Synthesized from 31 candidate submissions for ALL.
The candidate reached out through a referral and completed three rounds: Machine Coding, PS/DS, and HM. The Machine Coding round went well, while the PS/DS and HM rounds were average. The candidate was rejected primarily due to low confidence in the HM round and an average performance in the DSA round.
Solved an LLD problem in 2 hours, followed by a discussion with a Senior SDE about tradeoffs and approach. The round lasted 1 hour.
Round taken by a senior SDE with 2 questions and 1 puzzle. The questions involved solving a greedy algorithm problem (Chocolate distribution) and a course prerequisite problem (optimizing beyond BFS). The puzzle involved implementing rand12() using rand6().
Chocolate distribution problem (Greedy): Given an array arr[] consisting of N positive integers representing the ratings of N children, find the minimum number of candies required for distributing to N children such that every child gets at least one candy and children with higher ratings get more candies than their neighbors.
Course prerequisite problem: Given numCourses and prerequisites array, find a solution better than BFS for determining course order.
Puzzle: Implement rand12() using rand6() with equal probability.
Round taken by a Senior Engineering Manager, focusing on behavioral questions and technical discussions about past experience. Questions included reasons for switching jobs, recent project details, datastore comparisons (SQL vs NoSQL), and staying updated with new technologies.
Why are you looking for a switch?
Tell about a recent project.
What datastore is used in your team, SQL vs NoSQL?
How do you keep yourself up-to-date with new technologies?
PhonePe offered a 6-month internship with a PPO opportunity for candidates who cleared all rounds. The interview process included an online aptitude test, a group discussion, and two personal interviews. The candidate received positive feedback and was guided through the process by the interviewers, who helped in drawing conclusions during case studies. The overall experience was interactive and challenging, with a focus on problem-solving and analytical skills.
Online test: 15-minute multiple-choice test with 15 aptitude questions. Level: medium to moderately difficult. Time was a major factor.
An online test consisting of 15 multiple-choice aptitude questions. The test duration was 15 minutes, and the difficulty level was medium to moderately difficult. Time management was crucial for clearing this round.
A group discussion round where 55 students were shortlisted and divided into 8 panels of 8-8 students each. The topic was 'Importance of tech in finance industry'. Key tips included avoiding speaking during chaotic moments, starting the discussion to make a good impact, and finding pauses to speak effectively.
A 30-minute face-to-face interview conducted on Google Meet by a senior manager from the Safety and Risk Department. The interviewer asked about the candidate's introduction, intern project, and reasons for switching from mining to analytics. Two case study problems were given: one involving a fraud scenario and another about policy exploitation in a ride-sharing company. The candidate was given time to think and jot down points before answering.
Introduce yourself.
Explain your intern project and its relation to data analytics.
Why do you want to change your field from mining to analytics?
Case Study 1: Fraud scenario involving sending money via a link and backend explanation.
Case Study 2: Ola/Uber policy exploitation in Bangalore and possible reasons.
A 45-50 minute face-to-face interview with another manager from the Safety and Risk Department. The interviewer discussed the candidate's intern project framed as an analytics project. A case study on business growth decline was given, where the candidate had to identify reasons for the decline and suggest solutions. The interviewer also asked about SQL and PowerBI, with 4-5 SQL questions on aggregate functions and group by.
Framing the core intern project into an analytics project.
Case Study: Business growth decline and reasons for it.
SQL questions on aggregate functions and group by.
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