HashedIn by Deloitte 2024 | SDE-1| OFFER
Summary
I successfully interviewed for the SDE-1 role at HashedIn by Deloitte through a pool campus drive and received an offer. The process included an online assessment, two technical rounds focusing on DSA, system design, and SQL, followed by a behavioral round.
Full Experience
Online Assessment
The process began with a pool campus drive where approximately 600 students took an online assessment. I brought my own laptop for the OA, which consisted of 4 questions: 2 easy, 1 medium, and 1 hard. I managed to solve all of them, being mindful of hidden test cases and proper complexity by carefully analyzing constraints.
First Round (Technical - DSA & Web)
This round started with a self-introduction and a discussion about my projects. I was then presented with a coding challenge: add two very large numbers represented as strings, without using typecasting to int or long. I explained my logic, but the interviewer asked me to code first. After writing the code, I explained my approach.
The question was then modified to multiply both the numbers, also given as strings. This was also manageable; I broke the second string into parts and reused my addition function. To simplify, I reversed both strings before performing the multiplication from the back. There was a brief discussion where the interviewer initially seemed to misunderstand my approach, but we eventually got on the same page after I dry-ran the code.
Following the coding, I was asked questions about web technologies like JWT (JSON Web Tokens) and its underlying principles, cookies, and OAuth, as well as general questions about my resume. I answered most of these, though I couldn't recall the default encoding format of JWT tokens.
Second Round (Technical - DB Design & DSA)
The panelists in this round seemed impressed by my resume. It started with a database design question for an e-commerce platform. I was given loose sheets to draw out all necessary tables (e.g., customer_details, product_category, pricing, supplier_data), establish relationships (one-to-many, primary_key, foreign_key), and normalize them. The interviewer challenged some of my choices, asking if certain tables were truly required due to overlapping attributes. I defended some tables, arguing that extensive normalization could lead to overly complex and slow queries, which they accepted.
After finalizing the DB design, they presented 5-6 complex SQL queries, such as fetching customer names, emails, and orders from the last 4 days at a specific residential address. Strong SQL skills with complex joins were definitely tested here, and I performed well.
Towards the end, we moved to DSA. I don't recall the exact problem, but it was a variant of the Next Greater Element. The interviewer provided a story and a test case, which immediately made me think of a stack-based approach. Interestingly, the interviewer had a mistake in his test case, which I pointed out after completing my O(N) stack solution. After a brief formal argument, he checked his laptop and confirmed my observation, both panelists smiling and acknowledging my confidence in DSA.
Behavioral Round
This was, in my opinion, the toughest round for a fresher. The questions were tricky and designed to test honesty and ethical responses. Examples included: "We offer around 9 LPA. Tomorrow, if another company offers you more, what would you do?" and "We saw your performance and feedback; how are you still unplaced?". Initially, I tried a more diplomatic approach regarding salary, but then shifted to being completely honest, as they delved into more complex moral questions. I clarified the reason for being unplaced (related to 12th-grade marks). They also inquired about my family, home location, and willingness to relocate, mentioning the possibility of a transfer closer to home after converting to full-time.
Result
After about an hour of waiting, the results were announced. Out of 600 initial applicants and 30 interviewed candidates, 8 of us received offers. I was among the 5 who received an intern + FTE offer. It was a very positive experience, and I consider HashedIn one of the best companies for a fresher.
Interview Questions (7)
Given two strings consisting of characters '0'-'9', add both numbers. Note that typecasting to int or long is not allowed, as the numbers might be too large to fit in 32-64 bit integers.
Given two strings consisting of characters '0'-'9', multiply both numbers. Note that typecasting to int or long is not allowed, as the numbers might be too large to fit in 32-64 bit integers.
Discussion on JWT (JSON Web Tokens) and its underlying principles, cookies, OAuth, and general questions related to resume projects. A specific question was asked about the default encoding format of JWT tokens.
Design a database schema for an e-commerce platform. This task included identifying necessary tables (e.g., customer_details, product_category, pricing, supplier_data), establishing relationships (one-to-many, primary_key, foreign_key), and normalizing the tables. The interviewer challenged some design choices regarding table necessity and overlapping attributes, requiring me to justify my decisions.
Given an e-commerce database design, write an SQL query to fetch the name, email, and a list of orders made in the last 4 days associated with a specific residential address from the platform. Multiple such complex queries involving various join operations were tested.
A problem conceptually related to finding the Next Greater Element, presented with a narrative and specific test cases. The optimal solution typically involves using a stack data structure to achieve linear time complexity. The interviewer initially seemed to expect an O(N^2) approach, but a more efficient solution was preferred.
A series of tricky behavioral questions designed to assess honesty, motivation, and cultural fit. Examples included: 'We offer around 9 LPA. Tomorrow, if another company offers you more, what would you do?' and 'We saw your performance and feedback; how are you still unplaced?'. Additional questions covered personal background, family, home location, and willingness to relocate for work.