Software Engineer Staff Interview Questions

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Round 1: Coding interview - You are given an array of integers nums, there is a sliding window of size k which is moving from the very left of the array to the very right. You can only see the k numbers in the window. Each time the sliding window moves right by one position. Return the max sliding window. Example 1: Input: nums = [1,3,-1,-3,5,3,6,7], k = 3 Output: [3,3,5,5,6,7] Explanation: Window position Max --------------- ----- [1 3 -1] -3 5 3 6 7 3 [-1, 1, 3] 1 [3 -1 -3] 5 3 6 7 3 [-3, -1, 3] 1 3 [-1 -3 5] 3 6 7 5 [5] 1 3 -1 [-3 5 3] 6 7 5 [3,5] 1 3 -1 -3 [5 3 6] 7 6 [] 1 3 -1 -3 5 [3 6 7] 7 Example 2: Input: nums = [1], k = 1 Output: [1] - Given a string s containing just the characters '(', ')', '{', '}', '[' and ']', determine if the input string is valid. An input string is valid if: Open brackets must be closed by the same type of brackets. Open brackets must be closed in the correct order. Example 1: Input: s = "()" Output: true Example 2: Input: s = "()[]{}" Output: true Example 3: Input: s = "(]" Output: false Input: s = "[{()}]" Output: false Round 2: Projects explanation - Explain the current project architecture - Distributed transaction management in orchestration design pattern - How to handle distributed transactions when the orchestrator died during the processing. So if it includes 3 operations and the system gets down after 2.
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Staff Software Engineer

Interviewed at Walmart Global Tech

3.6
Apr 12, 2022

Round 1: Coding interview - You are given an array of integers nums, there is a sliding window of size k which is moving from the very left of the array to the very right. You can only see the k numbers in the window. Each time the sliding window moves right by one position. Return the max sliding window. Example 1: Input: nums = [1,3,-1,-3,5,3,6,7], k = 3 Output: [3,3,5,5,6,7] Explanation: Window position Max --------------- ----- [1 3 -1] -3 5 3 6 7 3 [-1, 1, 3] 1 [3 -1 -3] 5 3 6 7 3 [-3, -1, 3] 1 3 [-1 -3 5] 3 6 7 5 [5] 1 3 -1 [-3 5 3] 6 7 5 [3,5] 1 3 -1 -3 [5 3 6] 7 6 [] 1 3 -1 -3 5 [3 6 7] 7 Example 2: Input: nums = [1], k = 1 Output: [1] - Given a string s containing just the characters '(', ')', '{', '}', '[' and ']', determine if the input string is valid. An input string is valid if: Open brackets must be closed by the same type of brackets. Open brackets must be closed in the correct order. Example 1: Input: s = "()" Output: true Example 2: Input: s = "()[]{}" Output: true Example 3: Input: s = "(]" Output: false Input: s = "[{()}]" Output: false Round 2: Projects explanation - Explain the current project architecture - Distributed transaction management in orchestration design pattern - How to handle distributed transactions when the orchestrator died during the processing. So if it includes 3 operations and the system gets down after 2.

Coding and design are not too difficult, as long as you're correctly prepared, and there are countless online resources for this. However, plan some time ahead to prepare the presentation and technical background interviews. Make sure to choose projects: - that you know enough to go in-depth technically - that are recent enough so you can answer questions without having to dig in your memories too much - that have a relatable tech stack, so that the interviewer can easily find relevant questions. One of the projects I chose didn't meet any of those criteria, and I did have a hard time keeping the interviewer engaged. I still passed, but in hindsight, I would choose something different.
avatar

Staff Software Engineer

Interviewed at Datadog

4
Aug 6, 2024

Coding and design are not too difficult, as long as you're correctly prepared, and there are countless online resources for this. However, plan some time ahead to prepare the presentation and technical background interviews. Make sure to choose projects: - that you know enough to go in-depth technically - that are recent enough so you can answer questions without having to dig in your memories too much - that have a relatable tech stack, so that the interviewer can easily find relevant questions. One of the projects I chose didn't meet any of those criteria, and I did have a hard time keeping the interviewer engaged. I still passed, but in hindsight, I would choose something different.

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