Swiggy SDE-1 Interview Experience | A Very High Expectation in LLD Round

I recently had my interview experience for the SDE-1 role at Swiggy, which consisted of two rounds.

1st Round – DSA (60 mins)

My first round was a 60-minute Data Structures & Algorithms session. I was presented with two problems. The first one was Codeforces 1133C, which I initially approached with a brute-force O(n²) solution and then managed to optimize to O(n log n) within 25 minutes. For the second question, 'Partition Array Into Two Arrays to Minimize Sum Difference' from LeetCode, I thoroughly explained my DP-based logic and proceeded to complete the full code in the remaining 30 minutes. This round concluded positively, and I was advanced to the next stage.

2nd Round – LLD (Design + Implementation) (60 min)

The second round was a 60-minute Low-Level Design session, which involved both design and implementation. It began with a brief 5-minute self-introduction. The interviewer then tasked me with designing and implementing a Splitwise application. I dedicated about 10 minutes to discussing the functional requirements and identifying the key objects necessary for the design. The interviewer was very keen on seeing the actual coding. I started sketching a UML diagram, but the sheer volume of requirements combined with the limited time began to make me panic. Despite this, I managed to start coding in VS Code and implemented partial functionality. However, it became clear that the interviewer expected a fully working application within the allotted time, which I couldn't deliver. Consequently, I was rejected after this round.

In my opinion, the LLD round was genuinely overwhelming, and expecting a fully functional Splitwise application complete with a UML diagram in just 45 minutes felt quite unrealistic.