Summary
I applied through a referral and successfully cleared 4 rounds for an SDE 1 role at Ula in Bangalore, which included an Online Assessment, a Technical Round, a Managerial Round, and an HR interview, ultimately leading to an offer.
Full Experience
I applied for the SDE 1 role at Ula through a friend's referral. The entire interview process consisted of four rounds: an Online Assessment, a Technical Round, a Managerial Round, and an HR Round. After clearing the Online Assessment, HR contacted me to schedule the interviews for the following week.
1. Technical Round
This round was conducted by a third-party, "Interview-vector" team. A crucial point was that we had to implement and run our codes directly on LeetCode.-
Question 1: Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters
The interviewer asked me to explain my approach and dry run it with an example he provided. After the explanation, I implemented the code and discussed its time and space complexities. -
Question 2: Path With Maximum Gold
For this problem, I was asked to explain my approach and the logic behind it. After a successful dry run, I implemented the code, which ran successfully. We also discussed its time and space complexities.
After both questions, I was asked to copy my implemented codes and paste them into a Google Doc provided by the interviewer.
2. Managerial Round
A tech lead conducted this interview. He was very humble; he introduced himself, and then I introduced myself. He asked me about my current internship experience. The discussion moved to situation-based questions, such as challenges I've faced and my motivations for wanting to switch roles. He also asked two DSA questions:
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Question 1: Maximal Square
I was asked to think about the problem, explain my approach, and then dry run it on a given example. Once he was satisfied with my explanation, I implemented the solution on a compiler and ran it. -
Question 2: Largest 1-Bordered Square
This was a hard-level question, and I found it quite challenging. After thinking for some time, I devised an approach that had cubic complexity. Fortunately, due to the constraints, my solution passed all the test cases, which I consider lucky.
3. HR Round
The HR round was scheduled for the week after the Managerial Round. The HR representative was very pleasant and friendly. She asked standard HR questions like why I wanted to join Ula, my motivations, and also presented 2-3 situation-based questions. Afterwards, we discussed my salary expectations and potential joining date. This interview lasted about 20-30 minutes.
Verdict: Selected
Interview Questions (4)
In a gold mine grid grid of size m x n, each cell in this mine has an integer representing the amount of gold in it, 0 if it is an empty cell. Find the maximum amount of gold you can collect under the conditions: You can start and stop collecting gold from any position in the grid that has some gold. You must collect all the gold in the cells along the path you take. You cannot visit the same cell more than once. You can move in any of the four directions (left, right, up, down). I was asked for the approach and logic, followed by a dry run. After that, I implemented the code.
Preparation Tips
I primarily prepared for the interview by practicing Data Structures and Algorithms problems on platforms like LeetCode. This preparation was crucial, especially since the technical rounds involved implementing solutions directly on LeetCode and discussing their time and space complexities. Additionally, I prepared for various situational questions and standard HR inquiries to be ready for the managerial and HR rounds.