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SDE - 2

Cisco
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3 rounds | 4 Coding problems

Interview preparation journey

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Journey
I started learning coding during school in the 2nd year of my B.Tech with C++ by Sumita Arora. Continuing coding in college, I got to know about DSA and began participating in coding platform contests.
Application story
My friend gave me a referral. Then, the recruiter reached out to me directly by phone and invited me to an online test.
Why selected/rejected for the role?
I was selected for this role due to the fact that the interviews went well, as I was confident enough and answered most of the questions correctly.
Preparation
Duration: 4 months
Topics: Data Structures, Algorithm (Trees, Lists, Graphs), LLD, HLD, Dynamic Programming
Tip
Tip

Tip 1: Be confident and calm with a subtle smile during the interview.
Tip 2: Be aware of new and emerging digital technologies.
Tip 3: Have projects related to the tech stack, such as C/C++, etc.

Application process
Where: Referral
Eligibility: No
Resume Tip
Resume tip

Tip 1 : Show your works, links of apps, github link.
Tip 2 : Show your past experiences.

Interview rounds

01
Round
Medium
Online Coding Test
Duration60 mins
Interview date20 Jun 2020
Coding problem2

1. Word Break

Moderate
15m average time
85% success
0/80
Asked in companies
Morgan StanleyFacebookApple

You are given a list of “N” strings A. Your task is to check whether you can form a given target string using a combination of one or more strings of A.

Note :
You can use any string of A multiple times.
Examples :
A =[“coding”, ”ninjas”, “is”, “awesome”]  target = “codingninjas”
Ans = true as we use “coding” and “ninjas” to form “codingninjas”
Problem approach

Tip 1: Trie knowledge. (Learn)

Try solving now

2. Similar Strings

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

You are given two strings, ‘A’ and ‘B’ each of length ‘N’. Your task is to print 1 if ‘A’ is similar to ‘B’.

Note :

String ‘A’ is said to be similar to string ‘B’ if and only if 
1. ‘A’ is equal to ‘B’.
2. Divide both ‘A’ and ‘B’ into two – two strings ‘A1’, ‘A2’ , ‘B1’ and ‘B2’ such that both of them('A1' and 'A2') have same size. Then at least one of the following must hold true:
   a. ‘A1’ is similar to ‘B1’ and ‘A2’ is similar to ‘B2’.
   b. ‘A1’ is similar to ‘B2’ and ‘A2’ is similar to ‘B1’.
Problem approach

I solved this problem using this approach. Let’s define the following operation on string S: We can divide it into two halves and, if desired, swap them. Additionally, we can recursively apply this operation to both of its halves. By careful observation, we can see that if applying the operation to some string A results in B, then applying the operation to B will result in A. For the given two strings, we can recursively find the least lexicographic string that can be obtained from them. If these obtained strings are equal, the answer is YES; otherwise, it is NO. For example, the least lexicographic string for “aaba” is “aaab,” and the least lexicographic string for “abaa” is also “aaab.” Hence, both of these are equivalent.

Try solving now
02
Round
Medium
Video Call
Duration60 mins
Interview date27 Jun 2020
Coding problem1

1. Find Number Of Islands

Moderate
34m average time
60% success
0/80
Asked in companies
MicrosoftAmazonUber

You are given a 2-dimensional array/list having N rows and M columns, which is filled with ones(1) and zeroes(0). 1 signifies land, and 0 signifies water.

A cell is said to be connected to another cell, if one cell lies immediately next to the other cell, in any of the eight directions (two vertical, two horizontal, and four diagonals).

A group of connected cells having value 1 is called an island. Your task is to find the number of such islands present in the matrix.

Problem approach

Tip 1: System design and graph problems need to be practiced more.

Try solving now
03
Round
Medium
Video Call
Duration60 mins
Interview date2 Jul 2020
Coding problem1

1. Technical Questions

1. To write a function that will swap two numbers (2 or 3 fixed), i.e. if I got 2, I need to return 3 and vice versa. (Learn)
2. Write SQL query for a table given by him. (Learn)
3. Two classes are there: Base and Derived, where the Derived class is inheriting from the Base class. If we create an object of the Derived class and call the destructor from it, which destructor will be called first?
4. What is the difference between a Process and a Thread? (Learn)
5. What is Deadlock? How to prevent it? (Learn)
6. Give examples of any two Network Protocols and the layers at which they work. (Learn)
7. What happens when you type URL in your browser? (Learn)
8. Check whether two strings are equivalent or not, one of them being an abbreviation of the other. (Case-Insensitive).

Problem approach

Be clear with your B.Tech syllabus; you must go through OOPs concepts, DBMS, and Operating Systems.

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Skill covered: Programming

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