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

SDE - 1

Groww
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3 rounds | 5 Coding problems

Interview preparation journey

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Journey
I initially started my journey by learning primary programming languages. Later, I started giving contests on code forces and solving questions on it. I kept trying to be consistent in doing so. After 2-3 months, I solved some questions on code forces. Then, in my third year, I studied core subjects like OS, DBMS, OOPS, and CN in depth. In this manner, I was prepared before the placement season.
Application story
My friend told me about this job so I applied for it. I prepared myself before the interview and got the offer letter after the selection process.
Why selected/rejected for the role?
I was confident during the entire interview process. I worked a lot on my coding skills, which were the main reasons for me getting par the selection process.
Preparation
Duration: 6 months
Topics: Topics: Data Structures and Algorithms, Operating System, Database Management System, Object-Oriented Programming System
Tip
Tip

Tip 1: Be through with your projects on what you have worked with
Tip 2: Ensure the skillsets you mentioned in your resume are well reflected when asked questions about them. I mentioned Python programming in my resume, and they asked me to design a DNS-based API in Python

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

Tip 1: Include only known and worked-on concepts in your resume. Please don't bluff or exaggerate.
Tip 2: Our resume must show that we are flexible and have worked on multiple domains. So try to do and add 
at least two projects to your resume that are of different domains.
Tip 3: The resume must look professional and include only a few personal details.

Interview rounds

01
Round
Medium
Video Call
Duration60 minutes
Interview date12 Dec 2021
Coding problem2

1. Positive Negative Pair

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

Given an array of distinct integers, find all the pairs having positive value and negative value of a number that exists in the array. Return the pairs in any order.

Note:
The pair consists of equal absolute values, one being positive and another negative.

Return an empty array, if no such pair exists.
Problem approach

I asked for clarifications on whether I should print all distinct x‘s or print an x if a pair of +x and -x is encountered. The first approach I told was to use a map, and I kept a flag for +x and -x if it’s found once. Later, he asked me to print all pairs, so I stored the frequencies of all the elements in the map and iterated through the harmful elements, and for each element x, I would print x min(count[-x],count[+x]) times. He said he couldn’t afford that much space and wanted me to optimize space further. So I told him a two pointer approach where I sort the array once and then keep two pointers to the start and end. I would move the start pointer forward if the sum is less than 0 and the end pointer backward if the sum is greater than 0. He was OK with the solution and asked me to code it in a paper. I wrote the code and walked him through it.

Try solving now

2. System Design Question

I was asked to design the Splitwise app APIs in my favorite language using the editor of my choice—design Splitwise APIs with the following functionalities - 1. Create User2. Create Group3. Add user to group.4. Add Bill to a Group.5. Get balance/settlement of a group.6. Get balance/settlement of a user.7. Allow configurable option to simplify the debts of users in a group. Additional: 1 user can be part of multiple groups, and 1 group can have multiple users and multiple bills.

Problem approach

Step 1: Defined the entities
Step 2: Define their relationships and identify 1-to-1 and 1-to-many relationships.
Step 3: Define the database and how it will perform the operations.
Step 4: Define the classes, methods, and relationships using the suitable framework (in my case, I used Python with Django). 
Step 5: Write the code for individual methods to finish the code.
Step 6: Write unit-test cases using a suitable testing framework.

02
Round
Medium
Video Call
Duration60 minutes
Interview date15 Dec 2021
Coding problem2

1. Nth Element Of Modified Fibonacci Series

Easy
15m average time
85% success
0/40
Asked in companies
MicrosoftFacebookGroww

You have been given two integers ‘X’ and ‘Y’ which are the first two integers of a series and an integer ‘N’. You have to find the Nth number of the series using the Fibonacci rule given by f(x) = f(x - 1) + f(x - 2).

The answer may be very large, return it after modulus 10 ^ 9 + 7.

Note:

The series is 1-based indexed.
Problem approach

I solved the problem using the dynamic programming concept, creating a 1-D array and using the previous two values to calculate the next final leading to the final result.

Try solving now

2. Word Wrap

Moderate
20m average time
75% success
0/80
Asked in companies
CoinbaseMicrosoftGroww

You are given ‘N’ words of various lengths, now you have to arrange these words in such a way that each line contains at most ‘M’ characters and each word is separated by a space character. The cost of each line is equal to the cube of extra space characters required to complete ‘M’ characters in that particular line. Total cost is equal to the sum of costs of each line.

Your task is to form this arrangement with the minimum cost possible and return the minimum total cost.

Note:
The length of each word should be less than or equal to ‘M’.

You can’t break a word, i.e. the entire word should come in the same line and it must not be the case that a part of it comes in the first line and another part on the next line.
Problem approach

I first used recursion and then converted it to a dynamic programming-based solution.

Try solving now
03
Round
Easy
HR Round
Duration30 minutes
Interview date19 Dec 2021
Coding problem1

1. HR Questions

Mostly, the interviewer enquired about the projects I did in my previous organizations, trying to find out the breadth I have worked on and judge whether I knew about it.

Problem approach

Tip 1: Always answer using the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) model. It helps the person understand the complete story of your project/task.

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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