Thought Works interview experience Real time questions & tips from candidates to crack your interview
SDE - 1
Thought Works
3 rounds | 7 Coding
problems
Selected Interview preparation journey
Preparation
Duration: 3 months
Topics: Data structures and Algorithms - Arrays, Trees, LinkedList, Graph, DP with 20-40 problems eachSystem Design - High Level, Low Level, Database Engineering3 Programming Languages - Javascript, Java, C++Knowledge of Node.js frameworks and librariesDatabase design, Operating System Concepts, Networking conceptsOOPS. Design Patterns and SOLID PrinciplesNodeJS, ReactJS, MongoDB, PostgreSQL, Kafka, Redis, Micro-servicesMicro-services, API Security concepts
Tip 1 : Practice lots of DSA questions. Focus on Trees and Linked List questions. The questions are common ones that can be found in Geeks for Geeks for FAANG. Try to explain and discuss the question and how you will solve it with the interviewer instead of directly jumping in solution.
Tip 2 : Keep talking and explaining to the interviewer about your thoughts. Even if you don't answer all the questions try to move in a direction that you think is approachable. Ask as many questions as you can especially in system design interview.
Tip 3 : Be throughly prepared because interviewer can ask from any part of your past projects and you have to explain them well. Be confident, build your open source contribution resume, at least few open source contribution would definitely help. Also, thoughtworks loves OOPS and Design Patterns, so make sure you know A-Z of it.
Application process
Where: Linkedin
Eligibility: No specific criteria
Tip 1 : Do open source contributions and mention them in the resume
Tip 2 : Don't over explain your projects, keep them for interview as it gives an impression that if you can speak about your project then you must know it well.
Interview rounds
01
Round
Medium
Assignment
Duration150 minutes
Interview date4 Jun 2021
Coding problem1
1. Technical Question
It was a dummy project where we had to complete the missing flow with the industry standards coding practices and using OOPS and Design Patterns concept and following the concept of TDD.
Problem approach
Tip 1: Take time to go through the project, each and every file and code so you don't miss any important part of the project, but make sure to do it quickly.
Tip 2: Ask lots of questions to the interviewer. Tell him your approach before start coding, maybe they are expecting something else.
Tip 3: Write your test cases before code as they follow TDD coding approach. Make sure your test cases are robust and well defined. They have a good eye for that.
02
Round
Medium
Online Coding Test
Duration90 Minutes
Interview date10 Jun 2021
Coding problem5
In this round they ask about coding questions, about your project, system design question and general interview questions related to your field.
1. System Design Question
Design a system for Toll Booth.
Problem approach
Tip 1 : Ask questions and clarify the requirements of what you have to build. Don't assume anything.
Tip 2 : In Low level design we are expected to write code, so don't go very deep, include the most important things and mention the other things verbally.
Tip 3 : Practise lots of System Design questions as 50-70% questions have similar type of requirements and design approach.
2. Technical Question
Write code for distribution of bonus in an office hierarchy. For example, there's top level CEO, then under it there are Managers, then there are staff and likewise. The descendant position receives 10% of the bonus amount of its parent position, so we have to distribute bonus amount to every person which will be given in input.
Problem approach
This is clearly an example of tree problem. A tree with multiple children. So every node consists of any array (we can mention that we can use linked list, but array can be used for simplicity) that references the positions below it, along with bonusAmount variable which holds the bonus amount received. So we just traverse the tree and every node in the array and calculate the bonus amount and assign it to the variable.
3. Move Zeroes To End
Moderate
30m average time
70% success
0/80
Asked in companies
Given an unsorted array of integers, you have to move the array elements in a way such that all the zeroes are transferred to the end, and all the non-zero elements are moved to the front. The non-zero elements must be ordered in their order of appearance.
For example, if the input array is: [0, 1, -2, 3, 4, 0, 5, -27, 9, 0], then the output array must be:
[1, -2, 3, 4, 5, -27, 9, 0, 0, 0].
Expected Complexity: Try doing it in O(n) time complexity and O(1) space complexity. Here, ‘n’ is the size of the array.
Problem approach
There are multiple ways to solve the problem, but go with the simplest solution that has less time complexity. The solution can be found online on Geeks for Geeks.
Ask all the inputs and outputs, even if they are mentioned confirm from the interviewer. Tell them about your assumptions.
4. DBMS Questions
Database indexing questions, db design of social media website and general Database performance questions.
Problem approach
Tip 1 : Do a thorough research of the databases and their types and master at least one type of database
Tip 2 : Try to go through videos of database design for common problems such as post/comments relation, like/reaction design, follower/following etc.
5. Left Rotations of An Array
Moderate
10m average time
90% success
0/80
Asked in companies
You are given an array consisting of 'N' elements and you need to perform 'Q' queries on the given array. Each query consists of an integer which tells the number of elements by which you need to left rotate the given array. For each query return the final array obtained after performing the left rotations.
Note:
Perform each query on the original array only i.e. every output should be according to the original order of elements.
Example:
Let the array be [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6] and the queries be {2, 4, 1}. For every query, we’ll perform the required number of left rotations on the array.
For the first query, rotate the given array to the left by 2 elements, so the resultant array is: [3, 4, 5, 6, 1, 2].
For the second query, rotate the given array to the left by 4 elements, so the resultant array is: [5, 6, 1, 2, 3, 4].
For the third query, rotate the given array to the left by 1 element, so the resultant array is: [2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 1].
03
Round
Easy
HR Round
Duration60 Minutes
Interview date14 Jun 2021
Coding problem1
It was culture round where they ask your views about specific problem in society/company and how you can help to solve it and make society/company culture more inclusive.
1. Basic HR questions
How comfortable do we feel working with LGBT+ community
Problem approach
Tip 1 : Try to express yourself fully and understand the cultural values of the company
Tip 2 : Share your views and don't engage in arguments with the interviewer, if you don't agree with them, simply share why you think so and try to move through it.
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Skill covered: Programming
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