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Nielsen MTS-2 (Full-Stack Developer)
Summary
I interviewed for the MTS-2 Full-Stack Developer role at Nielsen, which consisted of three comprehensive rounds covering diverse topics from data structures and system design to front-end and back-end development concepts. The director advised me to improve my React skills after the final round.
Full Experience
I recently interviewed for the MTS-2 Full-Stack Developer position at Nielsen, which was structured into three comprehensive rounds.
The first round was conducted by a BAR Raiser Platform (a 3rd party). It started with foundational computer science concepts, specifically delving into the internal workings of hashmaps and how collections behave in multithreaded environments. This was followed by a data structures and algorithms question on backtracking, specifically permutations, which I found on LeetCode. The interviewer then switched gears to front-end development, asking about React hooks and their practical use cases in a Photo Gallery App. We also discussed advanced UI/UX optimization techniques like skeleton loading, adaptive loading, and asset optimization for the same application.
The second round, lasting about 70-75 minutes, was with an MTS-2 level engineer. This round began with in-depth questions on multithreading and Kafka internals for roughly 15 minutes. A simple DSA question was posed, taking about 10-15 minutes. Following that, we moved into system design, where I was asked to discuss the High-Level Design (HLD) for an application similar to Myntra. This transitioned into a Low-Level Design (LLD) discussion for the 'Add to cart' functionality, covering both its back-end and front-end aspects, which consumed about half an hour. The round concluded with two SQL questions: a scenario-based question requiring the use of partitions, and another on LEFT JOIN queries.
Finally, the third round was with an Engineering Director and lasted approximately 45 minutes. This was primarily a behavioral and experience-based round. We discussed my previous projects, specifically doing an HLD walkthrough for one of them. A significant portion was dedicated to behavioral questions related to my project experiences and a discussion about the team I might be joining. The role itself is split 60%-40% between Back-End and Front-End development. Interestingly, the director advised me to improve my React skills.
Interview Questions (10)
Discuss the internal implementation details of a hashmap, including its data structure, collision resolution strategies, and performance characteristics.
Explain how collections work and behave in multithreaded environments, including potential issues like race conditions and common solutions for thread-safe collection access.
Discuss React Hooks, their principles, and demonstrate their practical application and benefits within the context of building a photo gallery application.
Explain and discuss methods like skeleton loading, adaptive loading, and asset optimization to improve the user experience and performance of a web application.
Discuss advanced concepts in multithreading and explain the internal architecture and working principles of Apache Kafka, including topics, partitions, producers, and consumers.
Design the high-level architecture for a large-scale e-commerce application similar to Myntra, considering scalability, availability, core functionalities (e.g., product catalog, user management, order processing), and relevant technologies.
Design the low-level architecture for the 'Add to Cart' functionality, covering both front-end (UI/UX, state management, API integration) and back-end (API endpoints, database interactions, business logic, error handling) implementations.
Solve a SQL scenario-based problem requiring the use of database partitioning for performance optimization or data management, explaining the rationale and implementation.
Write a SQL query demonstrating the use of a LEFT JOIN operation between two or more tables, explaining its behavior and use cases.