Uber SDE-II Interview Experience [March-25]
- Experience
- 2.5 years
- Posted
- 9 Jun 2025
Summary
I successfully navigated the Uber SDE2 interview process, which involved five rounds covering coding, DSA, LLD, HLD, and behavioral aspects, ultimately leading to a hire decision which I declined due to personal reasons.
How it went
Uber SDE-II Interview Experience
Sharing my recent Uber interview journey for the SDE2 role. Hope this helps someone preparing for it.
YOE: 2.5 yrs Education: Tier-1 College Application: Applied via referral.
Round 1: Screening (Coding) Got asked Find the Closest Palindrome. Solved it in ~20 minutes. Had a good discussion with the interviewer around edge cases and follow-ups. Cleared the round.
Round 2: DSA Round Got a graph-based question related to finding the smallest distance between nodes(not djikstra). I hadn’t solved this exact one before, so it took me a little time to think through it. Managed to solve it and code the follow-up within 45 minutes. Good round overall.
Round 3: Low-Level Design Was asked to design a pub-sub system. The twist here was that the interviewer wanted it to be implemented using Java threads to simulate multiple publishers and subscribers. If you're preparing, I'd recommend brushing up on Java concurrency — Uber tends to ask about it.
Round 4: High-Level Design Design an e-commerce platform. Covered major components like service design, database choices, scalability, and consistency. Resources like “Hello Interview” and Alex Xu’s system design books helped a lot for this.
Round 5: Hiring Manager / Behavioral This was focused on past experience, projects, and some standard behavioral questions (why I wanted to switch, challenges faced, how I handle ownership, etc.). STAR framework worked well here.
Verdict: Got a Hire 🎯 Decision: Didn’t join due to personal reasons.
Questions asked (4)
- 01
Find the Closest Palindrome
Data Structures & Algorithms
Open the problemGot asked Find the Closest Palindrome.
- 02
Design a Pub-Sub System with Java Concurrency
System Design
Was asked to design a pub-sub system. The twist here was that the interviewer wanted it to be implemented using Java threads to simulate multiple publishers and subscribers.
- 03
Design an E-commerce Platform
System Design
Design an e-commerce platform. Covered major components like service design, database choices, scalability, and consistency.
- 04
Behavioral Questions (Past Experience, Projects, Challenges, Ownership)
Behavioral
This was focused on past experience, projects, and some standard behavioral questions (why I wanted to switch, challenges faced, how I handle ownership, etc.). STAR framework worked well here.
How they prepared
My preparation included using resources like “Hello Interview” and Alex Xu’s system design books. I also recommend brushing up on Java concurrency, as Uber tends to ask about it.