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SDE - Intern

Optum
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3 rounds | 5 Coding problems

Interview preparation journey

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Preparation
Duration: 4 months
Topics: OOPS, DSA, DBMS, OS, Computer Architecture, Networks.
Tip
Tip

Tip 1 : Practice basic DSA questions and be very good in subjects like OOPS, DSA, DBMS, OS, Computer Architecture, Networks.
Tip 2 : Participate in hackathons.
Tip 3 : Have 2 good projects atleast and be very good in project concepts.

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

Tip 1 : Have good projects in your resume and have clear idea of what you have done in those.
Tip 2 : Mention languages, frameworks, subjects only when you have proper hold on them, don't mention things you don't know properly.

Interview rounds

01
Round
Medium
Telephonic
Duration60 minutes
Interview date2 Dec 2021
Coding problem2

This round was conducted on the online platform and had 26 questions. MCQs each were of 1 mark with no negative marking while 2 coding questions were of 50 marks. The MCQs were hard and difficult to finish because of time constraints.

1. Find Pair With Smallest Difference

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

Given two unsorted arrays of non-negative integers, 'arr1' and 'arr2' of size 'N' and 'M', respectively. Your task is to find the pair of elements (one from each array), such that their absolute (non-negative) difference is the smallest, and return the difference.

Example :
N = 3, arr1 = [10, 20, 30]
M = 2, arr2 = [17, 15]
The smallest difference pair is (20, 17) with an absolute difference of 3. So, the answer is 3.
Note :
Both the arrays are unsorted, and all array elements are non-negative integers.
Problem approach

Use map to solve this and can be used using 2 pointers also

Try solving now

2. Search In Infinite Sorted 0-1 Array

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

You are given an infinite array consisting of only ones and zeroes, in sorted order. You have to find the index of the first occurrence of 1.

Example:
If the array is 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1… then, the first occurrence of 1 will be at index 4 therefore the answer here is 4.
Note:
As the array size is infinite, the actual array won’t be given to you. Instead, you will be able to access the array elements by calling a method named ‘get’.

get(i) : returns the value present at index I.

Indexing is 0-based. 

Instead of representing an infinite array in the input, we give the index of the first occurrence of 1 in the input itself. However, this input will be completely hidden from the user.

It is guaranteed that the answer will fit in a 64-bit integer.
Problem approach

Try to find the pattern because infinite array can not be made.

Try solving now
02
Round
Easy
Telephonic
Duration60 minutes
Interview date3 Dec 2021
Coding problem2

This round was scheduled around 12 : 00 PM, I was given two coding questions to solve in the given time limit

1. Minimum Cost Path

Moderate
25m average time
70% success
0/80
Asked in companies
HSBCHCL TechnologiesHCL Technologies

You have been given a matrix of ‘N’ rows and ‘M’ columns filled up with integers. Find the minimum sum that can be obtained from a path which from cell (x,y) and ends at the top left corner (1,1).

From any cell in a row, we can move to the right, down or the down right diagonal cell. So from a particular cell (row, col), we can move to the following three cells:

Down: (row+1,col)
Right: (row, col+1)
Down right diagonal: (row+1, col+1)
Problem approach

This is Most Famous Graph question. So, I applied the basic approach for solving this

Try solving now

2. Longest Common Subsequence

Moderate
39m average time
0/80
Asked in companies
SlicePayPalSAP Labs

Given two strings, 'S' and 'T' with lengths 'M' and 'N', find the length of the 'Longest Common Subsequence'.

For a string 'str'(per se) of length K, the subsequences are the strings containing characters in the same relative order as they are present in 'str,' but not necessarily contiguous. Subsequences contain all the strings of length varying from 0 to K.

Example :
Subsequences of string "abc" are:  ""(empty string), a, b, c, ab, bc, ac, abc.
Problem approach

Use DP approach which is efficient 
First if last 2 character are equal do 
dp[i][j] = 1+dp[i-1][j-1]

else 

dp[i][j] = max(dp[i][j-1],dp[i-1][j])

Try solving now
03
Round
Easy
HR Round
Duration30 minutes
Interview date4 Dec 2021
Coding problem1

It was a HR round. Basically, they will aim to check your personality and attitude towards adapting to changes and advancements

1. Basic HR Questions

  • Tell me about yourself
  • Are you comfortable with the job location?
  • What challenges have you faced in your life and how did you solve that?
  • Will you able to adapt with new technology?
Problem approach

Tip 1 : Don't hesitate while giving replies to the manager
Tip 2 : Stay honest during the interview, a single lie can wash out your chances of selection

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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