Expedia Group interview experience Real time questions & tips from candidates to crack your interview
SDE - 2
Expedia Group
4 rounds | 5 Coding
problems
Selected Interview preparation journey
Journey
It was a time in mid-2022 when I was looking for a job change in big MNCs like Microsoft, Adobe, and Expedia. These were the only companies I targeted. I was also giving interviews at other companies to understand the interview structure and process at my level of experience. I started my preparation with basic DS/Algo questions from CodeStudio, then gradually moved to the medium category. I didn't prepare any hard-level questions. Along with DS/Algo, I was also preparing for design rounds.
Application story
I received some Expedia HR emails, so I directly sent an email to two of them, and after a few days, I received an email regarding the further interview process.
Why selected/rejected for the role?
I had been through four rounds of interviews, which consisted of two problem-solving rounds, one system design round, and one hiring manager round. My problem-solving rounds went pretty well. The system design round was average, and the hiring manager round was quite good. The manager was very happy with my past achievements and the projects I delivered. My overall suggestion to the audience is to stay confident and NEVER MIND REJECTIONS.
Preparation
Duration: 1 month
Topics: Data structures and algorithms - only medium-level questions, dynamic programming, low-level design, high-level design, Java multithreading and concurrency, Spring transaction working, messaging queue - Kafka, NSQ.
Tip 1: Don't solve 200-300 questions to prepare for ds/algo. Try to understand the pattern of each question you solve daily, and solving 100 questions before an interview is enough.
Tip 2: try to solve questions asked in machine coding rounds. Few companies keep this round as a mandatory one.
Tip 3: During system design preparation, try to draw block diagrams using draw.io or any other tool. Ask questions like what functional and functional requirements are, what the scale for this application should be, and if there are any storage limitations.
Tip 4: Prepare important system design concepts like caching, selection of SQL Vs NOSQL, Scaling, Data sharding & CDN
Application process
Where: Linkedin
Eligibility: minimum experience of 6 years was required
Tip 1: The resume should be one page.
Tip 2: Do not add any skills or projects that you are unable to explain.
Interview rounds
01
Round
Medium
Face to Face
Duration45 mins
Interview date5 Jul 2022
Coding problem1
1. Maximum meetings
Easy
10m average time
90% success
0/40
Asked in companies
You are given the schedule of 'N' meetings with their start time 'Start[i]' and end time 'End[i]'.
You have only 1 meeting room. So, you need to return the maximum number of meetings you can organize.
Note:
The start time of one chosen meeting can’t be equal to the end time of the other chosen meeting.
For example:
'N' = 3, Start = [1, 3, 6], End = [4, 8, 7].
You can organize a maximum of 2 meetings. Meeting number 1 from 1 to 4, Meeting number 3 from 6 to 7.
Problem approach
I started with a brute force approach. Then I thought of a data structure that could optimize the solution.
02
Round
Medium
Video Call
Duration60 mins
Interview date6 Jul 2022
Coding problem2
About problem-solving and a few internal working questions related to Kafka and Spring transactions.
1. Next Greater Number
Moderate
15m average time
90% success
0/80
Asked in companies
You are given a string S which represents a number. You have to find the smallest number strictly greater than the given number which contains the same set of digits as of the original number i.e the frequency of each digit from 0 to 9 should be exactly the same as in the original number.
For example:
If the given string is 56789, then the next greater number is 56798. Note that although 56790 is also greater than the given number it contains 1 '0' which is not in the original number and also it does not contain the digit '8'.
Note:
The given string is non-empty.
If the answer does not exist, then return -1.
The given number does not contain any leading zeros.
Problem approach
Started with brute force and then used sorting to optimize it further.
2. Technical questions
Kafka internal working, spring transaction working
Problem approach
Tip 1: I worked on Kafka before, so I already knew the concepts.
Tip 2: I have good experience in Spring and its concepts, so I was able to answer those.
03
Round
Medium
Video Call
Duration60 mins
Interview date8 Jul 2022
Coding problem1
During the first 30 minutes, I was asked about my project architecture, and in the next 30 minutes, I was asked to design an e-commerce site.
1. Design Question
Design e-commerce website like amazon/flipkart. (Learn)
Problem approach
Tip 1: Clarify the functional and non-functional requirements.
Tip 2: Explain which architecture you want to use. I went for the microservice one.
Tip 3: Divide the architecture into multiple components and assign different responsibilities to different components.
04
Round
Medium
Video Call
Duration60 mins
Interview date12 Jul 2022
Coding problem1
It was mostly about the challenges and past project.
1. Project based questions
It was only about my past experience with the project.
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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