McKinsey & Company interview experience Real time questions & tips from candidates to crack your interview
SDE - 1
McKinsey & Company
3 rounds | 8 Coding
problems
Rejected
Interview preparation journey
Preparation
Duration: 2 months
Topics: HTML, CSS, JS, DSA, ReactJS, Redux and Web fundamentals
Tip 1 : Go in depth for each of the topics. Have projects related to the JD on your resume.
Tip 2 : Expect the unexpected. The interviewer can out of the blue ask you about any tech not related to the job, but is there in your resume
Tip 3 : Show eagerness to join the company, and a will to learn
Application process
Where: Referral
Eligibility: No Criteria
Tip 1 : Have projects related to the JD in your resume
Tip 2 : Do not lie on resume. Interviewers are pretty quick to find it
Interview rounds
01
Round
Easy
Online Coding Interview
Duration100 minutes
Interview date13 May 2022
Coding problem3
I gave the test late at night. It took place on Hackerrank and comprised of 3 questions
1. DBMS
Given 2 tables, join them and display records where the count of a certain property is more than 2
Problem approach
Tip 1 : Be clear on SQL fundamentals
Tip 2 : Have a good knowledge about joins, and inbuilt SQL functions
2. Node JS
Make API call to a given API, and return data in given format
Problem approach
Tip 1 : Know the fundamentals of API calls
Tip 2 : Know a library such as fetch / Axios which does makes working with API calls easier
3. Kth largest element in the unsorted array
Moderate
10m average time
90% success
0/80
Asked in companies
You are given an array consisting of 'N' distinct positive integers and a number 'K'. Your task is to find the kth largest element in the array.
Example:
Consider the array {2,1,5,6,3,8} and 'K' = 3, the sorted array will be {8, 6, 5, 3, 2, 1}, and the 3rd largest element will be 5.
Note:
1) Kth largest element in an array is the kth element of the array when sorted in non-increasing order.
2) All the elements of the array are pairwise distinct.
Problem approach
I solved it using max heap, using the standard approach.
02
Round
Easy
Video Call
Duration60 minutes
Interview date13 May 2022
Coding problem3
The interview took place at around 2:30 in the afternoon, over a teams meeting. The interviewer was friendly and the conversation began after a quick introduction from both of us.
1. DBMS
Given a table, get the top 1 record in each subgroup
Problem approach
Tip 1 : Be thorough with SQL fundamentals.
Tip 2 : Have knowledge of inbuilt SQL functions, like row_number which I used in this case to solve the question
2. Project Queries
In my current company I had implemented login and pagination in the app I was working on. The interviewer delved into a deep conversation on the same, asking about each of the nuances of the app
Problem approach
Tip 1 : Be thorough with whatever you mention in your resume
Tip 2 : Do not lie on it. It can come back to bite you if you aren't able to answer anything
Tip 3 : Learn in depth abut the work you are doing in current company, even though you do not need to.
3. Middle Of Linked List
Easy
20m average time
80% success
0/40
Asked in companies
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.
Problem approach
I solved it using fast and slow pointer approach. Fast pointer goes 2 steps at once, while slow goes 1. Progress until fast pointer is null
03
Round
Medium
Video Call
Duration60 minutes
Interview date18 May 2022
Coding problem2
This round took place at around 2:30 in the afternoon, about a week after the previous round. The interviewer was a Tech Lead. The round began with an introduction from both our sides
1. System Design
Describe the architecture behind the application I was working on in my current team.
Problem approach
Tip 1 : Thoroughly know about the project you are working on
Tip 2 : Have knowledge about the architecture and technologies being used, and why they are being used. Why not something else was used.
Tip 3 : Have proper reasoning to back up your answers.
2. Web Fundamentals
- How the web works?
- How the browsers work?
- What do you mean by a 'handshake'?
- How do REST APIs work?
Problem approach
Tip 1 : Have knowledge about DNS, routing etc, and the other web fundamentals.
Tip 2 : If you do not know something, better say so. Or the interviewer will trap you on his/her next question
Here's your problem of the day 
Solving this problem will increase your chance to get selected in this company
Skill covered: Programming
Which type of comments is used to comment on single lines of Java code?
Choose another skill to practice
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