Kotak Mahindra Bank | SDE 2 | Bangalore | Rejected
Summary
I interviewed for an SDE 2 role at Kotak Mahindra Bank in Bangalore, completed a Bar Raiser round (DSA, LLD, HLD) and a second DSA round, but was rejected after the second round.
Full Experience
Status: 2.10 YOE Position: SDE 2 Location: Bangalore
Round 1: Bar Raiser (DSA + LLD + HLD)
- DSA: Minimum Size Subarray Sum (Find minimum length subarray for sum >= target): https://leetcode.com/problems/minimum-size-subarray-sum/
- LLD: Design an E-commerce platform. Heavy discussion on database schemas.
- HLD: Data consistency strategies in distributed systems (Discussed Quorum, Two-Phase Commit / 2PC, and Leader-Replica architectures).
Round 2: DSA
- Question 1: General array/string question.
- Question 2: Segregate prime and non-prime numbers in a Linked List. A variation of Odd Even Linked List but with prime logic: https://leetcode.com/problems/odd-even-linked-list/
Verdict: Rejected in Round 2. I was not familiar with standard Linked List manipulation patterns and fumbled the implementation.
Interview Questions (2)
Minimum Size Subarray Sum
Given an array of positive integers and a target integer target, find the minimal length of a contiguous subarray of which the sum is greater than or equal to target. If there is no such subarray, return 0.
Segregate prime and non‑prime numbers in a Linked List
Given a singly linked list of integer values, reorder the list so that all nodes containing prime numbers appear before nodes containing non‑prime numbers, while preserving the original relative order within each group.