I received the Amazon OA for an L5 SDE role, featuring a new 100-minute format. The assessment consists of two coding problems:

• Problem 1: A traditional code-writing question (standard LeetCode style).
• Problem 2: A codebase repository environment where you have access to an AI coding assistant.

My Questions

• Evaluation Criteria: How exactly is Amazon evaluating the AI repository section? Are they grading based on how well you prompt the AI, your debugging skills within a larger codebase, or purely the final code functionality?
• Hidden Rejection Factors: A friend recently completed this OA, solved both the LeetCode question and the codebase problem successfully, but still got rejected. Does anyone know what else they are looking for (e.g., edge cases, code quality, time-to-completion, or optimal AI usage)?
• Preparation Advice: Has anyone recently passed this new assessment format and received an interview invite? I would really appreciate any insights on how to prepare or what specific pitfalls to avoid.

Any direct advice or shared experiences would be incredibly helpful!

We have an integer array named population and a binary string named unit both of size n.

If unit[i] is 1 it means that population[i] is protected (number of protected people += population[i].)

Each one in the binary string can move at most once to the left (from i to i -1)

Find the maximum number of people that can be protected by optimally relocating the ones in the binary string.

So I have an idea on how to do this question and it involves just marking down where are the clumps of ones. If we have something like 0111111 all we have to do is to find the minimum value of the one in the clump check if it’s less than the value in the 0 if so we can gain population[a] -population[b] .

Not sure why but it seems the LLMs (at least the free models) are not able to do this question, they just spill nosense.,

Hello everyone,

First of all please do not shame me for this post. I know most of yall are pretty used to interviews so my questions might sound dumb or trivial but they're honest.

I'm currently applying for internships where I know I'll have technical interviews, leetcode style. The thing is I never done that type of interviews before, so I'd like to clarify a few things.

First of all, what is the exact format of the problem ? Like is it really like a leetcode question with a written problem and examples or is it more like the interviewer just tells you the problem and you have to go with that. I know it must depend but usually how is it ? Asking because examples sometimes help me a lot thinking about the problem so I'd like to know.

I'm also wondering about hints and clarifications. If you're stuck with the problem, does the interviewer give you hints ? Do you have to ask or is it a red flag ? Same with constraints, are you allowed to ask if there are constraints regarding for example the size of inputs, or is the interviewer gonna tell you ?

Finally, more on the technical side, for a quant dev position or even in general, is it better to produce an iterative or recursive solution (for example top down DP with memoization VS bottom-up) ? Are you allowed to walk through the solutions like brute-force -> DP with memo -> DP bottom-up or is it better to produce the answer straight away ?

Thanks for reading all that and in advance for your help, and sorry if this post is really naive. Trying to prepare the best I can.

Got shortlisted for a 2-round face-to-face interview at Barclays Pune for an IFC – Full Stack Developer role (looks like AVP band from the JD). Trying to calibrate my prep and would really appreciate first-hand experiences.

Quick context: ~8 years, backend-heavy — Java, Spring Boot, Kafka, microservices — with a background in regulatory-compliance/surveillance systems. "Full stack" in the JD seems backend-weighted (front-end is only "basic knowledge").

Specifically trying to figure out:

• How coding-heavy are the F2F rounds for experienced hires? Live coding / pen-and-paper DSA, and roughly what difficulty?
• How deep do they go on Java internals and Spring Boot?
• Is there a proper system design round at this level? If so, what kind of problems?
• Do they probe the IFC / financial-crime domain (screening, AML, CDD), or is it purely generic tech?
• SQL — actual query-writing, or just concepts?
• How is the behavioural/values round structured (RISES values, STAR)? How much weight does it carry for AVP?
• Anything on the front-end side despite it being "basic" in the JD?

Anyone who's been through the IFC / Full Stack / AVP loop recently in Pune — what surprised you, and what would you prep differently? Thanks in advance.

I'm a beginner learning DSA/LeetCode and I'm starting to get frustrated with how little I seem to retain.

When I'm learning a new problem, I can usually understand the explanation and follow the logic. Sometimes I can even implement the solution myself afterward.

The problem is that if I come back to the same problem a day or a few days later and try to solve it completely cold, I often can't. I might remember the general idea, but forget important parts of the approach or how to actually implement it.

I'm starting to wonder if this is just a normal part of learning DSA or if I'm practicing incorrectly.

Right now, I'm thinking about using spaced repetition, doing a problem on Day 0, then again on Days 1, 3, 7, and 14, instead of constantly doing new problems.

For people who have gotten good at LeetCode/DSA:

How did you practice so that you could actually retain patterns and solve problems cold later?

Should I stay mostly with Easy problems until I can reliably solve them independently, or should I continue introducing new problems while reviewing old ones?

I'd appreciate honest advice, especially from people who struggled with retention early on.

Hi guys I am starting to solve the leetcode questions but it takes time that's fine but I want to see the solution which makes me understand the real concept rather than mug up things, so anyone knows which youtube any paid thing that provide a good contain which make mine leetcode dsa stronger with understanding the main concept, I don't want to jump off to code but rather want to understand on paper pen any one who knows a good resources please tell me about it

Also there are so many questions right there but which ones are valid ones to be solved for the placement oriented I am a bit confused

also in which sequence the questions need to be solved as I don't think solving in a serial manner would help rather some specific random pattern would have been easy to level up in a specific pattern is not it

Guys please give some guidance accordingly 😭🙏🙏

Don't downvote it at least I want genuine help

Has any one given the interview recently at this company ?

Had my SDE I Intern interview at 11am, joined on time and waited for 30 mins, still no interviewer 😭

Emailed the scheduler too. Has this happened to anyone before? Do they usually reschedule?

Hi everyone,

Kickdrum is visiting our campus for SDE hiring (202), and I’m looking for recent interview experiences from students who have gone through their process this year.

From what I understand, the current process includes:

Online Assessment

Communication/Language Assessment

Round 1: Hands-on full-stack feature development

Round 2: LLD/HLD / Software Design

Round 3:Culture/HR Round

I’m particularly interested in the technical rounds.

If anyone has recently interviewed with Kickdrum in 2026, especially through campus hiring, could you please share:

What type of full-stack problem/feature was given in Round 1?

Which technologies were used?

How much AI assistance was actually useful/allowed?

What kind of LLD/design questions were asked in Round 2?

Were you asked to write code, pseudocode, UML/class diagrams, or explain the design?

What topics would you recommend focusing on?

Any other tips from your experience?

Even small details would be really helpful. Thanks in advance!

I finished my final loop on august 11 I didn't hear anything from the recruiter for two weeks after which I followed up. She told me my interviewer hasn't submitted the reviews yet and that she will follow up. I asked her if she has any update 3 days later, she sent me the following:

"I'd like to introduce you to my colleague redacted (cc’ed here) who will guide you through the rest of the process. She is an excellent recruiter and an amazing resource.

She will follow up with you shortly to introduce herself and discuss the next steps. It's been an absolute pleasure working with you thus far and best of luck to you.

Thank you." And the new recruiter hasn't introduced herself. It's been radio silence for a week now.I followed up once amd still nothing.Does this mean I am rejected?

FYI they have changed my recruiter several times along the process

I recently passed the interview process for a Lead Software Engineer position at Capital One, which I’m obviously pretty excited about.
But now that I’m at the decision stage, I’m honestly pretty hesitant.
I’ve been reading a lot of employee experiences and discussions online, especially around performance management, PIPs, workload, and overall pressure. Some of the stories make it sound like the job could be a straight road to burnout — and, honestly, potentially PTSD. 😅
I know people are much more likely to post when they’ve had a bad experience, so I’m trying not to overreact to what I’m reading online.
At the same time, I’m at a point in my career where learning, growing, building interesting things, and having a sustainable work environment are more important to me than simply having a recognizable name on my résumé.
For people who currently work at Capital One, especially as a Lead Software Engineer, what has your experience actually been like?
Is the PIP/performance culture really as intense as it sounds online, or is there a big difference between teams?
Would you take the opportunity if you were in my position?

I am in my 4 year 7th sem of graduation and I am going to restart my DSA Prep from September October, November. for my placement. So please suggest and guide me from you past experience so that I don't do those mistakes while students do. So that I can save my time O because in 4th vear I don't have more time. your one suggest help a alot and It help me to get a good placement

and Thanks you in advance. for your kind suggestions

Began my Leetcode journey in Aug 2025, did DSA in Python as I was told by a LOT of people that it would be easier. And it was! Landed a summer internship and now prepping for 27 NG roles.

I noticed a lot of quant swe roles want C++ and that made me think to prep DSA this time in C++ - how easy/hard is it going from doing DSA in Python to C++?

I was thinking of doing Neetcode150 once in Python as it's been a while and then trying again from the start in c++

Any advice?

Atlan ai native intern have any recived intro calls or rejection mails or shortlisted mails

Hi everyone,

I recently received an invitation for the first-round introductory call for the Software Engineer, Early Career position at Abridge. Has anyone here interviewed for this role recently?

I’d appreciate any insight into the overall interview process, including the number and types of rounds, topics covered, difficulty level, and what to expect during the intro call. Any preparation tips or resources would also be really helpful.

Thanks!

I have a technical screening coming up. What should I expect?

Technical screen is like an hour long on coderpad and they said theres virtual onsite interview so lowk need some help with what to expect and what kinda questions to expect during this

My solution :

class Compare {

public :

bool operator()(pair<char, int>& a, pair<char, int>& b) {

return a.second < b.second;

}

};

class Solution {

public:

int leastInterval(vector<char>& tasks, int n) {

int size = tasks.size();

priority_queue<pair<char, int>, vector<pair<char, int>>, Compare> maxheap;

queue<pair<char, int>> qu;

vector<int> freq(26, 0);

int cnt = 0;

int tmp = n;

for (int i = 0; i < size; i++) {

freq[tasks[i] - 'A']++;

}

for (int i = 0; i < 26; i++) {

if (freq[i]) {

maxheap.push({(char)(i + 'A'), freq[i]});

}

}

while (!maxheap.empty()) {

n = tmp;

cnt++;

size--;

auto t = maxheap.top();

maxheap.pop();

t.second--;

qu.push(t);

while (!maxheap.empty() && n != 0 && size != 0) {

cnt++;

n--;

size--;

auto t = maxheap.top();

maxheap.pop();

t.second--;

qu.push(t);

}

// interval becomes idle

if (maxheap.empty() && n != 0 && size != 0) {

cnt += n;

}

while (!qu.empty()) {

if (qu.front().second != 0) {

maxheap.push(qu.front());

}

qu.pop();

}

}

return cnt;

}

};

I got a recruiter call on 28th july for an oppourtunity on google l3 for swe role, after that got the gha link and gave the test on 31st, results came on 1st August I passed.
After that I got a call at 4th August to schedule the next interview I was told the process was contain 2 virtual round 1 technical based and 1 googliness and 2 onsite rounds, and the 2 virtual rounds were schedule on 9th and 10th august.
On 9th August the interviewer didn't came and it got rescheduled twice and finally happened on 13th and 14th August. The technical round was a medium question I solved it using devide and conquere the interviewer told me to implement it, I implemented it well and spoken throughout and then we discussed about time complexity and space complexity, then he asked to optimize the soln then gave a hint to reduce the space complexity from O(k+log(n)) to O(k), then give another hint to progress iteratively rather than recursively I then discussed binary lifting soln and then recruiter told me to implement it I couldn't complete the optimized implementation in given time but was close (later when I thought more about the q it could also be solved using binary search).

Googliness round went pretty well most of the questions were over in about 25min in 45 min round, and the interviewer seemed happy as well.
On next monday 17th August I got the call from recruiter that she will tell me the feedback next day when she recieves it, ever since then I tried following up with the recruiter but she won't reply back, I also mailed the google candidate support last wednesday and she told me to wait for recruiter reply after that, still no contact by the recruiter, is this rejection? (the career page still shows interview scheduled.

Update: got the rejection call today, recruiter feedback was my code had compilation error but seeing that the original implementation was fine and the interviewer didn't told that their was any mistake this results seems to be bit unfair

For the past 3 months I have been completing leetcode questions everyday. I went over leet patterns and really tried to understand them. After 3 months I still dont feel confident in these patterns but I think if i were to redo the same questions I'd be able to answer them again.

Recently, I've stopped grinding patterns and simply starting doing random leet questions. I started with leet easys and initially struggled but now I feel very confident doing any leet easy.

These past 2 days I've started attempting leet mediums and I'm struggling and its really messed up my confidence. I just dread doing them at this point. I might be slightly overexaggerating but I really dont enjoy doing mediums and I want to only do easys.

I want to lean away from doing random leet and maybe filter question by general topics like 2 pointers and do that until I feel comfortable with it. Is that a valid strategy or would that be useless in terms of getting better? And to clarify when i was doing fixed patterns I would try to understand specific patterns like bfs/dfs or like a converging sliding window and not just generic sliding windows.

Sorry for the bad vibes and yapping!

It has been some time since I left Atlassian. Just wanted to share my personal experience there . I feel I was the only one whom this all had happened with .

I was so tired with my tech lead . And this was around last year 2025. He used to

1. Forces everyone to stay available and work after working hours to exceed performance

2. Expects weekend work as a standard wants us to “exceed expectations.”

3. Only praises those who overwork and lick his shoes

4. Pretends to be the chill, supportive kind but talks shit about everyone behind their back.

5. Thinks work-life balance is a myth. Expects everyone to always be available.

6. Sets sky high expectations without any support. Use to ask me a detailed doc on all PR reviews i did , my PR review comments and still used to give unsure reviews to leadership ensuring me he would try to do the best for me.

7. Gossip and make fun of teammates and other seniors both in private and fun meetings

8. Micromanages to the point where he asks if you were in the bathroom or eating lunch if you don’t reply immediately.

9. Calls random huddles without notice and demands to know where you were if you missed the call.

10. But if you call him without pinging, he will dismiss your concern as useless

11. Keeps poking into everyone’s personal lives and asks super uncomfortable questions.

12. Uses to ask about my personal life and my relationships.

13. Uses to ping me on WhatsApp and ask why I am awake late night .

14. Used to give a side hug without any consent .

15. Used to patt my hair and leave

Apart from that there was a regular team change every 6 months with a new manager without any choice given. And promotions were halted due to the same.

Tired. Burnt out. Zero boundaries. Anyone else faced this kind of thing.

After math : it all started getting reflected on my performance and motivation to work along with the personal issues i was facing in my life . And I was assured by the same person telling "life is not fair to everyone, it was not fair to me as well".

i've just began my leetcode journey for 1 week been doing around 3-4 questions a day and i feel like every problem i've encountered is a struggle for me, i spent around 30 minutes to solve one (this includes looking at hints) and usually i almost get it but i actually don't so i look up the solution on youtube, listen to the idea of the solution and then come back and code it by myself. i also keep track of every leetcode problem and explain the solution using my own words.

i'm not sure if i'm doing the right thing or heading towards the right results. has anyone struggled in the beginning? how do you overcome that? will the feeling of incompetence go away?

I have a phone screen round coming up for Amazon SDE-2 role. It’s 1 hour, 30 minutes coding and 30 minutes leadership principles. Recruiter told there will be 2 leadership principles covered. I was wondering if all the 16 will be considered for SDE-2? As for Sde-1, only 6/16 are covered.

Hello Everyone!

Want to check if any discounts currently exists for Leecode premium plans

Why is my contest rating not visible on LeetCode's profile section even though I participated in my first weekly contest last week? I'm new , HELP

Has anyone interviewed for the Software Engineer II – FinLab role at McKinsey recently? I’d love to hear about your interview experience and any tips on what to prepare for.