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

SDE - 1

ZS Associates
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3 rounds | 6 Coding problems

Interview preparation journey

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Journey
When I joined college, I was unaware of this Data Structure and Algorithm, which made my journey to getting an internship way more complicated. From that point, I started doing questions on leetcode and code studio.
Application story
This company visited for the placement to my college i get to know about this company from my college placement cell.
Why selected/rejected for the role?
I was rejected because i was not able to provide a good approach to the DSA question which are being asked
Preparation
Duration: 3 months
Topics: Data Structures, Pointers, OOPS, System Design, Algorithms, Dynamic Programming
Tip
Tip

Tip 1 : Practice from Leetcode, solve Leetcode medium level problems.
Tip 2 : Brush up computer fundamentals from subjects like OS, DBMS and CN.
Tip 3 : Have a good project or good internship experience and have in-depth knowledge regarding what you have done.

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

Tip 1 : Have some projects on resume.
Tip 2 : Do not put false things on resume.

Interview rounds

01
Round
Medium
Video Call
Duration60 minutes
Interview date30 Nov 2022
Coding problem2

1. Kevin And His Cards

Easy
20m average time
80% success
0/40
Asked in companies
AdobeAmazonZS Associates

Kevin has two sorted packs of cards. The first pack has N cards and the second one has M cards. Every card has an integer written on it. Now, you have to tell two things. First, how many different types of cards does Kevin have with both packs(union). Second, how many types both the packs have in common(intersection).

Note :
Two cards are said to be of different types if they have different numbers written on them.
Problem approach

Kevin has two sorted packs of cards. The first pack has N cards and the second one has M cards. Every card has an integer written on it. Now, you have to tell two things. First, how many different types of cards does Kevin have with both packs(union). Second, how many types both the packs have in common(intersection).

Try solving now

2. Minimum Fountains

Easy
10m average time
80% success
0/40
Asked in companies
OYOAdobeSamsung R&D Institute

There is a one-dimensional garden of length 'N'. On each of the positions from 0 to 'N', there is a fountain, and this fountain’s water can reach up to a certain range as explained further. In other words, there are 'N' + 1 fountains located at positions 0, 1, 2, 3, …. 'N' which can be activated in the garden.

You are given an integer 'N' and an array/list 'ARR' of length 'N' + 1, where each index of the array denotes the coverage limit of a particular fountain.

A fountain at index 'i' can water the area ranging from the position 'i' - 'ARR'['i'] to 'i' + 'ARR'['i'].

Your task is to find the minimum number of fountains that have to be activated such that the whole garden from position 0 to 'N' has access to the water from at least some fountain.

Note:

1. 0-based indexing is used in the array.
2. We only care about the garden from 0 to 'N' only. So if i - 'ARR'['i'] < 0 or i + 'ARR'['i'] > 'N', you may ignore the exceeding area.
3. If some fountain covers the garden from position 'A' to position 'B', it means that the water from this fountain will spread to the whole line segment with endpoints 'A' and 'B'.
Problem approach

There is a one-dimensional garden of length 'N'. On each of the positions from 0 to 'N', there is a fountain, and this fountain’s water can reach up to a certain range as explained further. In other words, there are 'N' + 1 fountains located at positions 0, 1, 2, 3, …. 'N' which can be activated in the garden.

Try solving now
02
Round
Easy
Video Call
Duration60 minutes
Interview date30 Nov 2022
Coding problem3

1. DBMS Questions

1. ACID properties of DBMS
2. What are the differences between a DBMS and RDBMS?
3. What is normalization, and what are the different types of normalization?

2. Reverse Linked List

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

Given a singly linked list of integers. Your task is to return the head of the reversed linked list.

For example:
The given linked list is 1 -> 2 -> 3 -> 4-> NULL. Then the reverse linked list is 4 -> 3 -> 2 -> 1 -> NULL and the head of the reversed linked list will be 4.
Follow Up :
Can you solve this problem in O(N) time and O(1) space complexity?
Problem approach

Given a singly linked list of integers. Your task is to return the head of the reversed linked list.

Try solving now

3. Minimize Cash Flow

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

You are given a list of ‘transactions’ between ‘n’ number of friends. who have to give each other money. The list consists of data of receiver, sender, and transaction.

Your task is to minimize the cash flow and the total number of transactions should also be minimum.

For example :

subsequence

In figure 1 : friend-1 has to pay 2000$ to friend-2, and 4000$ to friend-3 and friend-2 has to pay 3000$ to friend-3.

In figure 2 : so we can minimize the flow between friend-1 to friend-2 by direct pay to friend-1 to friend-3
Problem approach

You are given a list of ‘transactions’ between ‘n’ number of friends. who have to give each other money. The list consists of data of receiver, sender, and transaction.
Your task is to minimize the cash flow and the total number of transactions should also be minimum.

Try solving now
03
Round
Easy
HR Round
Duration30 minutes
Interview date30 Nov 2022
Coding problem1

1. Basic HR Questions

Introduce yourself.

Who is your Ideal?

Why should we hire you?

Problem approach

Tip 1 : Prepare Subjects in Depth for Technical Coding & Interview Round. 
Tip 2 : All the Questions were basic in the HR Round ! Be Honest in HR Round as well as Technical Rounds.
Tip 3 : Be Confident in HR Round and don't hesitate while answering and explaining situation based questions.
Tip 4 : It is ok to ask the question again till you don't understand and take the time.

Here's your problem of the day

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

Skill covered: Programming

Which SQL clause is used to specify the conditions in a query?

Choose another skill to practice
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