

He wants to distribute candies in such a way that no person has candies of both types and each person has at least one candy.

Let X denotes the minimum candies among all people after distribution of candies.

Find the maximum X.

Eg. A=4 B=4 C=5

Output = 2

Solved it using binary search over range of possible valid answers. Interviewer was satisfied with the approach, sample test cases passed.

Question 2 :

Given an array A, find the nearest smaller element G[i] for every element A[i] in the array such that the element has an index smaller than i.

More formally, G[i] for an element A[i] = an element A[j] such that j is maximum possible AND j < i AND A[j] < A[i]

Elements for which no smaller element exist, consider the next smaller element as -1.

A = [1, 6, 5, 9, 10, 8, 11, 10] Output = -1 1 1 5 9 5 8 8

Proposed brute force initially and then improvised it using stack.

Round 3 - System Desgign (UI)

Design a configurable/Reusable table component - Discussion was more around what things I will be considering to make it as flexible as possible, how would the contract look like, handling complex cells in the table etc.

Overall went well, discussion felt healthy.

After these rounds, I was told that this position got cancellend and was told I was being mapped to a different position open with another team for which I have to give another round of system design and coding round since that team wanted it. Usually service now has 2 coding, 1 system design and 1 hiring manager rounds but had to given additional rounds due to this change

Round 4 - System Design

Build a messaging service - Design APIs, Database schema and Queries, basic code to process certain pieces of logic in these APIs etc

Overall went well, it felt like interviewer seemed satisifed at the end.

Round 5 - Coding

721. Account Merge

Solved it brute force using two hashmaps initially and then proposed and wrote pseudo code using dfs and interviewer looked okay at the end

Round 6 - Hiring Manager (US) General discussion about my experience, their team, and surprisingly a coding question :

227. Basic Calculator

Something similar to this but input won't have extra spaces. I did not have to solve it entirely, had to discuss the approach and it was a friendly discussion.

Round 7 - Hiring Manager (India)

General discussion about working culture, career, my past experience and projects.

Finally received the offer. Compensation details here - https://leetcode.com/discuss/post/6660684/servicenow-senior-software-engineer-ic3-22guq/

It was little exhausting as I had to give same rounds multiple times. I felt I was lowballed in the offered compensation especially after clearing so many rounds and servicenow compensation standards.

But having an offer after months of search finally feels like a relief.

Hi everyone,

I recently appeared for a ServiceNow interview.

First Round: DSA + My Previous Work

Second Round: DSA + My Previous Work

Third Round: HM Round

About Me:

1.HR Screening

2.PS/DSA
    1.Longest subarray of zero Sum
    follow up : Print subarray
    2. Zig zag traversal of Binary Tree

Solved with in 30 mins and discussed work culture in servicenow

Final Verdict: Rejected

Applied to ServiceNow via Referral, got a call as I was an immediate joiner. Total experience - 4.5 years

Round 1 - 60 mins

• Initial 20 mins -
  • Discussion and cross questions on my current project.
  • Questions about Design patterns - specially Singleton Design Pattern, how can we break Singleton pattern, how to make it thread safe, what are reflection APIs
  • Few Scenario based questions on Multithreading.
• Next 40 Mins -
  • 2 DSA Questions - Longest Palindromic Substring, Course Schedule
  • Expectation was to have complete working code.

Rejected in round 1 as I could solve first question full but 2nd question partially(few TCs were failing).

Round 1

1. Coding: Search for a value on a row and column sorted 2d matrix.
2. Short discussion on a past project.
3. Discussed approach for the below:

   // Given a log file, each log consists time stamp, user name, message. Output top N users in descending order of total no of words used.
   // Ip: 10.10 John ABC def
   // 10.11 Marie ABC
   // 10.20 Marie Q W E
   // 10.23 John ABC def
   // N = 1
   // M
   // Op: [(John, 4)]
   // Also parse log function is given which takes input as log file path, and then returns List of users and their word counts
   // [(John, 2), (Marie, 1), (John, 2)]
   

Round 2

1. Coding:
   
   Variation of https://leetcode.com/problems/longest-consecutive-sequence, but for prime numbers. Still expected O(n) 🙂

   Length of Longest Consecutive prime Subsequence in unsorted array
   eg: arr[] = {36, 41, 19, 56, 35, 44, 13, 33, 17, 29, 34, 11, 92, 43, 23, 32, 42}
   11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29 -> 6
   N <= 10^7
   0 <= arr[i] <= 10^7
   
   
   Unique numbers
   unsorted
   

   Sieve not allowed due to the space it takes. Expected complexity of the driver algorithm - O(n). I don't really think a solutions exists.
   
   After some time, he mentioned we can assume we have a method that returns the next prime number for a given prime number in a very efficient way.
2. Last few mins discussion on LLD of BookMyShow for movies in India.

Verdict

Hi all,

My exp: 5.10 (Java) Current Location: Bangalore

Round 1 & Round 2: Easy to medium level DSA questions (dont remember but pretty solvable) Feedback: Positive (no negative details)

Round 3: Interviewer grilled me on technical topics.

1. He started with Databases - I aforementioned I barely worked at Database level, written basic queries to fetch data - he skipped the topic completely (feedback was candidate lacked DB knowledge)
2. Then he asked question like producer and consumer where producer produces events (timestamp, userid, msg) in unordered way. Consumer consumes them and once the batch reaches 100size sorts and prints. I gave him working solution (feedback was solution was incomplete but acceptable)
3. When a user hits 100 requests at a time what happens on the server, how they are processed in your springboot application? (please share your answers)
4. How do you limit amount of data size in request? I said I use page no and size in the request. He asked me to show it and I have shown.
5. What measures will you take for the scenarios when the service you call not responds for some reason like timeout? I said Circuit breaker pattern
6. Grilled me about Circuit breaker - How it helps? You can use error response 500 to understand that service failed but why do you need circuit breaker etc. I have answered the advantages (please share your answers too)
7. Where you deployed your services? I used different platforms - OCP, Cloud like AWS etc

Overall feedback - just average (Candidate has good problem solving skills. Technology is poor - answered all but barely scratched the surface etc.)

My experience is that the cross questions were unclear. He asked on a very high level which are very difficult for me to interpret what was he expecting as an answer.

Have HM round scheduled tomorrow. Any suggestions on how to do in that round are welcome. My recruiter mentioned if HM goes well, most likely will get offer.

I will keep you posted

Update: Round 4: HM Round He politely spoke throughout the interview. Started off with a coding problem - min swaps to balance parenthesis. I did not solve the problem before but know using stack to check balanced/unbalanced parenthesis. I maintained a count of unbalanced ones but it did not give min swaps. Then I digged with other examples and found the logic. Interviewer also had participated in solving the problem. Finally got the solution. Other topics:- Microservices and REST API - what are they and differences? Authentication Statelessness Talk about previous project with Microservices

Feed back: Positive (not received detailed feedback yet)

Edit: Forgot to mention that there was another HM round after Round 1 & 2. Interviewer asked some managerial questions like how do you know and why do you want to join etc. Then a palindromic substring question and newsfeed systemdesign. I was not able to solve coding question completely. We discussed the design on high level where she asked a few questions and I clarified. But the feedback was design not good, can consider for IC2.

Details of Compensation: here

Round 1: Focus on DSA

The first round concentrated on Data Structures and Algorithms.

• I was asked to find the Next Greater Element (NGE) for every element in a given array.
• There was another medium-level problem that involved typical DSA concepts, but I don't recall the exact question.
• A problem was presented involving trains at a railway station with varying arrival times, some cancelled or delayed. The interviewer asked which data structure would be most suitable for solving this and why.
• Finally, I was asked for my approach to solving the Coin Change problem.

Round 2: DSA + HLD

The second round combined DSA with High-Level Design.

• One question involved reconstructing a normal Binary Search Tree (BST) given its postorder traversal.
• I was also given a High-Level Design problem related to Swiggy, where they wanted to assess my understanding of HLD and its practical application.

Round 3: Hiring Manager

The final round was with the Hiring Manager.

• I was asked to design a database for a hotel booking system, specifically mentioning OYO DB Design.
• Additionally, I had to provide an efficient approach to solve the classic Stock Buy and Sell Problem.

I am pleased to share that I was selected for the role.

My interview journey at ServiceNow for the Associate Software Engineer role comprised four distinct rounds: an Online Test, two Technical Rounds, and a final Technical + Manager Round.

Round 1: Online Test on HackerRank (2 DSA + 1 SQL)

This round was conducted on HackerRank with a time limit of 105 minutes. It included two Data Structures & Algorithms (DSA) questions and one SQL question. I was informed that those who solved all three questions received interview invitations.

Round 2: Technical Interview 1

This round was exclusively focused on DSA and a discussion of my resume. For the first 15 minutes, we discussed projects mentioned on my resume. The interviewer asked basic questions about problem statements, definitions of libraries and tech stacks used, and real-life applications of my projects. The DSA question asked was LeetCode 572. Subtree of Another Tree, where I was expected to present different approaches along with their time and space complexities, from brute force to optimal solutions.

Round 3: Technical Interview 2

This round primarily focused on easy Data Structures and Algorithms (DSA), Object-Oriented Programming (OOPs) concepts, and Puzzles. I faced multiple DSA questions and then some OOPs theory. Towards the end, the interviewer presented two puzzles; I managed to solve one, but the other posed a greater challenge.

Round 4: Technical + Managerial Interview

This final round combined a brief description of my projects and past experiences with a managerial evaluation. In the technical discussion, I was asked the reasons behind choosing each project and selecting specific libraries and frameworks. For the managerial discussion, questions revolved around how I take inputs from managers, where I envision myself in the next 5 years, and my interests in tech and hobbies.

My journey began with an introductory call from a recruiter who discussed my background, previous experience, the role's details, and compensation expectations. After confirming alignment, they informed me that another HR representative would assist with scheduling.

Approximately 10 days later, my first technical round was scheduled:

Problem Solving Round

This round focused heavily on problem-solving skills and the rationale behind choosing specific algorithms. The interviewer was less interested in perfectly working code and more in my thought process and a draft solution. I was presented with two coding challenges and one behavioral question:

Miscellaneous Round with Staff Engineer

Immediately after clearing the first round, HR contacted me to schedule the next round, which happened two days later. This round with a Staff Engineer touched upon a wide range of topics, with the interviewer emphasizing that he was evaluating my problem-solving approach rather than just the final solution. We discussed a coding problem, its extensions, and several system design and conceptual questions:

Miscellaneous Round with EM

After a week, HR informed me I had cleared the Staff Engineer round and scheduled the next round for the very next day. This round was with an Engineering Manager (not the hiring manager) and focused on my previous work experience, a deep dive into one of my past projects, and some Object-Oriented Programming (OOPs) concepts.

Techno-Behavioral Round with HM

Two days later, HR called again to confirm I had cleared all three technical rounds, and the final round with the Hiring Manager was scheduled for the following day. This round involved extensive discussions about my previous work, expectations from the company and the role, and ensuring mutual alignment. I was also asked a system design question:

All my rounds proceeded well, and I consistently received positive feedback. However, despite this, I eventually received a generic rejection email, which felt similar to a rejection during the resume screening phase. I've observed this pattern with other candidates too, which I believe is an inefficient use of time and resources for both candidates and the company, potentially impacting the company's reputation.

I recently interviewed for the SSE position at ServiceNow, which consisted of two rounds, primarily focusing on Data Structures and Algorithms.

Round 1: This round involved solving two DSA questions. I was asked to implement solutions for Spiral Matrix and Number of Islands. I successfully solved both problems and was advanced to the next round.

Round 2: In this round, I was presented with a custom array partitioning problem. Despite my efforts, I was not able to clear this round and received a rejection. A key takeaway from my experience is that they place a significant emphasis on the correctness and output of solutions in each round.

I applied for a position at ServiceNow through LinkedIn and was contacted by a recruiter after about three weeks. The interview process was structured incrementally, meaning I had to clear each round to progress to the next. I faced a total of three interview rounds.

Round 1 (DSA & Technical)
My first round focused on DSA and core technical concepts. The interviewer asked one DSA question, a Java-related question, and a simple SQL query. I was asked to swap numbers in a linked list, save employee data into a data structure ordered by salary using a comparator, and write a SQL query to sum salaries grouped by department and ordered descending. We also discussed my projects and Java concepts like exception handling. All questions in this round felt relatively easy.

Round 2 (DSA & Problem Solving)
The second round was more about problem-solving. I received another DSA question and a non-coding puzzle. The DSA task was to find the largest possible number by rearranging integers in a given array, which I found to be an easy-medium difficulty. The puzzle involved three mislabeled boxes (apples, oranges, both) and determining the minimum picks to correctly label them; the interviewer was particularly interested in my approach and logic.

Round 3 (DSA & LLD & Managerial)
The final third round combined DSA, Low-Level Design (LLD), and managerial aspects. It began with an LLD question similar to designing an MRU cache, where we delved into data structure choices, reasons, and complexity analysis. Following that, a DSA question involved finding an element with a minimum number of steps in an array where adjacent elements had a difference of 1. I managed to solve the DSA problem, but I felt the interviewer wasn't entirely satisfied with my LLD answer. Despite my reservations about the LLD, I was fortunate to receive an offer.

I recently had an interview for the SSE role at ServiceNow in February 2024. The session primarily revolved around Data Structures & Algorithms, where I was presented with a specific coding challenge. Despite my efforts, the outcome was a rejection.

Phase 1: Initial Phone Screening from HR

I started my interview process with an HR phone screen. During this call, we engaged in a comprehensive discussion about my current role and responsibilities, which successfully set the stage for the subsequent technical rounds.

Technical Phone Interview (Round 1)

This round was a technical deep dive, guided by a veteran senior quality engineer who maintained a calm demeanor throughout. We covered a wide array of topics to assess my technical acumen and problem-solving abilities:

1. I provided detailed insights into my daily activities, emphasizing my key responsibilities and achievements in my current role.
2. We discussed the role of Maven in managing project dependencies, and I highlighted its primary benefit in simplifying the build process.
3. I clearly distinguished between method overloading and overriding, demonstrating a solid understanding of object-oriented programming (OOP) principles.
4. I gave a detailed explanation of the structure of the test automation suite I had implemented, showcasing its organization and efficiency.
5. I justified the use of POM.xml over alternative methods, highlighting its advantages in managing project dependencies.
6. I successfully tackled the LeetCode medium-level problem 'Three Sum,' demonstrating my problem-solving skills.
7. I enumerated the significance and use cases of various TestNG annotation methods, such as `@AfterSuite`, `@BeforeSuite`, and `@AfterClass`.
8. I articulated the importance of assertions in testing and how they ensure the expected behavior of the code.
9. I described the Jenkins setup I had implemented and discussed possible improvements and additional functionalities for continuous integration.
10. I explained the implementation of parallel test case execution, demonstrating approaches to achieve scalability and efficiency in testing.
11. I shared strategies I've used to address challenges in finding XPath for certain test cases, displaying my problem-solving skills in web automation.
12. I clarified the nature of the automation suite I developed, categorizing it as BDD (Behavior-Driven Development), KDD (Keyword-Driven Development), and DOM-based.

Following this comprehensive round, I was pleased to receive an invitation for Round 2, which made me believe the interview went well!

Round 2 Interview

This round provided a further comprehensive understanding of various programming concepts and practical application scenarios, significantly enhancing my problem-solving skills and programming proficiency.

1. I was asked to differentiate between overloading and overriding, and I provided an example related to automation, explaining how method overloading could involve having multiple methods with the same name but accepting different types of locator strategies.
2. I debugged several provided Java code snippets, determining their output and explaining the behavior in scenarios involving `System.exit(0)` in a `try-finally` block, method overriding with exceptions in a class hierarchy, and the misuse of a `break` statement within a `try-finally` block.
3. I explained how error codes are typically utilized in APIs when a resource is not present, citing common examples such as 404 for 'Not Found' and 400 for 'Bad Request'.
4. I listed common HTML tags automated in web automation, such as `<input>`, `<button>`, and `<select>`, and briefly explained how they are automated using tools like Selenium WebDriver. I also detailed how iframes are handled in web automation by switching to the frame using Selenium's `switchTo().frame()` method before interacting with elements inside and then switching back to the default content.
5. I was asked to manipulate an array to group negative numbers to the left and positive numbers to the right, for which I presented a Java solution.
6. I outlined the essential components that should be included in a bug report, such as detailed steps to reproduce, expected vs. actual results, screenshots or logs, environment details, and severity/priority assessment.
7. I described the process of using a package from one project in another project using Maven, explaining that it involves specifying the dependency in the `pom.xml` file of the target project.
8. I discussed the considerations that should be taken into account when automating APIs using Newman, including factors like endpoint URL, request parameters, headers, authentication, response validation, error handling, and reporting.
9. I defined the concept of packages in programming, specifically in Java, explaining their use in organizing classes into namespaces to aid in better code management, modularity, and avoiding naming conflicts.

Round 3 Interview

This round was diverse, focusing on cloud management, Linux systems, and practical Java programming.

1. The first question focused on strategies for managing permissions within Google Cloud Platform (GCP). I discussed role-based access control (RBAC) and Google's Identity and Access Management (IAM) policies as effective means to control access to cloud resources.
2. I explained how to conceal a running process in Linux so that it doesn't occupy the terminal and persists even after closing the virtual machine (VM). I detailed how to achieve this using background processes, `nohup`, and `disown` commands to detach processes from the terminal.
3. I implemented a Java program to identify duplicate numbers in an array and print their frequencies. My program accurately calculated the occurrences of each duplicate number, providing insights into the frequency distribution within the array.
4. I discussed the significance of `sudo` privileges and how to become a `sudo` user in Linux, outlining the `sudo` command's usage and its role in executing commands with elevated privileges.
5. I explored methods for connecting to a remote Linux server, including the SSH (Secure Shell) protocol, highlighting SSH's encryption capabilities and its role in secure remote access.
6. I delved into the concept of public-key cryptography and its application in authenticating users to remote servers, explaining how public and private key pairs facilitate secure authentication without transmitting sensitive information over the network.
7. I demonstrated how to edit environment variables in Linux using commands like `export` and by editing configuration files such as `.bashrc` or `.profile`.
8. I provided insights into viewing existing environment variables in Linux through commands like `env` or `printenv`.
9. I shared methods for updating environment variables in Linux, emphasizing the importance of persistence across sessions and system reboots.
10. I confirmed my proficiency and comfort with using the terminal for various tasks, including file management, process control, and system administration.
11. We discussed my prior experience and contributions in previous organizations, highlighting relevant projects and achievements.

Round 4: Hiring Manager Conversation

The final round was a casual 30-minute conversation with the Hiring Manager, where we focused on topics related to the prospective team, work culture, and other general aspects of the role.

I received the final selection call from HR the next day and am currently waiting for the official offer.

I participated in a hiring drive in Hyderabad for an IC2 role. The interview process consisted of three main rounds:

Round 1

This was a written test (pen/paper) used for shortlisting candidates. The main question was based on tree data structures, specifically involving Depth-First Search (DFS).

Round 2

This round was conducted by a senior engineer. I was asked a few questions:

1. An easy array question (specifics not recalled).
2. To write code demonstrating inheritance concepts, including polymorphism.
3. A SQL query requiring a join (specifics not recalled).
4. A system design question focused on designing an efficient system to identify the top 5 most liked videos on YouTube, both across a specific region and worldwide.

Round 3

This was the Hiring Manager (HM) round. We had a good discussion for about 30 minutes regarding my current work, and he also explained details about his team. Following this, I was given a schema design question for a system somewhat similar to Uber. Based on my schema design, he asked a SQL query which again required a join.

I was given a verbal confirmation of my selection on the same day itself.

I went through a comprehensive interview process at ServiceNow for an IC2 role, which consisted of four distinct rounds.

Round 1: Data Structures & Algorithms

My first technical round focused on data structures and algorithms. I was presented with two problems: searching for a target in a rotated sorted array and recovering a binary search tree where two nodes had been swapped.

Round 2: Data Structures & Algorithms

The second technical round continued with more DSA challenges. I had to tackle problems related to finding the maximum element in a sliding window and making a deep copy of a linked list with random pointers.

Round 3: System Design

The third round was a dedicated system design interview. I was asked to design a parking lot system, covering both its Low-Level Design (LLD) and High-Level Design (HLD) aspects.

Round 4: Managerial Round

The final round was a managerial discussion, primarily centered around my past projects and professional experiences.

I am pleased to share that following these rounds, I received an offer for the position.

I had an onsite interview at Servicenow. In the first round, I was presented with two coding challenges. The first problem asked me to clone a linked list that also contained random pointers, and I needed to do this without using extra space. The second question was generally related to the sliding window technique. Unfortunately, my interview process concluded with a rejection after this round.

Hello, I'm sharing my interview experience with ServiceNow as a way to thank this platform for all the knowledge I've gained. I have 3 years of experience, holding a B.Tech in Computer Science from a tier-1 university in India, and was working as an Analyst at Oracle at the time. My interviews took place in Hyderabad on July 31st, 2020.

Round 1: Online Coding Assessment

Round 2: Data Structures & Algorithms

Round 3: Data Structures & Algorithms

Round 4: System Design

Round 5: Data Structures & Algorithms & System Design

Overall, the process was smooth, and I received quick feedback since all rounds happened on the same day. I felt very happy after answering every question, and I had productive discussions with the engineers from ServiceNow. They offer great employee benefits and good stock options.