Staff Engineer at Agoda

How it went

What they would tell you

How to prepare

Their background

Round by round

1. 1

   DSA Round60 min

   This was a hands-on coding round Questions asked:

   • Reverse Nodes in k-Group (Linked List): Given a linked list, reverse every k nodes and return the modified list.
   • Maximum Sum Circular Subarray: Find the maximum sum of a subarray in a circular array. The expectation was to write clean, correct, and fully functional code on the first attempt.
   • Reverse Nodes in k-Group
   • Maximum Sum Circular Subarray
2. 2

   Design Round60 min

   Discussion focused on designing a feature for GDPR-compliant user data deletion. Topics covered:

   • How to track deletion requests efficiently
   • How to handle large-scale user data asynchronously
   • Basics of code review, logging, and monitoring The interviewer was more interested in thinking about practical performance issues and system reliability than writing code
3. 3

   System Design Round60 min

   Design a Hotel Booking Payment Service from scratch. Key areas:

   • Handling multiple payment gateways
   • Ensuring transaction integrity and reconciliation
   • Designing APIs for booking, payment, and refunds
   • Database schema design with scaling and failover considerations This round tested end-to-end system thinking, operational reliability, and handling business logic.
4. 4

   Behavioral60 min

   Standard behavioral questions, expecting STAR-format answers:

   • Describe a time you fixed a production issue under pressure
   • How you handled a disagreement with a teammate
   • An example of improving a system or process in your previous projects
   • How you approach learning new technologies quickly

What came up