Hashedin By Deloitte SDE - I campus hiring experience

My interview journey for the SDE I position at Hashedin by Deloitte began with an Online Assessment. It was a 90-minute test comprising three coding questions: one easy and two medium LeetCode-type problems. A unique aspect was the absence of automated test cases; I had to code, generate my own custom test cases, identify edge cases, and then submit my solution.

Technical Interview - Round 1

The next day, I was shortlisted for the first technical interview. It started with a personal introduction, where they inquired about my passions and extracurricular activities. Following this, the interview delved into core computer science subjects like OOPS, C++, and DBMS. I was asked about topics such as diamond inheritance in C++, different types of Joins in SQL, and the concept of a virtual constructor. Additionally, I had to write an SQL query to find the second largest element in a table.

The coding questions in this round were to be solved on paper, though explaining the logic was also acceptable. I was given a problem related to Longest Palindromic Subsequence (LPS), specifically asking me to reverse a string and find its Longest Common Subsequence (LCS), a common approach for LPS. After successfully solving the optimal approach for this, they posed a challenging follow-up: to find the second largest palindromic subsequence. This was quite tricky; I took some time, asked for hints, and eventually managed to solve it, albeit not with the most optimal solution. There was also another DP question on array partition, which I was able to solve.

Technical Interview - Round 2

In the second technical round, the interviewers began with some fundamental coding questions. I was asked about detecting a cycle in a Linked List using the Hare and Tortoise method and how to implement a Stack using Queues. The round then transitioned into System Design. I was tasked with designing a high-level application similar to Flipkart, incorporating specific features they mentioned. I created API call flow diagrams and designed a database schema complete with foreign key references. They then guided me through the process of normalizing the database. I made significant progress but couldn't finalize it exactly as they expected. A SQL query based on the tables I had designed was also part of this discussion.

HR Round

The HR round was the most relaxed part of the process. We discussed projects from my resume, including my motivations for building them, their purpose, and technical details. There were also casual questions, like my preference between CR7 and Messi, inquiries about my family background and personal interests, and situational questions such as “What would you do if you received ₹10 crore today?”. I learned that reaching this stage often signifies selection, as everyone who made it to the HR round was offered a position.