Salesforce | Gurgaon Drive | 26th Nov

I recently got a call from a Salesforce recruiter who reached out to me via LinkedIn. I showed my interest, and with over 5 years of experience, I was asked to go through an Online Assessment first.

The test was conducted on HackerRank and lasted 60 minutes. Two questions were asked:

1. Find the Kth Factor of N
2. Search Suggestions System

I managed to solve both questions with all test cases passing in about 20-25 minutes.

Following the OA, I was invited to the onsite rounds for face-to-face interviews in Gurgaon on November 26, 2023. Salesforce even sent an Uber voucher worth ₹2000, which was valid for one day.

Round 1: DS/Algo

The interviewer presented two challenging problems:

1. MAXPARTY
2. Count pairs: Given an array arr[] of length N and an integer K, the task is to count the number of pairs (i, j) such that i < j and arr[i] > K * arr[j]. This problem was similar to count inversion, like Count of Smaller Numbers After Self.

I successfully cracked the first question by identifying that it could be solved using Binary Search and a greedy approach. The interviewer asked me to write down the condition to check, which I did. For the second question, I explained that it could be solved using merge sort and detailed the logic to count such pairs. Overall, I felt I could have written the code more confidently; otherwise, I would rate my performance as average in this round.

Round 2: LLD + DSA

This round started with discussions on OOPs concepts, specifically Abstraction vs. Encapsulation, SOLID principles, and commonly used design patterns. Following that, we moved to DSA questions:

1. Count the number of distinct contiguous substrings that are palindromes.
2. Max Path Sum in a Binary Tree

To be honest, I wasn't prepared at all for the LLD questions. I genuinely didn't realize it was an LLD round, and I answered more in the style of a discussion rather than an interview. I don't believe the interviewer rated me higher than average here. For the first DSA question, I asked many clarifying questions, and then for some reason, the interviewer changed the question and asked the second one. I solved it quickly, and then they asked a follow-up: what if we wanted to return the path of the longest sum as well? We discussed the solution, and the interview ended there. Again, this round wasn't satisfactory; the HR had sent many folks home by this time, and I thought I would be next. However, HR called me for the next round.

Round 3: HLD + Behavioural

This round included general behavioral questions, which I cannot recall specifically. The HLD question was: How would you ensure a multi-master system with high consistency? We discussed a few solutions, and I felt this round was more of a collaborative discussion. For me, this round went well.

Round 4: HM (Hiring Manager)

This round began with introductions. The interviewer then asked 'Why Salesforce?' for which I struggled to provide a strong justification, as I come from a MAANG background. The discussion then moved to my projects and other behavioral questions, specifically focusing on what was one of the most impactful projects I had worked on and how I contributed to it.

After this round, my interviews for the day were complete. I was informed that I would receive the results within a week. I had a feeling I wouldn't make it, but I gained valuable experience from the face-to-face interviews. This experience boosted my confidence, showing that if I just brush up on my concepts more, I can crack senior-level role interviews.

[Edit 1]: I received a call after two days stating that I had positive feedback. They inquired about my current and expected compensation.

[Edit 2]: As of December 14, 2023, I was still waiting for the recruiter to follow up. I tried contacting them once but received no positive response.

[Edit 3]: By January 24, 2024, the recruiter had ghosted me and never got back.