Synopsys Interviews

My interview journey for the R&D Engineering role at Synopsys began with an initial online assessment, followed by three technical rounds and a final HR round. I'm a fresher with a BE in ETCE from a Tier 1 college.

Technical Round I

The first technical round was conducted by a mid-senior level employee and lasted about an hour. After a brief introduction, the interviewer presented two DSA questions. The first was a medium-level dynamic programming problem, a twisted variation of the classic coin change problem. I initially explained a brute-force recursive approach and then optimized it, coding the solution and performing a dry run. The second DSA question involved a binary tree problem, which was quite similar to the "Amount of Time to Infect a Binary Tree" problem on LeetCode. I described my approach, wrote the complete code, and executed a dry run with sample test cases. Additionally, I was asked several OOP questions, specifically whether a constructor or a destructor can be virtual, and was required to explain the reasoning behind my answers. The round concluded with a puzzle.

Technical Round II

Approximately an hour and a half, the second technical round was led by a senior-level engineer. After a self-introduction and a brief discussion about my first round experience, I was surprised with a real-life design problem instead of a typical algorithmic question. This problem focused on optimizing the declaration of a variable across several nested function calls to ensure maximum efficiency in terms of accessibility and performance. Despite initial nervousness, I gathered my thoughts and analyzed the problem. The interviewer asked for my chosen data structure and the rationale. I deduced that an n-ary tree could represent the situation, with each function call as a node. After detailing my approach, I coded the solution, demonstrating efficient variable declaration. Following this, I tackled a medium-level linked list question by explaining my approach and coding the solution. This round also ended with a logical puzzle.

Technical Round III

A week after the second round, I had my third technical interview, lasting about an hour and conducted by another senior-level engineer. It began with a self-introduction. The interviewer then delved deep into Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) concepts. I was asked to describe the four pillars of OOP—encapsulation, abstraction, inheritance, and polymorphism—providing suitable code examples for each. We then moved to more advanced topics such as the virtual table (vtable), the diamond problem, and complex questions on runtime polymorphism, which really tested my understanding and application. Later, a design-based problem was presented: a scenario about a 2010 survey on infected and healthy people. The challenge was to track changes over the years, given infection spread through acquaintances, and to identify the most appropriate data structure. I suggested using a graph to model the relationships and infection spread, explained my logic, and then coded the solution.

HR Interview

The final round was an HR interview, which took place after the third technical round. This interview primarily assessed my soft skills, cultural fit, and overall suitability for the R&D Engineering role within Synopsys.

Verdict: Selected

My interview experience for a QA Testing Internship at Synopsys, through their on-campus hiring, was structured into four distinct steps.

Step 1: Resume-based Selection

The initial phase involved a resume-based shortlisting, where my profile was evaluated.

Step 2: Coding Test on Codility

Following the resume selection, I proceeded to a coding test on the Codility platform. This test consisted of two main parts: ten multiple-choice questions focusing on Java, and one specific coding challenge. The coding problem was based on hashmaps, titled "Minimum Number of Steps to Make Two Strings Anagram".

Step 3: Technical Interview 1

My first technical interview started with a standard introduction. The interviewer then presented a coding question:

• Input: “12abc345def67ghi”
• Output: “12cba345fed67ihg”

We discussed the optimal solution in detail, covering its time complexity and various corner cases. My approach was verified through a dry run. Afterwards, we transitioned to theoretical questions:

• Questions on the types of Inheritance in Java.
• An in-depth discussion about my Machine Learning project that was listed on my resume.
• Several Operating System questions were also posed.

Step 4: Technical Interview 2

The final technical interview involved two interviewers. After our introductions, the discussion focused heavily on core Java and testing principles:

• I was asked to explain OOPS Concepts and the different types of polymorphism.
• I had to code examples demonstrating function overloading and overriding, explaining how these mechanisms are handled.
• We discussed the specific uses and differences between the super and this keywords in Java.
• The interviewers inquired about my understanding of testing and how I applied it in my Android application project.
• Questions about CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery) and the IDEs commonly used for testing were also covered.
• Finally, the concept of pipelines in testing was discussed.

I appreciate the opportunity to have gone through this interview process.