Tata 1MG Interview Experience for SDE-1 (On-Campus)

This is an On-campus offer. Eligibility Criteria was a minimum of 7 pointer. There were a total of 4 rounds (1 Coding Test+2 Technical Interviews+ 1 Managerial)

Round 1 (Coding Assessment): It has 3 Coding Question of medium-hard level and time limit was 1 hour only. I don’t exactly remember the questions but I was able to do only two of them completely.

Only 14 students were shortlisted for next round.

Suggestion: I would suggest doing coding practice from sites like GeeksforGeeks, Leetcode etc as it will give the confidence to solve problems.

Tips:  

• Don’t spend too much time on the first question you pick, if you are not able to do the first one try doing the second.
• Read the instructions very carefully
• Focus on the test input, then handle edge cases

Then 3 rounds of Interviews was scheduled one day.

Round 2(Technical Interview 80 min): First, the interviewer introduced himself and then asked to introduce myself. Then he asked about the projects I did. After an introductory discussion on projects, he gave me 3 coding questions on their personal live code environment.

He asked me to explain the approach first and then code it down. I had to explain the time complexity of each solution and optimal code if possible with lesser time complexity.

• First question was based on cache memory, he has given me a function with arguments and i have to just write it’s definition. After 5-10 minutes of discussion I was able to solve the problem and code it down. The approach uses concept of hashing. I would rate it as a easy problem.
• The second problem was  Print all possible words from phone digits, I have already done this question before and I explained him the logic of my approach  and he seems satisfied with it. It was sort of medium-level difficulty. 
• Question: https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/find-possible-words-phone-digits/
• Last question was slight variation of  Count the number of words with given prefix using Trie. Instead of returning count i just need to print all the words. I gave him a brute force approach with which he was not satisfied. Then he gave me time to think and asked for more optimized approach. Then after 5 min i gave him this Trie solution and then i explained him the structure of trie along with the code
• Question: https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/count-the-number-of-words-with-given-prefix-using-trie/

Round 3(Technical Interview 80 min): In this round interviewer gave me 2 coding questions and asked me to code on any editor of my choice. I opened VS code to code those problems.

• The first question was Largest Sum Contiguous Subarray. I explained him my approach (Kadane’s algorithm) and he seems satisfied with it and asked to code it down.
• Question: https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/largest-sum-contiguous-subarray/
• The second question was LRU cache problem. I gave him brute force solution but interviewer was not satisfied. I was stuck for some time, then he helped me with data structure (doubly linked list). After 15-20 min of discussion I was able to do that question and code it down.
• Question: https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/lru-cache-implementation/

Suggestion: Even if have done coding question previously it’s completely your responsibility to start the solution from basic idea and further you can proceed with optimization. Do not directly jump on the most optimized solution. And if you are feeling any difficulty, you can discuss it with interviewer.

Round 3(Managerial  40 min): The interviewer was very friendly. He asked me about myself and previous interviews. 

• Then he jumped on my projects. I explained him and answered all the follow up questions
• After share link to 1MG website and asked me design DB for it. He gave me 5-10 min to think and design DB.
• Finally in the end, he asked me standard HR type question like where do you see yourself in 2 years, startup with 2X salary or stable company with X salary, why you want to join us etc.

Finally, after 2 hours results came and 4 students were selected. Luckily, I was one of them. 

Tips for interviews:

• Listen to the question carefully and clear all your doubts at the same time before proceeding to solution
• Even If you are stuck, discuss your thinking process with the interviewer. They can help you with some hints.
• Prepare HR question before coming to interviews.
• Stay calm, confident and be in sync with interviewer all the time