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

SDE - 1

Ola
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3 rounds | 6 Coding problems

Interview preparation journey

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Journey
I have heard about Ola and always wanted to work with Ola. In my 7th semester, Ola Electric visited my campus to hire students for the SDE-1 role. I applied the next day, and my resume was shortlisted for the online assessment. I went through all rounds and it was very organized and well conducted.
Application story
It was on campus and 1st round was resume shortlisted. Then was a Online Assessment and few interview rounds.
Why selected/rejected for the role?
I was selected for SDE-1 role. I was able to solve all DSA problems asked with optimal approach, complexities and explanations on my intuition. I was asked SQL, and DBMS which I was able to answer.
Preparation
Duration: 2 months
Topics: SQL, DBMS, OOPS, Data Structures, Operating System
Tip
Tip

Tip 1 : Prepare with DSA well 
Tip 2 : Read interview experience before interview
Tip 3 : Read about all core subjects

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

Tip 1 : Mention all projects with GitHub link
Tip 2 : Mention skills with proof, ex: leetcode link for show case DSA skills

Interview rounds

01
Round
Medium
Online Coding Test
Duration90 minutes
Interview date10 Jan 2022
Coding problem3

It was a 90 minutes online coding round. There were 3 coding questions (easy-medium) and all were mandatory to attempt. Questions covered were from arrays, string, DP.

1. Find All Anagrams in a String

Easy
15m average time
85% success
0/40
Asked in companies
IntuitThought WorksAmerican Express

You have been given a string STR and a non-empty string PTR. Your task is to find all the starting indices of PTR’s anagram in STR.

An anagram of a string is another string which contains the same characters and is obtained by rearranging the characters.

For example: ‘SILENT’ and ‘LISTEN’ are anagrams of each other. ‘ABA’ and ‘ABB’ are not anagram because we can’t convert ‘ABA’ to ‘ABB’ by rearranging the characters of particular strings.

Note:

1. Both STR and PTR consist of English uppercase letters.
2. Length of string 'STR' will always be greater than or equal to the length of string ‘PTR’.
3. In case, there is no anagram substring, then return an empty sequence.
4. In case of more than one anagrams, return the indices in increasing order.
Problem approach

Tip 1 : I solved it with the naive approach
Tip 2 : Manage time properly because 3 questions in 90 minutes may sound easy but take time to solve

Try solving now

2. Fractional Knapsack

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

You have been given weights and values of ‘N’ items. You are also given a knapsack of size ‘W’.

Your task is to put the items in the knapsack such that the total value of items in the knapsack is maximum.

Note:
You are allowed to break the items.
Example:
If 'N = 4' and 'W = 10'. The weights and values of items are weights = [6, 1, 5, 3] and values = [3, 6, 1, 4]. 
Then the best way to fill the knapsack is to choose items with weight 6, 1 and  3. The total value of knapsack = 3 + 6 + 4 = 13.00   
Try solving now

3. Rearrange The Array

Easy
0/40
Asked in companies
AmazonAdobeChegg Inc.

You are given an array/list NUM of integers. You are supposed to rearrange the elements of NUM such that no two adjacent elements will be the same or find out if it not possible.

For example:
Input: arr[] = {1,1,1,2,2,2} 
Output: {1,2,1,2,1,2}

Note: {2,1,2,1,2,1} is also valid because there are no two adjacent elements which are the same.
Try solving now
02
Round
Medium
Video Call
Duration50 minutes
Interview date12 Jan 2022
Coding problem2

It was a 40-50 minutes technical round on zoom.
It started with tell me about yourself. Gave me 2-coding questions (medium-hard).

1. Merge K Sorted Arrays

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

You have been given ‘K’ different arrays/lists, which are sorted individually (in ascending order). You need to merge all the given arrays/list such that the output array/list should be sorted in ascending order.

Problem approach

I started with a naive approach
Create an output array of size N * K. 
Traverse the matrix from start to end and insert all the elements in the output array.
Sort and print the output array.

Then I explained the optimal approach which was based on merging.

Try solving now

2. Stack using queue

Moderate
25m average time
65% success
0/80
Asked in companies
DunzoOptumBig Basket

Implement a Stack Data Structure specifically to store integer data using two Queues.


There should be two data members, both being Queues to store the data internally. You may use the inbuilt Queue.


Implement the following public functions :

1. Constructor:
It initializes the data members(queues) as required.

2. push(data) :
This function should take one argument of type integer. It pushes the element into the stack and returns nothing.

3. pop() :
It pops the element from the top of the stack and, in turn, returns the element being popped or deleted. In case the stack is empty, it returns -1.

4. top :
It returns the element being kept at the top of the stack. In case the stack is empty, it returns -1.

5. size() :
It returns the size of the stack at any given instance of time.

6. isEmpty() :
It returns a boolean value indicating whether the stack is empty or not.
Operations Performed on the Stack:
Query-1(Denoted by an integer 1): Pushes an integer data to the stack. (push function)

Query-2(Denoted by an integer 2): Pops the data kept at the top of the stack and returns it to the caller. (pop function)

Query-3(Denoted by an integer 3): Fetches and returns the data being kept at the top of the stack but doesn't remove it, unlike the pop function. (top function)

Query-4(Denoted by an integer 4): Returns the current size of the stack. (size function)

Query-5(Denoted by an integer 5): Returns a boolean value denoting whether the stack is empty or not. (isEmpty function)
Example
Operations: 
1 5
1 10
2
3
4

Enqueue operation 1 5: We insert 5 at the back of the queue.
  Queue: [5]

Enqueue operation 1 10: We insert 10 at the back of the queue.
  Queue: [5, 10]

Dequeue operation 2: We remove the element from the front of the queue, which is 5, and print it.
  Output: 5
  Queue: [10]

Peek operation 3: We return the element present at the front of the queue, which is 10, without removing it.
  Output: 10
  Queue: [10]

IsEmpty operation 4: We check if the queue is empty.
  Output: False
  Queue: [10]
Problem approach

I first implemented a stack running correctly and then added the modification with the explanation.
He asked me to optimise the code and gave me some hints. I was able to code and explain.
After implementing my approach, I asked for some test cases and made a dry run.
I explained my intuition and also the complexities.
I also explained some other optimal approaches I was not asked to code.

Try solving now
03
Round
Easy
HR Round
Duration30 minutes
Interview date13 Jan 2022
Coding problem1

This round was not on technical knowledge, I was asked about my education and my skills and what I know about Ola and Ola Electric.

1. Basic HR Questions

Tell me about yourself.

What do you know about OLA?

Any issue you have ever faced with OLA Cabs and how will you fix it as a developer?

What projects you have worked on?

What were the challenges you faced in your remote internship and how did you overcome them?

Are you suitable with the office location?

Here's your problem of the day

Solving this problem will increase your chance to get selected in this company

Skill covered: Programming

What is recursion?

Choose another skill to practice
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