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

Associate Software Developer

IBM
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3 rounds | 5 Coding problems

Interview preparation journey

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Journey
I started my coding journey on youtube, where I first learned the data structure and Algorithm. Then I started my preparation of Data Structure on the LinkedIn.
Application story
Company visited to your campus for the placement .
Why selected/rejected for the role?
I was rejected because I could not give precise and optimized solutions to the questions asked .
Preparation
Duration: 6 months
Topics: Data Structures, Pointers, OOPS, System Design, Algorithms, Dynamic Programming, System Design, Link List and Graphs
Tip
Tip

Tip 1 - Practice Atleast 250 Questions
Tip 2 - Ex- Do atleast 2 projects

Application process
Where: Campus
Eligibility: Above 7 CGPA
Resume Tip
Resume tip

Tip 1 : Have some projects on resume.
Tip 2 : Do not put false things on resume.

Interview rounds

01
Round
Easy
Video Call
Duration60 minutes
Interview date17 Nov 2022
Coding problem2

1. Cousins of Given Node in Binary Tree

Moderate
10m average time
90% success
0/80
Asked in companies
AmazonSamsungIBM

Given a binary tree of N nodes and a node of this tree, you need to return a list containing the values of the cousins of the given node in the given binary tree sorted by non-decreasing order of their values.

Note:
Two nodes of a binary tree are cousins if they have the same depth or level, but have different parents.

No two nodes in the given binary tree will have the same data values.
Example :

Example Of Cousins

Problem approach

You are given an arbitrary binary tree consisting of N nodes, where each node is associated with a certain value, and two node values, a and b, you need to check if these nodes are cousins.

Try solving now

2. 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

Given the head node of the singly linked list, return a pointer pointing to the middle of the linked list.

Try solving now
02
Round
Easy
Video Call
Duration60 minutes
Interview date17 Nov 2022
Coding problem2

1. Largest rectangle in a histogram

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

You have been given an array/list 'HEIGHTS' of length ‘N. 'HEIGHTS' represents the histogram and each element of 'HEIGHTS' represents the height of the histogram bar. Consider that the width of each histogram is 1.

You are supposed to return the area of the largest rectangle possible in the given histogram.

For example :
In the below histogram where array/list elements are {2, 1, 5, 6, 2, 3}.

alt text

The area of largest rectangle possible in the given histogram is 10.
Problem approach

You have been given an array/list 'HEIGHTS' of length ‘N. 'HEIGHTS' represents the histogram and each element of 'HEIGHTS' represents the height of the histogram bar. Consider that the width of each histogram is 1.

Try solving now

2. Merge overlapping intervals

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

Given 'N' number of intervals, where each interval contains two integers denoting the boundaries of the interval. The task is to merge all the overlapping intervals and return the list of merged intervals sorted in ascending order.

Two intervals will be considered to be overlapping if the starting integer of one interval is less than or equal to the finishing integer of another interval, and greater than or equal to the starting integer of that interval.

Example:
for the given 5 intervals - [1,4], [3,5], [6,8], [10,12], [8,9].
Since intervals [1,4] and [3,5] overlap with each other, we will merge them into a single interval as [1,5].

Similarly [6,8] and [8,9] overlaps, we merge them into [6,9].

Interval [10,12] does not overlap with any interval.

Final List after merging overlapping intervals: [1,5], [6,9], [10,12]
Problem approach

Given 'N' number of intervals, where each interval contains two integers denoting the boundaries of the interval. The task is to merge all the overlapping intervals and return the list of merged intervals sorted in ascending order.

Try solving now
03
Round
Easy
HR Round
Duration30 minutes
Interview date17 Nov 2022
Coding problem1

1. Basic HR Questions

Tell me about yourself.
Why should I hire you?
What are your strengths and weaknesses?
Why do you want to work at our company?
What is the difference between confidence and over confidence?
What is the difference between hard work and smart work?

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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