Ho presentato la mia candidatura online. Ho sostenuto un colloquio presso Karat nel mese di lug 2025
Colloquio
I) Karat Qualify (Offline Test) - 15 mins
It was a 15 MCQ test where we had the choice to choose between topics such as Backend, General Coding Logic, and Algorithms & Data Structures.
Post passing this test, I got an invite instantly to schedule the interview.
II) Karat Core (Online Live Video Interview - Virtual) - 60 mins
Topics covered in this interview:
1. Discussion and Analysis Questions (System Design)
2. Live Coding Questions (Data Structures & Algorithms)
It was a 1-hour technical interview where we could schedule according to our comfort and availability. We also have a redo opportunity if we feel that the interview did not go our way. Hence, I scheduled the first interview attempt within a few hours so I could give a redo as soon as possible.
Domande di colloquio [1]
Domanda 1
Attempt 1:
1. System Design (15 mins):
Q1. How can we reduce server farm costs for a mobile app that animates children's drawings and downloads interactive environments?
Q2. How can we reduce the impact of unreliable third-party APIs with frequent outages on a sports statistics web service?
Q3. What information is required to estimate next year's resource costs for a popular video-sharing app?
2. Coding Questions (45 mins):
Q1. A 2-D grid that consists of '0' and '+'. '+' means impassable and '0' means passable. Return the rows and columns indices that are completely passable (all 0's).
Q2. Modified version of Q1. You are now given a starting cell, which is on one corner of the grid. You can travel in all 4 directions of cells that are passable. You have to reach any other passable cell that is on the corner of the grid, which has the minimum distance from the starting cell. Return the coordinates of the destination cell. Return -1 if not possible.
Attempt 2:
1. System Design (15 mins):
Q1. How would you evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of using multiple servers versus a single dedicated server for hosting a music streaming application that supports various playlists for different activities?
Q2. What concerns might arise when designing a payment system for entertainment machines, where players use preloaded game cards and can recharge through cash or credit card, especially given plans to install the system on approximately 125,000 machines next year?
2. Coding Questions (45 mins):
Q1. You are playing a board game (1-D array) where the player moves by rolling a die with the number of sides given and is allowed to roll it once. You are also given a list of teleporters that move the player from one square to another. The starting and ending squares are given as well. Return a distinct list of positions where the player can potentially jump to.
Q2. Modified version of Q1. Players move by rolling a die as many times as they wish to, and the goal is to determine if they can reach the last square on the board from a given starting position.
Ho presentato la mia candidatura tramite un selezionatore. Ho sostenuto un colloquio presso Karat
Colloquio
This was a screening technical interview other company sent me to complete. I'm not sure the interviewer was even a real human. I was limited with strictly 1 hour in total. First I was asked to tell in 1 minute about my past experience (it was not used in interviewing process after that). Then it was a quiz of 5 questions with some abstract situations for which I needed to provide abstract solutions. If I finished answering a question before allocated time for this question expired, the interviewer would just sit and wait for the timer. On any clarifying question from me he would just read the question again. After the quiz, I needed to do a coding task. I was finishing a function to print out the result but the interviewer ended the interview as an hour of total interview time passed. That felt quite disrespectful. Overall talking to the interviewer guy felt like talking to a wall. The only thing he did was reading the text I already had on my screen.
They also offer you a redo option if you fail - I can now see why. IMHO, redo option should not be a thing in a tech interview. It's purpose to see if you fit the job or not - not to make you train and pass some exam. It feels like I was not tested for how I think and how I solve problems - my answers were just compared with the expected ones. I refused the redo.
I was not given any feedback other than "not positive".
Ho presentato la mia candidatura online. La procedura ha richiesto una settimana. Ho sostenuto un colloquio presso Karat nel mese di feb 2025
Colloquio
Got an interview scheduled with instructions on how to prepare interview, they say it mimick real-world day to day work, however got some tricky question that you're not gonna use in real day to day work
Domande di colloquio [1]
Domanda 1
Some tricky javascript question, and some live coding question