Goldman Sachs | Associate | Hyderabad | Dec 2024 - Reject

In November 2024, I was invited by a recruiter to appear for a HackerRank test for an Associate Level position at Goldman Sachs. This initial screening included two coding questions, which I found to be of easy-medium difficulty, similar to typical LeetCode problems. While I don't recall the specific problems, I successfully completed the test. After a waiting period, HR confirmed I had cleared it and scheduled my first interview round.

My first technical phone screen, lasting an hour, was conducted on CoderPad. It focused heavily on Data Structures and Algorithms. I was given two main problems: 'Find cycle in a circular array' and 'Find the median of two sorted arrays'. For both, I started with a brute-force solution and then proceeded to optimize my approach. The interviewer seemed to appreciate the clarity of my explanations and the logical steps I took. Additionally, there were some conceptual questions on core Java and one related to Spring Boot. I successfully cleared this round, and HR informed me that I would advance to the 'Super Day' interviews.

The Super Day consisted of two scheduled rounds. The first round, another hour-long Data Structures and Algorithms session, presented me with 'Koko Eating Bananas,' which I solved and tested successfully within the given time. The second problem was a more complex 'String Compression Problem.' The task was to replace the largest repeated substring at every point with an asterisk (*) to achieve the minimal-length compressed string. For example, 'abcabcd' should become 'abc*d', and 'aabbaabb' should become 'a*bb*'. I spent time explaining my thought process and dry-running my approach with several examples. However, the interviewer consistently challenged me with edge cases and scenarios, and unfortunately, I couldn't fully implement the code within the allocated time.

The second round of the Super Day, which was scheduled, did not proceed as the interviewer failed to join. Later, I received an update from HR stating that I had been rejected, specifically that I didn't clear the final round.

Reflecting on the experience, the process was quite rigorous, demanding strong problem-solving skills, clear communication of thought, and thorough handling of edge cases. The emphasis on explaining my logic before diving into code was very clear throughout. Although I performed well on most problems, my inability to fully implement the second problem during the Super Day's first round was likely the primary reason for the rejection. The overall process felt professional and well-organized, but the lack of specific feedback on the reasons for rejection left me with some unanswered questions.