Cracking the Code: My Challenging Interview at Molocoads for a Unique SD Role

Software Engineering
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molocoads | Other | Interview Experience

Interview Date: Not specified
Result: Not specified
Difficulty: Not specified

Interview Process

I participated in two interviews, each consisting of one round of system design followed by one round of coding.

  • First Interview:

    • System Design: Google Search Autocompletion
    • Coding: LeetCode problem related to guessing a word.

  • Second Interview:

    • System Design: Design a notification system
    • Coding: Similar to a LeetCode problem where only a guess function is provided to indicate how many letters were guessed correctly, with repeated letters counting as one. The challenge was to solve for the minimum number of guesses.

Technical Questions

  1. Google Search Autocompletion (Data Structure, Trie, Autocomplete)
  2. Notification System (System Design, Distributed System, Notification System)
  3. Guess the Word (Greedy Algorithm, Binary Search, Guessing)

Tips & Insights

Focus on understanding system design principles and be prepared to discuss trade-offs in your design decisions. Practice coding problems that involve guessing and optimization strategies.