My Nike Interview Experience
Summary
I recently interviewed with Nike, where I encountered a blend of DSA, Java fundamentals, and deep discussions on language concepts. I did not proceed with further rounds as I accepted a promotion at my current company.
Full Experience
I recently had an interview with Nike, which turned out to be a good mix of Data Structures & Algorithms, Java fundamentals, and in-depth discussions on language concepts. It was an interesting experience where I tackled several challenging problems and discussed core Java behaviors. Ultimately, I did not proceed with the next rounds because I received a promotion at my current company.
Interview Questions (4)
Given an array and a number k, determine if any two numbers add up to k. The catch was to solve it in one pass using a HashMap. Example: [10,15,3,7], k=17 → true (10+7)
A fun scenario where a Student class had hashCode() always returning 1. We explored how all keys land in the same bucket, how equals() resolves collisions, and how HashMap handles such skewed distributions.
We discussed how passing obj.x (primitive) doesn’t change the original value, while passing the object modifies its internal state. A classic Java trick snippet was presented with a final output of 1.
Another interesting problem: build an output array where each element is the product of all other elements except itself, without using division.
Preparation Tips
My preparation involved a mix of DSA problems, focusing on common patterns and optimizing for time and space complexity. I also delved into Java fundamentals, including core concepts like HashMap internal workings and pass-by-value mechanisms, to be ready for deep-dive discussions.