Track: SDE-2

SDE-2 at Goldman Sachs

Online Assessment (OA)

• Format: 90-minute HackerRank test.
• Content: 2 DSA questions (difficulty: medium to hard).

Round Breakdown

1. Technical Interview (Virtual - CoderPad)

• Duration: 1 hour
• Focus: DSA (2 questions, medium to hard level)
• Topics: Corner cases, edge cases, and optimization.
• Example Questions:
  • Rotten Oranges (LeetCode)
  • Medium-level LeetCode problem (unspecified).

2. Technical Interview (DSA + OOPs + Multi-threading)

• Duration: 1 hour
• Focus:
  • DSA: Hard-level LeetCode problem (e.g., Trie-based problems).
  • OOPs: Java-based concepts (e.g., SOLID principles, design patterns).
  • Multi-threading: Sync/async operations, race conditions, and thread safety.
  • SDLC: Waterfall model, Agile methodologies.
• Resume Screening: Deep dive into projects and contributions.

3. System Design (LLD) + DBMS

• Duration: 1 hour
• Focus:
  • DBMS: SQL queries (joins, groupby, having clauses).
  • OOPs: Subjective questions (e.g., polymorphism, inheritance).
  • Spring Framework: Autowired, bean, controller, dependency injection, inversion of control.
  • API Design: Design 3 APIs with follow-up questions on headers, requestBody, responseBody, and query params.

4. Techno-Managerial Interview

• Duration: 1 hour
• Focus:
  • Behavioral: Current company, projects, architecture, contributions, and achievements.
  • Strengths/Weaknesses: Self-assessment and growth areas.
  • Motivation: Reasons for job change and joining Goldman Sachs.
  • Technical: CAP Theorem, Cassandra, SQL vs NoSQL, and Cassandra vs AWS.

Key Takeaways

• DSA: Heavy emphasis on problem-solving, optimization, and edge-case handling.
• System Design (LLD): Focus on API design, Spring Framework, and OOPs principles.
• DBMS: SQL proficiency and query optimization.
• Techno-Managerial: Alignment with Goldman Sachs' culture and long-term goals.