PhamaGen.Ai interview experience Real time questions & tips from candidates to crack your interview

SDE - Intern

PhamaGen.Ai
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3 rounds | 5 Coding problems

Interview preparation journey

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Journey
An alumnus from our college, who is currently a founder at Pharmagen.ai, reached out to our Head of Department (HOD) regarding hiring opportunities. Following that, our HOD organized an on-campus DSA round, where students were tested on their problem-solving skills and knowledge of data structures. After clearing the campus round, the shortlisted students were invited to an online DSA coding round conducted directly by an interviewer from the company. This round was more in-depth, testing both speed and accuracy in solving algorithmic problems. The final stage was a machine coding round, where we were given a complete problem statement and had to build a working solution within the allotted time. This round focused heavily on coding best practices, scalability, and writing production-ready code. Overall, the process was both challenging and insightful, providing excellent exposure to how startups structure their hiring and evaluate candidates.
Application story
I got the opportunity through one of our college alumni, who is a founder at Pharmagen.ai. He connected with our Head of Department (HOD), who then informed us about the hiring process. The company decided to conduct the initial shortlisting directly on our campus. After that, the selected students were invited for further online rounds conducted by the company. The entire process was smooth and well-coordinated between our college and the company.
Why selected/rejected for the role?
I believe I was selected because I had a strong foundation in data structures and algorithms, which enabled me to solve problems efficiently during the technical rounds. Additionally, my ability to write clean, structured code in the machine coding round and clearly explain my thought process played a key role. I also had relevant projects on my resume, demonstrating the practical application of my skills.
Preparation
Duration: 2 months
Topics: Arrays, Strings, Recursion, Dynamic Programming, Graphs, Linked Lists, Binary Search Trees
Tip
Tip

Tip 1: Revise core concepts regularly and focus on time and space complexity.

Tip 2: Practice at least 200–250 DSA questions covering all major topics.

Tip 3: Build 1–2 strong projects to showcase practical development skills.

Application process
Where: Referral
Eligibility: Mostly those who are familiar with Python. (Salary Package: 5.5 LPA)
Resume Tip
Resume tip

Tip 1: Highlight 1–2 strong projects with a clear impact and the technologies used.

Tip 2: Keep the resume concise (1 page) and avoid including anything you cannot explain in detail.

Tip 3: Emphasize internships, achievements, or open-source contributions, if applicable.

Interview rounds

01
Round
Medium
Online Coding Test
Duration60 minutes
Interview date1 Mar 2025
Coding problem2

The rounds were conducted during the day.

1. Subsequences of String

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

You are given a string 'STR' containing lowercase English letters from a to z inclusive. Your task is to find all non-empty possible subsequences of 'STR'.

A Subsequence of a string is the one which is generated by deleting 0 or more letters from the string and keeping the rest of the letters in the same order.
Problem approach

Start at index i = 0 with an empty string current = "".
If i == n (past the end), record current as one subsequence and return.
Recurse excluding s[i] → dfs(i+1, current).
Recurse including s[i] → dfs(i+1, current + s[i]).
The recursion explores the binary choice at each character (2 choices per char), producing all 2^n subsequences.

Try solving now

2. Permutations

Moderate
10m average time
90% success
0/80
Asked in companies
CIS - Cyber InfrastructurePhamaGen.AiGoogle inc

A permutation is a mathematical technique that determines the number of possible arrangements in a set when the order of the arrangements matters. A string of length 'N' has 'N'! permutations.

Given an array of distinct integers, return all the possible permutations of the array.

Example:
'ARR[]' = [1, 2]

The size of the array is 2. So, the total number of permutations is 2! = 2. The possible permutations are [1, 2] (the array itself) and [2,1] where the position of element 1 in the original array is swapped with element 2 and vice-versa.   
Note:
1. All the numbers in the array are unique.

2. You can return the answer in any order.

3. The original array is also a permutation of the given array.
Problem approach

Start with index = 0.
For i from index to n-1:
Swap nums[index] and nums[i].
Recurse with index + 1.
Swap back (backtrack).
When index == n, record a copy of the current array as one permutation.

Try solving now
02
Round
Medium
Face to Face
Duration75 minutes
Interview date13 Mar 2025
Coding problem3

The interview was conducted online through Zoom, along with problem-solving on the coding platform. The timing was convenient and the setup was smooth, with clear communication throughout. The environment felt professional but not intimidating. The interviewer was friendly and encouraged me to explain my thought process while solving the problems, which made the session interactive rather than just a coding test.

1. Kth largest element in the unsorted array

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

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

Common Approaches:
Sort the array and return the element at index len(arr) - n.
Use a min-heap of size n for better performance (O(n log n) or O(n log k) approach).

Try solving now

2. Binary Search

Easy
15m average time
85% success
0/40
Asked in companies
OracleMedia.netAdobe

You are given an integer array 'A' of size 'N', sorted in non-decreasing order. You are also given an integer 'target'. Your task is to write a function to search for 'target' in the array 'A'. If it exists, return its index in 0-based indexing. If 'target' is not present in the array 'A', return -1.


Note:
You must write an algorithm whose time complexity is O(LogN)


Problem approach

Key: Divide the search space into halves and repeatedly check the mid element.
Time Complexity: O(log n)

Try solving now

3. Search In Rotated Sorted Array

Easy
12m average time
85% success
0/40
Asked in companies
Disney + HotstarPhonePeArcesium

You have been given a sorted array/list 'arr' consisting of ‘n’ elements. You are also given an integer ‘k’.


Now the array is rotated at some pivot point unknown to you.


For example, if 'arr' = [ 1, 3, 5, 7, 8], then after rotating 'arr' at index 3, the array will be 'arr' = [7, 8, 1, 3, 5].


Now, your task is to find the index at which ‘k’ is present in 'arr'.


Note :
1. If ‘k’ is not present in 'arr', then print -1.
2. There are no duplicate elements present in 'arr'. 
3. 'arr' can be rotated only in the right direction.


Example:
Input: 'arr' = [12, 15, 18, 2, 4] , 'k' = 2

Output: 3

Explanation:
If 'arr' = [12, 15, 18, 2, 4] and 'k' = 2, then the position at which 'k' is present in the array is 3 (0-indexed).


Problem approach

Approach:
Use modified binary search.
At each step, check whether the left half is sorted or the right half is sorted.
Narrow down the search space depending on where the target lies.

Time Complexity: O(log n)

Try solving now
03
Round
Medium
Online Coding Test
Duration60 Minutes
Interview date28 Mar 2025
Coding problem0

The technical rounds were conducted through a Zoom meeting, where I was given a problem statement to solve live. The task was to extract all links after scraping a given website, without using any external libraries. The interviewer observed how I approached the problem, focusing on my logic, use of string manipulation, and ability to handle edge cases. The environment was professional yet supportive, and the interviewer encouraged me to explain my reasoning step by step while coding.

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?

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