Got the offerSDE 2 at Linkedin
- Difficulty
- Process took
- 2-3 Weeks
- Rounds
- 5
- Format
- Hybrid
- Applied via
- Company Website
How it went
- If you stall, stay calm and share your thinking, Interviewers often value your approach, not just your final code.
What they would tell you
- If you stall, stay calm and share your thinking, Interviewers often value your approach, not just your final code.
How to prepare
- Arrays
- Graphs
- Dynamic programming
- Tree
- I follow Striver SDE Sheet and LeetCode to learn coding
Their background
I have been working as a Software Engineer, I have a diverse experience working on both backend and full-stack applications and solving complex problems in high-availability systems.My journey has included hands-on experience with technologies like Java, Python, MySQL, NoSQL, and AWS.
Round by round
- 1
Screening Round60 min
During this round i faced system design questions, programming-related questions, and a multi-threading challenge. The interviewer first tested my understanding of caching techniques (specifically write-through vs. write-back caching), database selection strategies, and a synchronization issue in multi-threading. And a DSA problem Course Schedule II (topological sort), graph cycle detection and ordering.
- 2
Coding round 160 min
Two DSA question, a popular stack problem involving finding the celebrity in a group based on specific constraints, and other tree based
- 3
Coding round 280 min
The first problem involved dynamic programming (Paint House Problem), and the second was a graph traversal problem, where I had to find the minimum number of steps from the source to the destination. I have added similar problem links
- 4
System Design Round70 min
Design Task: Design a LinkedIn Post and Comment System- The system should allow users to post, comment, and like posts. Extend this to include analytics, such as tracking post engagement and comment volume. Some Considerations as well: Discussed how to handle large data volumes, eventual consistency, and API design. Suggested using caching mechanisms for frequently accessed data and database partitioning for scalability.
- 5
Hiring Manager60 min
Scenario Questions:
- Describe a time you made a risky technical decision, how did you handle it?
- What’s a failure you learned from?
- How do you prioritize business value against technical debt?
What came up
A candidate-reported account, lightly edited. Interview processes change by team and date.