SDE at PolicyBazaar

How it went

What they would tell you

How to prepare

Round by round

1. 1

   Online MCQ Assessment60 min

   The assessment focused on core CS concepts such as OOPs, DBMS, Operating Systems, and basic output prediction. It was a standard MCQ format, testing your grasp of fundamental concepts. Questions:

   • Questions around Object-Oriented Programming and SQL queries
   • Pseudocode-based questions
   • Output-guessing problems
2. 2

   Technical Interview60 min

   I was given two coding problems and asked to explain my approach clearly before coding. The first problem was to remove duplicates from Sorted Array. I explained the two-pointer approach: one pointer iterates through the array, while the other keeps track of the position to place unique elements. This allows modifying the array in-place and returning the count of unique elements efficiently, with O(n) time complexity. The second problem was the Copy List with Random Pointer. I described the three-step approach:

   • For each original node, create a new copy node and insert it right after the original node.
   • Assign the random pointers of the copied nodes by referencing the original nodes' random pointers.
   • Separate the copied nodes from the original list to form the new deep-copied list. This method avoids extra space for a hashmap and achieves O(n) time complexity.
   • Remove Duplicates from Sorted Array
   • Copy List with Random Pointer
3. 3

   Tech+Managerial60 min

   This final round was a blend of technical system design and managerial discussions.

   • I was asked to design a Flight Booking System focusing on modularity, scalability, and extensibility.
   • Additional questions probed handling payment failures, system reliability during peak traffic, and scalability trade-offs.
   • The discussion also covered a deep dive into my past projects, focusing on architecture decisions, design patterns, and performance optimizations.
   • Behavioral questions explored leadership experiences, handling deadlines, and team collaboration.

What came up