RejectedSenior Software Engineer at DoorDash
- Difficulty
- Process took
- 2-3 Weeks
- Rounds
- 3
- Format
- Remote
- Applied via
- Company Website
How it went
Always think about follow-up scenarios, different constraints, edge cases, and alternative approaches. I think I failed to do this, which is why I was unable to clear the interview.
What they would tell you
Always think about follow-up scenarios, different constraints, edge cases, and alternative approaches. I think I failed to do this, which is why I was unable to clear the interview.
How to prepare
I got the rejection email.
Round by round
- 1
Screening Round30 min
Simple coding problem related to bit manipulation were asked
- 2
Technical Round 160 min
The first question was Binary Tree Maximum Path Sum, I immediately thought about recursion, but under pressure, I realized I might mess it up. So, I decided to go iterative. While coding, I focused a lot on communicating each step, almost narrating what I was thinking. The interviewer nodded along, and that gave me a small boost, it is funny how even small affirmations can calm your nerves in these moments.
- 3
Technical Round 260 min
Round 2 was trickier Given a grid of 0s (water) and 1s (land), find the size of the largest island you can form by changing at most one 0 to a 1. I started with BFS, which worked perfectly. But then came the curveball, the interviewer asked me to solve it using DFS. I froze for a second. My mind knew the logic, but implementing it under a time crunch was… messy. I got partway through, but I couldn’t fully finish. I remember feeling frustrated, I had the solution in my head, why couldn’t I get it out cleanly?
What came up
A candidate-reported account, lightly edited. Interview processes change by team and date.