Microsoft SDE Intern Interview Experience
💼 LTIMindtree Interview Experience (On-Campus) | Fresher | 2026
Salesforce SMTS | Interview Experience | Rejected
JPMC | SDE2 (Associate) - Java Backend - Interview Experience + Compensation
Microsoft - SDE2 - Coding Round
Goldman Sachs | Reject | Rookie Mistake
Summary
I interviewed for a Frontend Developer role at Goldman Sachs, which resulted in a rejection after I struggled with one coding problem and made a rookie mistake in my preparation, particularly around managing pressure and articulating my approach.
Full Experience
Round 1 - Technical (1 Hour) Interviewer: Friendly and supportive
Question 1:
Variation of Second Smallest.
Before coding, I was asked to clearly explain my understanding of the problem and approach.
I completely blanked out — couldn’t think clearly under pressure, even though it was a relatively simple problem.
I was expected to generate my own edge case test cases. Spent ~30 minutes on this and couldn’t make progress.
Question 2:
Twisted version of [LeetCode 1086. High Five].
Solved it in 5 minutes with a clean approach. Interviewer appreciated the solution and allowed me to retry the first question.
Back to Question 1:
Came up with a working solution in O(n log n), but the expected solution was O(n).
Interview Questions (2)
I was presented with a variation of the problem to find the second smallest element in an array. Before coding, I was asked to clearly explain my understanding of the problem and approach. I was also expected to generate my own edge case test cases. An O(n) solution was expected.
Preparation Tips
I had 4 days to prepare for the interview, during which I focused primarily on Goldman Sachs-specific questions, though none of them were asked. My key learnings for future preparation include: being able to articulate the problem and my approach before jumping into code, practicing solving problems under pressure, simulating actual interview environments during prep, being prepared to generate edge cases independently, and learning to reset my mindset quickly if I get stuck.