Nike SDE 1 Interview Experience

Hi folks, its time to give back to the community.

Initial Screening
The recruiter reached out to discuss the role, expectations, and scheduled the interview. All rounds were conducted in-office on the same day.

Round 1: DSA + RESUME DISCUSSION
It was taken by SDE 3
Format: Pen and paper
We started with the introduction. The interviewer was very strict with the time, so he explained me the structure before starting the interview.

He said he will give me strictly 5 mins to understand the question and in the next 5 mins I have to explain him the approach with TC and SC. Then he will give me sharp 10 mins to write the complete code

Questions:

1. Modified version of Permutations solved using recursion. – solved using recursion with follow-ups
2. It was exact question of Group Anagrams

3. Discussion on HashMap internals and edge cases, gave few scenarios to me to explain

In the end asked a few questions about the team and Nike's engineering culture.

Verdict: ✅ Cleared the round

Round 2: DSA + SYSTEM DESIGN

It was taken by Tech Lead
We started with the introduction and then he gave me a DSA Question:

Find the maximum integer in a nested array
Ex: [1,2,[3,4,[5],[6],7,[8,[9]]]]
Ans: 9
Solved using recursion

System Design:

Asked to explain the HLD design of my current project in my company and asked few follow-up questions

LLD Task: Build a user form for Nike (React/JS) that filters out competitive brand names (e.g., Adidas, Puma).

Asked a few questions on Node.js — answered partially; interviewer seemed satisfied.

Verdict: ✅ Cleared the round

Round 3: BEHAVIORAL QUESTIONS
This round was pretty chill and the manager asked me few standard situational questions and about my past work and why I'm looking for change and what are my expectations. It was a very normal conversation.


Verdict: ✅ Selected (Got the result the same day)