My Interview Experience at Cloudera

As a final year undergraduate from a Tier 2 engineering college, I applied for the Software Engineer role at Cloudera and secured an offer with a CTC of 19 LPA.

Round 1 - Coding Round (120 mins)

This round was conducted on the Hackerrank platform and featured 4 questions. These included one problem based on heaps, a mathematical problem, a tree-based problem (a variation of the maximum sum path), and one SQL query. I managed to solve 2 questions completely and partially solved the other 2. Out of many candidates, 37 of us were selected to proceed to the next round.

Round 2 - Technical Interview 1 (45 mins)

My second round began with a self-introduction. The interviewer then asked me to solve 3 coding questions on the Codebunk platform:

1. To find a cycle in a linked list.
2. To implement a stack in C++.
3. To merge 2 sorted arrays.

Following the coding segment, the interviewer inquired about my web development project, specifically asking how I would integrate advertisements into my website. When I mentioned Google AdSense, he delved into how Google AdSense works and the functionality of cookies.

Round 3 - Technical Interview 2 (45 mins)

This round also started with introductions. The interviewer showed significant interest in one of my Flutter projects and asked several questions related to it. Following this, I was asked to explain various process scheduling algorithms, their pros and cons, and to identify the most optimal one. He then presented a problem based on the Round Robin Algorithm.

In Computer Networks, I discussed the differences between HTTP and HTTPS, the OSI model, various protocols, why HTTP resides in the Application layer, and the roles of Switches and Routers, along with how a packet is transmitted.

For DBMS, the discussion revolved around Indexing and database optimization techniques. I initially mentioned sharding and normalization, but the interviewer wasn't fully satisfied. I then proposed using binary search if IDs are sorted for optimization. This led to a discussion on searching and sorting algorithms. I explained different sorting algorithms, specifically Bubble Sort and Merge Sort, including their time complexities. I also explained how binary search works and the two ways to calculate the middle element.

Towards the end, I answered a few OOPs questions with real-life examples and discussed operator overloading. I was also given one coding question on balancing parentheses on the Codebunk platform.

Round 4 - Hiring Manager (HM) Round (30 mins)

The final round began with mutual introductions and a casual conversation. The HM asked several questions from my resume concerning my projects, hackathons, CTFs, coding contests, and my involvement in a technical club. He also asked about B+ trees, which I couldn't answer. We then discussed various factors to consider before releasing an app as a product. The round concluded with some HR-related questions and an opportunity for me to ask questions.

Out of three selected candidates, I was one of them, ultimately receiving the offer.