I applied through a recruiter. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Capital One (Boston, MA) in Jul 2020
Interview
Round1: Phone interview with a recruiter/HR.
Round2: An online, automated, assessment via Hacker Rank.
Round3: A three hour interview with three different people, back to back via Zoom. No break.
Round4: An interview with a manager via Zoom.
It was awful. I withdrew my application. For round 3 they send an email saying your interview could be any time between 9:00AM and 5:00pm. They send you another email the day before the interview of what exact time it is. Who thought 3 hours of back to back interviews was a good idea? I didn't get a break. The fourth interview was supposed to happen the same day round 3 but the interviewer rescheduled and I wasn't notified.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Encrypt the data in this list without changing the order of the elements.
Expecting a challenging experience, I found the interview at Capital One to be intense, particularly during the system design section. The question on designing a rate limiter with a token bucket algorithm took me by surprise; mid-way through the problem, I realized it was very similar to a drill I’d practiced on prachub.com just days earlier. The technical rounds included several DSA questions, and the interviewers were thorough but supportive. Ultimately, I received an offer and happily accepted, feeling well-prepared despite the pressure.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Design a rate limiter using a token bucket algorithm and discuss how it would handle bursty traffic and distributed deployments.
Recruiter screening to begin with. Then, technical discussion about java, spring boot, design pattern, small coding tasks and followed by design assessment for distributed systems. Finally, managerial round for the team fit
Scheduled a call with recruiter. Recruiter didnt show up for the screening call and cancelled it 5 mins after the scheduled time. Dropped a follow up email and got no response. After a week, I got an email from the recruiter stating I am selected for the next round i.e Assessment. Sent me an email with the assessment description but no link. When I sent a follow up email asking for the link, I got ghosted again. It was a bad experience. Felt like she is toying with me. Why ghost an applicant repetitively? Unprofessional recruiter who doesn't respect an applicant's time or efforts!