Salesforce | SMTS | Rejected

I applied for the SMTS role directly on LinkedIn, bringing 5 years of experience. My interview process started with an OA round which had two LeetCode medium questions, though I don't recall the specifics.

I then had Technical Round 1, a virtual DSA round, where I was given problems similar to Pairs of Songs With Total Durations Divisible by 60 and Asteroid Collision. I received positive feedback for this round.

Next was Technical Round 2, another virtual round covering DSA and Low-Level Design. The DSA question was Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters, and for LLD, I had to design an elevator system. This round also resulted in positive feedback.

At this point, the recruiter called, confirming my positive feedback from both technical rounds and scheduled an onsite Hiring Manager round, which I was told would be the last. However, while I was already on my way, the recruiter called again to inform me that I would now have two additional onsite rounds: one for HLD and another DSA round. Being halfway there, I felt I had no choice but to accept this change.

Technical Round 3 was an onsite HLD round, where I was asked to design an API Rate Limiter. Unfortunately, the interviewer seemed disengaged and spoke very softly, making the experience less than ideal. I received negative feedback for this round.

Technical Round 4, another onsite DSA round, followed. The problem was a variation of Longest Substring of All Vowels in Order, but it asked for a subsequence instead of a substring. I hadn't encountered this pattern before and couldn't solve it, leading to negative feedback.

Finally, I had the HM Round onsite, which lasted only 10-15 minutes. I was asked basic behavioral questions about handling conflicts with team members and discussing my impact on past projects. Ultimately, I was rejected.