Apple SDE Interview Experience - Java, SpringBoot & Microservices role
- Posted
- 28 Apr 2026
Summary
I went through five interview rounds for an SDE role at Apple, covering DSA, system design, and behavioral topics, but was ultimately rejected.
How it went
I applied through the careers page and later received a test link from HR. After clearing the test, I got a recruiter call for a virtual interview event consisting of two rounds. Once those were cleared, team matching happened based on my profile, and then three onsite rounds were scheduled.
There were a total of five rounds — two initial virtual rounds followed by onsite rounds.
Round 1 (DSA + Backend Fundamentals): This round had a mix of coding and backend-related questions.
The coding question was a stack-based problem to check if a string of parentheses is balanced.
Apart from that, there were several questions on backend fundamentals:
- Kafka basics and internals (for example, what actions a consumer can or cannot perform)
- SQL joins and which ones are more efficient in different scenarios
- Internal structure of systems like Redis
Round 2 (DSA + System Concepts + Resume Discussion): This round was more discussion‑heavy.
A lot of questions were based on real‑world scenarios:
- How to detect and debug memory leaks
- What a heap dump is and when to use it
- How to debug a service that becomes slow even under low traffic
- Ways to handle high traffic (rate limiting, scaling approaches, etc.)
- How to optimize SQL queries
- Handling cascading failures (discussion around circuit breakers)
There were also questions based on my resume and past work.
For DSA, I was asked to design a function for a rate limiter and discuss possible optimizations in both logic and implementation.
Onsite Rounds
Round 3 (DSA + Concurrency): This round included both coding and conceptual discussion.
There were questions around Java concurrency and some database‑related design choices. The coding part involved designing a system using abstraction principles — specifically something along the lines of applying a strategy pattern for calculating dynamic pricing.
Round 4 (System Design): This round focused on system design and backend fundamentals.
Discussion around HTTP status codes (success, client errors, server errors, etc.) Designing a video upload system (similar to large‑scale media platforms), including handling uploads, storage, and retrieval
Round 5 (Hiring Manager – Behavioral): This was a conversational round.
Topics included:
- Why I’m looking for a change
- Discussion around previous projects
- Handling ambiguity in work
- Dealing with conflicts within a team (with examples)
Overall, the interviews were a mix of coding, backend fundamentals, and real‑world problem‑solving, with a strong emphasis on practical understanding of systems.
Verdict: Rejected
Questions asked (4)
- 01
Check Balanced Parentheses
Data Structures & Algorithms
Given a string consisting of parentheses characters '(' and ')', determine if the string is balanced, i.e., every opening parenthesis has a corresponding closing parenthesis in the correct order. Use a stack-based approach to validate the string.
- 02
Design a Rate Limiter Function
System Design
Implement a function that limits the number of requests allowed per unit time. Discuss possible optimizations in both the logic (e.g., token bucket vs. leaky bucket) and implementation details.
- 03
Dynamic Pricing using Strategy Pattern
System Design
Design a system that calculates dynamic pricing using abstraction principles, specifically applying the Strategy pattern to allow interchangeable pricing algorithms.
- 04
Design a Video Upload System
System Design
Design a large‑scale video upload system similar to major media platforms. Cover aspects such as handling uploads, storage, retrieval, scaling, and reliability.