Summary
I recently completed the Online Assessment for an SDE-2 role at Spinny, which involved solving two data structures and algorithms problems.
Full Experience
I participated in the Online Assessment round for the SDE-2 position at Spinny. The assessment comprised two distinct coding challenges. The first problem tested my ability to manipulate strings efficiently using a sliding window approach, while the second required dynamic programming and tree traversal knowledge to find the maximum downward path sum in a forest structure. I focused on optimizing my solutions for both time and space complexity during the assessment.
Interview Questions (2)
You are given a binary string s consisting only of '0' and '1', and an integer k. Return the length of the longest substring of s that contains at most k zero characters.
You are given: An integer array parent of length n, where parent[i] is the parent of node i, and -1 indicates that node i is a root. An integer array value of length n, where value[i] is the value of node i. The nodes form a forest (one or more trees). A downward path is a sequence of nodes starting at some node and moving only to its children repeatedly. Return the maximum sum of any downward path in the forest. The path can start at any node and end at any descendant of that node (not necessarily a leaf). Node values may be negative.
Summary
I had an interview for an SSE backend role at Spinny, which involved a mix of technical discussions and coding challenges, but unfortunately, I was ghosted by the recruiter after the initial rounds.
Full Experience
I recently interviewed for an SSE backend position at Spinny. The interview process started with an initial round lasting about 60 minutes. The first 10-15 minutes were dedicated to discussing my current and past professional experiences. Following this, the interviewer posed two discussion-based questions about architecture and database choices. After these discussions, I moved on to the coding segment, where the interviewer shared a LeetCode question link and asked me to share my screen. They even checked my submissions tab to ensure I hadn't already solved it. I was able to provide satisfactory solutions for both the coding problems presented. Despite what I felt was a good performance, I was unfortunately ghosted by the recruiter and did not receive any further calls for subsequent rounds.
Interview Questions (4)
The interviewer initiated a discussion comparing and contrasting Monolithic and Microservice architectures. I was expected to explain the advantages, disadvantages, and suitable use cases for each.
I was asked to explain the reasoning behind choosing MySQL over PostgreSQL in a specific scenario, likely pertaining to the company's tech stack. This involved discussing the pros and cons of both database systems relevant to the context.
The problem was to convert an integer to its Roman numeral representation. The standard LeetCode problem was provided.
The problem presented was based on a continuous data stream. I was given a stream of data from an online game portal, where each entry was structured as User_id, timestamp, score (e.g., U1, 12:00, 2; U2, 13:00, 3; U1, 13:02, 2; U2, 13:06, 1; U3, 14:03, 4). The task was to calculate the sum of scores within the last one hour (i.e., Current - 1hr).