Goldman Sachs Interview - Associate (US) | ✅ SELECTED

✨ Interview Experience – Accepted Offer

Application Source:
Applied on my behalf by applyjobsforme.com – they handled the job application process for me.

🧪 Round 1: Online Assessment

The initial round was an online assessment consisting of 2 data structures and algorithms questions, both of which I successfully solved within the time limit.

• The questions were of medium difficulty, and focused on core problem-solving ability.
• The platform tested for edge cases and optimality.

💻 Round 2: CoderPad Interview (Live Coding + Discussion)

The interview began with a brief self-introduction and then moved into live coding via CoderPad. The interviewer was collaborative and encouraged thinking out loud.

✅ Question 1 (Medium): Top Student Scores Averaging

Problem:
You are given a list of [student_id, score] pairs. For each student, return the average of their top scores. If the top score is repeated, it should still be considered.

Example Input:

[[1, 100], [1, 100], [1, 100], [2, 99]]

Expected Output:

[[1, 100], [2, 99]]

✅ Question 2 (Medium): Fraction to Recurring Decimal

Problem:
Given a numerator and denominator, return the result as a string. If the fractional part is recurring, enclose the repeating part in parentheses.

• Examples:
  • 5/10 → "0.5"
  • 1/3 → "0.(3)"

I handled edge cases like negative numbers, zero numerators, and long recurring cycles.

🎯 Behavioral Segment:

• Discussed motivation, past projects, and challenges overcome.
• Shared an example of working under pressure and taking initiative.

✅ Successfully cleared this round. Got a call back for the Superday after nearly 2 months of wait.

🔍 Round 3: Superday – Data Structures Focus

Panel included two interviewers, each of whom asked one technical problem.

✅ Question 1: Trapping Rain Water

A classic two-pointer problem to calculate the volume of water trapped after rainfall.

✅ Question 2: Implement stoi (String to Integer)

Recreate the stoi function.

• Handled white spaces, sign, integer overflow, and invalid characters.
• Edge cases like " -42".

The focus was on string parsing, input validation

🛠️ Round 4: Superday – Software Engineering Practices

Another panel of two interviewers, this time focused on system and product thinking.

✅ Question: Low-Level Design of Google Calendar

• Designed a simplified version of Google Calendar with core functionalities:
  • Create, update, delete events.
  • Handle overlapping events.
  • Notification/reminder system.
  • Scalability for millions of users.
• Discussed use of:
  • Data models (event schema, user calendar),
  • Concurrency handling,
  • API structure, and
  • Design tradeoffs like consistency vs availability.

I made sure to cover both object-oriented design and real-world constraints (like syncing across time zones).

📄 Round 5: Resume Drill / Deep Dive

• Walked through resume projects and past roles.
• Emphasis on impact, technologies used, and challenges faced.
• They asked about one project in depth—how I designed it, what improvements I’d now make, and technical decisions behind it.

🎉 Result: Accepted Offer!

After multiple rounds and a considerable waiting period post-superday, I finally received an offer letter.