Dream11 Interview Experience for SDE II
Background With roughly 5 years of experience and based in Bengaluru, I embarked on the interview process for an SDE-2 role at Dream11. The journey began with a LinkedIn outreach from a recruiter and progressed to a series of interviews.
Round 1: Coding Assessment
Date: March 29, 2024
Format: Virtual
Tasks:
- Minimum Path Sum: Find the least sum path in a grid from top-left to bottom-right.
- First Missing Positive: Identify the smallest missing positive integer in an unsorted array, optimizing for O(n) time complexity and O(1) space.
Outcome: Cleared
Round 2: Database and Project Discussion
Date: April 8, 2024
Format: Virtual
Mainly Focused on:
- Explained the internal architecture of a project.
- Discussed DB schema using an online tool.
- Answered questions on CDN, Load Balancers, and MySQL specifics like isolation levels and indexing.
Outcome: Cleared
Round 3: High-Level Design (HLD)
Date: April 27, 2024
Location: On-Site Mumbai
Details:
- Discussed technologies I’ve worked with.
- Designed a scalable notification system for Dream11 users.
- Proposed a solution involving Redis and Spark.
Outcome: Cleared
Round 4: Hiring Manager (HM) Round
Discussion Points:
- Hiring philosophy if I were an interviewer.
- Feedback on previous rounds.
- Insights into payment system implementations.
- Service monitoring and system availability metrics.
- Reflections on past project failures and managerial disagreements.
Outcome: Not selected
Personal Reflections
I received positive feedback but also noted areas for technical improvement. I utilized hints about Spark during the interview, despite not having hands-on experience.
Advice for Future Candidates
- Prepare for the virtual interview dynamic, especially when multiple interviewers are involved.
- Be well-versed in your past projects and the rationale behind your technology choices.
- For HLD interviews, study case studies and understand the foundational elements of distributed systems design.
Conclusion
The interview process was comprehensive, testing both technical prowess and thought processes. Although I wasn’t selected, the experience provided valuable insights into the expectations for an SDE-2 role at a leading tech company like Dream11.