Real stories
Full breakdowns of real interview loops. What happened, what was asked, and how it turned out.
Round 1 technical screening for Staff Software Engineer at Tekion. Two classic problems with a twist — the 100 Lockers toggle puzzle and the two-corner Coin Game (optimal play).
3.3 YOE FAANG engineer interviewed for Uber SDE-2 Backend. Solved all DSA problems completely but still got rejected — HLD and one DSA round were the killers. A reminder that solving isn't enough; code quality matters.
Rakuten hiring drive. Java/Spring Boot fundamentals, then DSA + HLD + puzzle, a director round that turned into an AI discussion, and HR. Overall Easy to Medium difficulty.
InfoEdge SDE process. Aptitude + coding screening, then deep technical rounds covering DSA, DBMS, OOP, system design, production troubleshooting, and puzzles. Very resume + fundamentals heavy.
Amazon SDE-1 onsite. Round 1 was two DSA problems (grid path + House Robber II variant) plus LPs. Round 2 was a device-capabilities LLD where I learned the hard way about interface segregation.
A seesaw journey. Cleared all 5 rounds for Microsoft L62 (Xbox), got downleveled to L61, consented, sent docs — then the offer was cancelled because the departing employee was retained. A cautionary tale.
L4 loop at Uber Bangalore. First 3 rounds in-person (screening, DSA, LLD), then virtual HM and HLD. Graphs are Uber's favorite. Whole process ~2 months. Referral-based.
5-round loop at LinkedIn Bangalore. Phone screen, HM, 2 coding rounds (one with AI-assist), and system design. Original team filled before offer — got matched to another team same day via extra HM round.
Applied with referral. OA + 3 rounds on same day. DSA fundamentals, system design, and HM deep dive. Got offer in 38 days from application. TC: ~41.6L (27.4L base + stock + bonus).
4-round loop for Google SWE III. 2 virtual rounds + 2 onsite in Bangalore. Got Strong Hire and Hire signals. Matched with a team next day but the role involved Salesforce work. Currently in limbo — no communication for 1 week+.
4-round loop at DigitalOcean. Coding round was a live backend service design + deployment + peer code review. System design, managerial, and director rounds followed. Offer: 90L TC (65L base + 8L var + ~15L stock/yr).
3 deep technical rounds for MTS-2 at Adobe. Round 1 was Core C++ + Multithreading, Round 2 was DSA, Round 3 was LLD + System Design + Debugging. Very practical, follow-up heavy. No fluff.
3 YOE from quick commerce (Swiggy, Zepto). DM'ed a recruiter, got HackerRank link in 3 days. System design, HM/LLD discussion, DSA, and bar raiser. Offer: 46L base + 29L joining + 38L ESOPs.
3-round loop for Amazon SDE-2. Cleared Round 1 comfortably, got negative feedback on Round 2 (coding) and Round 3 (system design + behavioral). No specific feedback given despite asking.
4-round loop for SWE-3 at MongoDB Gurgaon. Coding round, HM behavioral, real-world problem, and HLD. Got weak signal in Round 3 but strong HM round saved it. Offer received within 2 weeks.
Full loop for Google SWE II Early Careers. 3 coding rounds + 1 Googliness round. Got Strong Hire in 2 rounds, Hire in 1, Lean Hire in 1. Currently in team matching phase.
Applied for Senior Fullstack at Freshworks. DSA + resume deep dive in Round 1, heavy JavaScript internals in Round 2. Rejected after Round 2. The frontend round was significantly deeper than expected.
Full 6-stage loop for Senior SDE at Oracle. DSA, system design, 3 behavioral rounds, and a bartender. Heavy emphasis on leadership signals and 'why Oracle'. Still waiting on result.
Applied for IC3/Principal level at Oracle Cloud. Same 6-stage process but much higher bar on system design and behavioral. Rejected after team matching failed. Sharing what went differently at this level.
Interview for SDE-1 at Oracle Apps. 4 rounds — 2 coding, 1 system design lite, 1 HM. Medium difficulty coding, heavy focus on fundamentals. Got the offer within 10 days.