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

SDE - 1

PayPal
upvote
share-icon
4 rounds | 4 Coding problems

Interview preparation journey

expand-icon
Preparation
Duration: 6 months
Topics: DSA, HLD, LLD, DBMS, COMPUTER NETWORKS, OS
Tip
Tip

Tip 1 : DSA/Problem Solving is a must
Tip 2 : Be comfortable with atleast one language with the proper syntax
Tip 3 : Give mock interviews for practice

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

Tip 1 : Mention your achievements like Google Kickstart or ratings in different coding platforms
Tip 2 : Mention good projects

Interview rounds

01
Round
Hard
Online Coding Interview
Duration60 minutes
Interview date15 Sep 2021
Coding problem1

It was on hackerearth platform and duration was 60 mins.

1. Maximum Path Sum in the matrix

Moderate
35m average time
70% success
0/80
Asked in companies
AmazonPayPalMicrosoft

You have been given an N*M matrix filled with integer numbers, find the maximum sum that can be obtained from a path starting from any cell in the first row to any cell in the last row.

From a cell in a row, you can move to another cell directly below that row, or diagonally below left or right. So from a particular cell (row, col), we can move in three directions i.e.

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

We are given a matrix of N * M. To find max path sum first we have to find max value in first row of matrix. Store this value in res. Now for every element in matrix update element with max value which can be included in max path. If the value is greater then res then update res. In last return res which consists of max path sum value.

Try solving now
02
Round
Easy
Video Call
Duration60 minutes
Interview date30 Sep 2021
Coding problem1

Only problem solving was asked simple DSA based questions

1. Valid Parentheses

Easy
10m average time
80% success
0/40
Asked in companies
AmazonIntuitOracle

You're given a string 'S' consisting of "{", "}", "(", ")", "[" and "]" .


Return true if the given string 'S' is balanced, else return false.


For example:
'S' = "{}()".

There is always an opening brace before a closing brace i.e. '{' before '}', '(' before ').
So the 'S' is Balanced.
Problem approach

Declare a character stack S.
Now traverse the expression string exp. 
If the current character is a starting bracket (‘(‘ or ‘{‘ or ‘[‘) then push it to stack.
If the current character is a closing bracket (‘)’ or ‘}’ or ‘]’) then pop from stack and if the popped character is the matching starting bracket then fine else brackets are not balanced.
After complete traversal, if there is some starting bracket left in stack then “not balanced”

Try solving now
03
Round
Easy
Video Call
Duration60 mins
Interview date1 Oct 2021
Coding problem1

Problem solving and DSA

1. Two Sum

Easy
10m average time
90% success
0/40
Asked in companies
MeeshoAdobeInfo Edge India (Naukri.com)

You are given an array of integers 'ARR' of length 'N' and an integer Target. Your task is to return all pairs of elements such that they add up to Target.

Note:

We cannot use the element at a given index twice.

Follow Up:

Try to do this problem in O(N) time complexity. 
Problem approach

This problem can be solved efficiently by using the technique of hashing. Use a hash_map to check for the current array value x(let), if there exists a value target_sum-x which on adding to the former gives target_sum. This can be done in constant time.

Try solving now
04
Round
Easy
Video Call
Duration30 minutes
Interview date5 Apr 2021
Coding problem1

This was hiring manager round and it was mostly behavioural round

1. Technical Questions

What are your strengths and weaknesses?

Why do you want to join us?

Problem approach

Tip 1 : Make sure you have good recall of your past experiences so that you can talk about them
Tip 2 : Show how passionate you are about the role by some experiences in your past company
Tip 3 : Always be open to work on any technology

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
Similar interview experiences
company logo
SDE - 1
4 rounds | 6 problems
Interviewed by PayPal
4912 views
1 comments
0 upvotes
company logo
SDE - 1
4 rounds | 7 problems
Interviewed by PayPal
0 views
0 comments
0 upvotes
company logo
SDE - 1
2 rounds | 4 problems
Interviewed by PayPal
1710 views
0 comments
0 upvotes
company logo
SDE - 1
4 rounds | 6 problems
Interviewed by PayPal
2783 views
0 comments
0 upvotes
Companies with similar interview experiences
company logo
SDE - 1
5 rounds | 12 problems
Interviewed by Amazon
115097 views
24 comments
0 upvotes
company logo
SDE - 1
4 rounds | 5 problems
Interviewed by Microsoft
58238 views
5 comments
0 upvotes
company logo
SDE - 1
3 rounds | 7 problems
Interviewed by Amazon
35147 views
7 comments
0 upvotes