adobe logo
Adobe· Computer Scientist 1

Adobe | Computer Scientist 1 | Round 1 Interview Experience

Experience
3 years
Posted
7 May 2025
422 reads

Summary

I interviewed for a Computer Scientist 1 role at Adobe. The interview consisted of rounds on C++ fundamentals, a challenging coding problem, and operating system concepts. I received positive feedback from the recruiter.

How it went

Adobe Interview Experience – C++ (CS-1 Role)

YOE: 3

The interviewer started with a quick introduction and then moved on to C++ fundamentals. We discussed:

  • vector vs list vs queue: use-cases, internal structure, and time complexity of operations.
  • ordered_map (i.e., std::map) vs unordered_map, including internal implementations (Red-Black Tree vs Hash Table).
  • What is a VTable and how virtual functions are implemented in C++.
  • Implement a Singleton class in C++, covering thread-safety. Asked for some real use case , I tolder Logger.

Coding : I believe it was a hard-level problem. Problem: Minimize the Maximum Beauty of K Subarrays Given an array, divide it into k contiguous non-empty subarrays. The beauty of a subarray is defined as: beauty = max_element × length For each split, compute the maximum beauty among the k subarrays. Among all such splits, return the minimum possible maxium beauty.

I told the approach and coded but couldn't make it work, but he was satisfied with the thought process and approach.

Toward the end, the interviewer switched to OS questions, such as:

What is virtual memory? Paging and Segmentation

Questions based on code snippets: I was asked to analyze a few C++ code pasted in the editor .

Recruiter reached out with positive feedback.

Questions asked (7)

  1. 01

    C++ Containers: Vector, List, Queue Comparison

    Data Structures & Algorithms

    Discuss use-cases, internal structure, and time complexity of operations for C++ std::vector, std::list, and std::queue.

  2. 02

    C++ Maps: Ordered vs Unordered Comparison

    Data Structures & Algorithms

    Discuss std::map (ordered_map) vs std::unordered_map, including their internal implementations (Red-Black Tree vs Hash Table) and performance characteristics.

  3. 03

    C++ Virtual Functions and VTable

    Other

    Explain what a VTable is and how virtual functions are implemented in C++.

  4. 04

    Implement Thread-Safe C++ Singleton

    Other

    Implement a thread-safe Singleton class in C++. Discuss real-world use cases, such as a Logger.

  5. 05

    Minimize Maximum Beauty of K Subarrays

    Data Structures & Algorithms · Hard

    Given an array, divide it into k contiguous non-empty subarrays. The beauty of a subarray is defined as: beauty = max_element × length. For each split, compute the maximum beauty among the k subarrays. Among all such splits, return the minimum possible maximum beauty.

  6. 06

    What is Virtual Memory?

    Other

    Explain what virtual memory is.

  7. 07

    Paging and Segmentation

    Other

    Explain paging and segmentation in operating systems.

Know someone preparing? Send it to them:WhatsAppLinkedInX

Interviewed at Adobe recently?

Write up your rounds while you still remember the questions. It helps the next person more than you would think.

Share your experience
Discussion 0

Questions for the author, or how your own interview compared.

Join the discussion

Sign in with Google to comment or ask the author a question.

No comments yet

Be the first to share your thoughts and start the discussion!