Accolite interview experience Real time questions & tips from candidates to crack your interview

SDE - 1

Accolite
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5 rounds | 15 Coding problems

Interview preparation journey

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Journey
I got the Internship + FTE opportunity for SDE position at Accolite Digital through on-campus placements in my 3rd year of B.Tech. Overall, they conducted 2 online tests (MCQ & Coding Round), 2 Technical Round & 1 HR Round before giving out the offer. The overall experience of interview was good and difficulty wise it was above average.
Application story
The company came for placement on campus during my third year in B.tech. At first they conducted two online rounds, 1 MCQ and other 1 coding round before shortlisting for interview. After the 2 rounds, they almost filtered 50% people. And After that the conducted 2 technical virtual round of around 1.5 hours each. In each round they started with theoretical questions from Java, OS, OOP's and DBMS and then jumped to coding the solution on screen for given problem. At last they have 1 HR round.
Why selected/rejected for the role?
Among 5 rounds, the challenging one were the technical rounds only. I was able to answer mostly all the questions that they asked around different topics. I was able to explain my project in detail too. Also, they didn't asked anything very complex. Most of the questions were standard questions only.
Preparation
Duration: 5 Months
Topics: DSA ( Arrays/Strings, Pointers, Sorting, Recursion, Linked List, Trees), OOP's, OS, DBMS
Tip
Tip

Tip 1 : Apart from covering and practicing overall DSA, practice all standard questions for Linked List and Trees.
Tip 2 : Have atleast one project in your resume that you can explain properly or your contribution if it's a group project.
Tip 3 : Do brush up on other core topics like OS, DBMS & OOP's.

Application process
Where: Campus
Eligibility: Above 6 CGPA
Resume Tip
Resume tip

Tip 1: Add some personal or group project
Tip 2: Don't add something false

Interview rounds

01
Round
Medium
Online Coding Interview
Duration30 mins
Interview date2 Aug 2021
Coding problem4

At 3 PM

1. Puzzle

If the word ‘EXAMINATION’ is coded as 56149512965, then the word ‘GOVERNMENT’ is coded as:
Answer -> 7645954552

2. DSA Question

What is the time complexity of quick sort ?

3. Predict the output

 #include 

int main(){

int num = 987;

int rem;

while(num!=0){rem = num % 4;num = num / 10;}

printf(“%d”,rem);

}

Problem approach

Answer: The ans is 1. The explanation is quite simple. The first iteration, rem = 3(987 % 4) has num = 98. The second Iteration, rem = 2(98 % 4) has num = 9. Therefore the third Iteration, rem = 1(9 % 4) will give num = 1.

4. Predict the output

#include int main()

{int x;

for (x = 10; x >= 0; x–) {int z = x & (x >> 1);

if (z)printf(“%d “, x);}}

Problem approach

The correct option is d) 7 6 3. The value of z will be 1 for x = 7, 6, and 3 where z is non-zero. So the values 7, 6, and 3 will print on the screen

02
Round
Easy
Online Coding Test
Duration60 mins
Interview date2 Aug 2021
Coding problem1

1. Sort a Stack

Easy
10m average time
90% success
0/40
Asked in companies
LinkedInIntuitIBM

You’re given a stack consisting of 'N' integers. Your task is to sort this stack in descending order using recursion.

We can only use the following functions on this stack S.

is_empty(S) : Tests whether stack is empty or not.
push(S) : Adds a new element to the stack.
pop(S) : Removes top element from the stack.
top(S) : Returns value of the top element. Note that this function does not remove elements from the stack.
Note :
1) Use of any loop constructs like while, for..etc is not allowed. 
2) The stack may contain duplicate integers.
3) The stack may contain any integer i.e it may either be negative, positive or zero.
Try solving now
03
Round
Medium
Video Call
Duration90 mins
Interview date7 Aug 2021
Coding problem4

They conducted the round on google meet in the morning. They will ask to turn the camera on throughout the process. They will start with formal introduction. Then start with asking some theoretical questions on topics like Java, Programming Concepts, OOP's and OS. After that, they will jump to coding part where they will ask to write the solution on any IDE for the given questions.

1. Java Questions

Explain Threads
Difference b/w String & StringBuilder
Destructor call in Java

2. OS Questions

Explain Virtual Memory
Explain Round Robin Scheduling

3. Middle Of Linked List

Easy
20m average time
80% success
0/40
Asked in companies
SamsungGoldman SachsOracle

Given a singly linked list of 'N' nodes. The objective is to determine the middle node of a singly linked list. However, if the list has an even number of nodes, we return the second middle node.

Note:
1. If the list is empty, the function immediately returns None because there is no middle node to find.
2. If the list has only one node, then the only node in the list is trivially the middle node, and the function returns that node.
Problem approach

Step 1: I first applied traverse the whole linked list and count the no. of nodes and return the node at count/2. 
Step 2: He told to optimise.
Step 3: I knew the better approach so gave the two pointer approach.

Try solving now

4. Maximum Sum Path Of A Binary Tree.

Hard
25m average time
75% success
0/120
Asked in companies
HikeSamsungDirecti

You are given a binary tree having 'n' nodes. Each node of the tree has an integer value.


Your task is to find the maximum possible sum of a simple path between any two nodes (possibly the same) of the given tree.


A simple path is a path between any two nodes of a tree, such that no edge in the path is repeated twice. The sum of a simple path is defined as the summation of all node values in a path.

Problem approach

I used InOrder traversal through recursion

Try solving now
04
Round
Medium
Video Call
Duration90 mins
Interview date7 Aug 2021
Coding problem5

They conducted the round after the lunch. They will ask to turn the camera on throughout the process. They started with formal introduction and then with some theoretical questions on topics like Java, Programming Concepts, OOP's and OS. After that, they jumped to coding part where they asked to write the solution on any IDE.

1. OOPs Questions

Explain any 5 OOP's concept in detail
Difference between compile time and run time polymorphism.

2. DBMS Questions

Difference b/w primary, candidate and super
Explain 1NF, 2NF, 3NF, BCNF with examples

3. 3Sum

Moderate
15m average time
85% success
0/80
Asked in companies
Goldman SachsAdobeAmazon

You are given an array/list ARR consisting of N integers. Your task is to find all the distinct triplets present in the array which adds up to a given number K.

An array is said to have a triplet {ARR[i], ARR[j], ARR[k]} with sum = 'K' if there exists three indices i, j and k such that i!=j, j!=k and i!=j and ARR[i] + ARR[j] + ARR[k] = 'K'.

Note:
1. You can return the list of values in any order. For example, if a valid triplet is {1, 2, -3}, then {2, -3, 1}, {-3, 2, 1} etc is also valid triplet. Also, the ordering of different triplets can be random i.e if there are more than one valid triplets, you can return them in any order.
2. The elements in the array need not be distinct.
3. If no such triplet is present in the array, then return an empty list, and the output printed for such a test case will be "-1".
Problem approach

Step 1: Explained the normal brute force approach in O(N^3).
Step 2: Interviewer asked to optimise it
Step 3: Gave a solution using hashset and optimised to O(N^2)

Try solving now

4. Intersection of Two Linked Lists

Easy
25m average time
73% success
0/40
Asked in companies
OracleThought WorksIBM

You are given two Singly Linked Lists of integers, which may have an intersection point.

Your task is to return the first intersection node. If there is no intersection, return NULL.


Example:-
The Linked Lists, where a1, a2, c1, c2, c3 is the first linked list and b1, b2, b3, c1, c2, c3 is the second linked list, merging at node c1.

alt.txt

Problem approach

Step 1: Run through each LL and get lengths and tail
Step 2: Compare the tails
Step 3: If tails are different then no intersection in present.

Try solving now

5. Cycle Detection in a Singly Linked List

Moderate
15m average time
80% success
0/80
Asked in companies
Morgan StanleyDunzoOYO

You are given a Singly Linked List of integers. Return true if it has a cycle, else return false.


A cycle occurs when a node's next points back to a previous node in the list.


Example:
In the given linked list, there is a cycle, hence we return true.

Sample Example 1

Problem approach

Solved using the fastPointer and slowPointer method

Try solving now
05
Round
Medium
HR Round
Duration30 mins
Interview date7 Aug 2021
Coding problem1

Conducted in evening on Google Meet. Mostly introduction and questions from resume were asked.

1. Basic HR Questions

Your introduction, projects, questions on interests or things you have mentioned in resume. Questions like strengths and weaknesses.

Problem approach

Tip 1 : Don't write anything false on resume
Tip 2 : Can ask about work culture and your role in organisation.

Here's your problem of the day

Solving this problem will increase your chance to get selected in this company

Skill covered: Programming

How do you remove whitespace from the start of a string?

Choose another skill to practice
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