r/leetcode

I recently interviewed with a potential unicorn startup for a GenAI Engineer role focused on multi-agent systems, and holy moly, I still don’t know what just happened.

The entire interview felt like a horse race. The interviewer started with a 30-second introduction about herself and the product, then immediately jumped into my recent experience. Everything moved so fast I could barely keep up.

About 15 minutes in, she threw a multi-agent system design problem at me and expected me to design the entire architecture in 10 minutes. I could barely process the requirements or take notes before I had to start explaining my solution.

The funny thing is, I’ve actually built similar systems in production, so I was able to answer her follow-up questions pretty well. She seemed I am cooked, smiled, and then casually asked, “Why do you want this role?”

At that moment, I genuinely felt like I’d walked into a Ferrari owners’ club driving my Toyota.

For context, I’ve been through quite a few GenAI Architect and Forward Deployed Engineer interviews recently, and Thank God I’ve already received an offer. But this interview was on an entirely different level. The pace, the expectations, the intensity. It almost felt like there’s a whole other world out there where everyone is an insanely competitive GenAI engineer operating at 10x speed.
I’m still processing what happened.

Am I cooked? Was this some kind of stress test? Or is this genuinely how interviews at high-growth AI startups work these days?

TL;DR
Any tips for how to get better a debugging interviews? These are the type of interview where you're given some code and a test suite and you have to make the tests pass.

Context:
I just bombed a debugging-style coding interview. I'm honestly kind of shocked at how much I struggled. I'm a FAANG engineer who prides myself on my strong technical skills so I feel humiliated and dejected. I've looked up resources for practice questions but there's not much out there, which is kind of shocking given they are just as popular as DSA at this point (especially with startups in SF). Any resources or tips you've found helpful for getting better at this style of interview?

Recently had a phone screen with this question: find min substring length not found in 4gb file. I was pretty thrown off by this, none of my standard leetcode prep made me face something like this.

I suggested brute force with hashing but was quickly redirected. I was told the min substring length was within five or so. At the moment my intuition couldn't figure out why so I suggested coding up something and later proving the constraint but was redirected towards the proof.

I then spent quite a bit of time drawing out the examples. I was hinted to draw out an example and try to make all substrings within an shorter string using just a and b but I couldn't do it. I thought it might be due to some prefix suffix graph but I was then hinted to use pigeonhole principle.

From there i wrote out the equation and indicated max iterations for which we are guaranteed to have a missing substring. I was also hinted that I could use a bitset, though i didn't ask for this hint.

After, I suggested coding but this was around the 38 minute mark. I was told it was OK and that it was just a technical discussion. I feel code was simple and I could have coded it but at the time I was nervous so I just decided to continue. Later, I was asked what I would do if file was larger than 8gb, and I suggested making multiple passes through the file and clearing the bitset, and making sure every number in the bitset range was met and my interviewer seemed satisfied. Ultimately, I was not able to write out any code for the programming interview.

What could I have done differently to improve? And what can I do to practice these kinds of questions with large disk files? I certainly didn't expect it.

I have been doing leetcode for almost a year now and I keep failing first rounds tech screens. Im doing neetcode 250 and when I redo problems Im not sure if I just memorized it or am improving is there a way I can measure this?

 

Sometimes in interviews they would ask me to code up a brute force approach but I don't even know how to come up with that some are simple like if its two pointers the brute force would be nested loops but other than that I struggle with doing brute force.

 

I use a site for spaced repetition and it would give me different 10 problems everyday from the list and I would do it everyday since I’m unemployed I have a lot time on my hand. If there a better way to use my time please let me know open to suggestions?

 

I can do some problems I havent seen before but it’s cus the two problems are very similar.

 

Any advice or help would be appreciated. Been almost a year since I’ve been laid off, feeling depressed about this and seeing others land new roles in only a few months

Hi everyone!

I’ve received an online assessment for the Amazon SDE1 Intern, 6-month internship (2027) position, and I’m looking for some insights from people who have taken it recently.

I’d like to know what to expect from the OA, particularly:

- Question types: How many coding questions are there? Are there also aptitude, debugging, or other assessment sections?

- Difficulty level: Are the coding questions mostly LeetCode Easy, Medium, or Hard?

- Topics: Which DSA topics should I prioritize? Arrays, strings, hash maps, trees, graphs, dynamic programming, etc.?

- Preparation: Are there any specific LeetCode problems, question patterns, or resources you recommend practicing?

- Other sections: Does the assessment include work-style assessments or Amazon's Leadership Principles questions?

If you've taken the assessment for this internship recently, I'd really appreciate it if you could share your experience. Even a general idea of the question patterns and difficulty would be helpful.

Thanks in advance!

I’ve started working through NeetCode 150 to prepare for SWE interviews, and I’m a little confused about how I should be studying each problem.

For a lot of problems, there seem to be multiple approaches — brute force, a better/optimized approach, and sometimes multiple optimal solutions.

Do I need to understand and remember all the different approaches for each problem? Or is it enough to understand the brute-force idea and then be able to come up with/implement one optimal solution?

Also, if there are people here who interview candidates at Big Tech companies, I’d really like to know what you actually look for during these interviews.

Sometimes I come across a problem and think, “How would I possibly come up with this solution if I had never seen this problem or something similar before?”

Are candidates actually expected to figure out these kinds of solutions from scratch? Or is the idea that after practicing enough problems, you start recognizing patterns and applying them to problems you haven’t seen before? Cause I tried that and it sometimes does not happen.

For those who have successfully prepared for technical interviews/ who interview people at BigTech using LeetCode, what was your approach?

I’d love to hear how people who clear these rounds at BigTech approach this.

Thanks!

Hi everyone🙂, I'm a fresher from IIIT and have 2 SDE1 offers. Need some advice from seniors.

Blinkit, Gurugram: around 29L in year 1 (24L base + 5L bonus after 1 yr)

Amazon, Hyderabad: around 26L in year 1 (base + joining bonus + RSU). Waiting for team information where I would join.

I'm from Telangana so Hyderabad is closer to home, but I dont want to choose only because of that. I speak Hindi fluently so Gurugram is fine for me (but harsh summer). not planning to go abroad for now

What I want to know:

• Job security. Amazon had layoffs in 2025 -26, Blinkit looks better financially now but quick commerce is risky.
• Which one helps more when I switch jobs later? Does Amazon name carry more weight than Blinkit?
• Work culture and work life balance. I read Blinkit has long hours and a lot of on-call, and Amazon depends on the team (is this worse than Blinkit?). is it true?
• Growth and Long Term -Good learning and how long does SDE1 to SDE2 take at each place?

Would love to hear from anyone who worked at either, I'm open to discuss. Thanks!!!☺️

My manager keeps picking on me. It spoils the moment and the day sometimes for me thinking about what he said. My mental resources are channelled towards fighting him for the most part, I have really important interviews coming up to gtfo, but I am having a tough time focussing on the preparation. I sometimes feel my mind refuses to be happy and feels its too tiring to reach that state of mind. I plan to get diagnosed formally but I am positive I am on the adhd spectrum.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Love yall <3

just had my 2 tech rounds, feels like it went super well. what's ahead? TM for sure or could there be additional rounds?

I’ve been thinking about getting back into interviewing after nearly 10 years. Lately, I haven’t seen much growth or career progression in my current organization, so I’m considering exploring new opportunities.

That said, the tech job market outside seems quite challenging and honestly a bit overwhelming.

For those who have been through this recently, how would you recommend getting started with interview preparation? Should I focus on LeetCode, system design, or something else first? And given the current market, would you still consider switching companies or even moving to a different organization internally?

I’m feeling a little unsure about the best path forward and would genuinely appreciate thoughtful advice from people with recent experience. Serious suggestions only, please. Thanks!

Microsoft's security organization held a hiring event in October 2026. I'm starting this thread so anyone who applied, attended, or interviewed can share what it was like, and so people considering similar events in the future know what to expect.

If you participated, please share (as much or as little as you're comfortable with):

Role and level: What you applied for (e.g., security engineer, researcher, PM, SOC/IR, etc.) and your approximate experience level

Format: Virtual or in-person? Was there a pre-screen, coding or technical assessment, or on-the-spot interviews?

Interview content: The types of topics covered (threat modeling, incident response, cloud security, coding, behavioral, system design). Please don't post confidential or NDA-protected material.

Timeline: How long from the event to hearing back, and how long the full process took

Outcome: Offer, rejection, still waiting, or withdrew (any outcome is useful)

Advice: What helped you prepare and what you'd do differently

hey guys

did anyone hear back from stripe after giving oa recently?

I just checked 4026. and it's just wall of text with simple solution masked as a medium problem. How do experienced CPers see through such BS so fast? Should I grind math problems for this superpower?

also, is it even possible to get such problem on an interview? because i would have to ask for re-explanation 500 times

Hey all, I'm an SDE (L59) at Microsoft going for an internal move to a different team (L59 still). The loop is two rounds, a technical one and an "AA" round, and I've already got a HackerRank invite (75 min, due in about a week). My hiring manager also said there might be a system design question.

I'm prepping in Python and don't want to grind 300 problems. For people who've done internal Microsoft interviews or similar HackerRank assessments:

1. What's the usual format? How many questions in 75 min, and how hard (easy/medium/mix)? Any MCQs or SQL?
2. Which patterns showed up most? I'm focusing on hash maps, two pointers, sliding window, intervals, BFS/DFS, heaps and stacks.
3. How were hidden tests and time limits handled? Is partial credit real?
4. For the system design, what level of depth is expected from an internal candidate? Is it more of a conversation, or a full whiteboard-style design?
5. Is the AA round mostly behavioral, or can it turn technical?
6. Is premium worth it for any of these platforms, or is free enough?

My plan is 4-5 problems a day on core patterns, one timed 75-min mock, and a few design mocks out loud. Does that sound right, or am I over- or under-preparing?

Appreciate any pointers, especially "don't waste time on X" advice. Thanks!

UPDATE:
The HackerRank round was cancelled. Proceeding to the next bit. Wish me luck. Thanks to all that commented.

So got feedback after onsite.
Googliness: SH
Coding 1: LH
Coding 2: SH
System design: LH

Recruiter has given me a choice, I can go for another coding round to make the packet better or can move to team match now. Have done a lot of DSA prep the last few months so back myself, but still worried the possibility of bombing it or a tough interviewer or something else that results in a no hire rating would end my journey here.
If I find a role match and the committee rejects, then I’m done.

Also side questions:
I was told it’s team match/hiring manager conversations then the hiring committee approval? I thought it was committee first then team match?

I was told the onsite would be 2 DSA, and from looking here and other sources that seemed to be standard for L4. So I was completely unprepared for the system design, is system design in the onsite normal for L4?

As the title says, I have the onsite interview in another 4 days. I am preparing with trees, heaps, graphs and DP. It would be great to get an idea on what type of questions/pattern to expect in this round if anyone has given it recently.

I have a basic idea on HLD as I went through Gaurav Sen's videos but how much importance should I be giving to LLD and was it actually asked for anyone in their on-site interview ?

Any help on the same would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

I completed my Microsoft loop. It's been 7 days. I haven't recieved any communication from them. How much will I wait. I had another loop in January before where they kept me waiting for 2 months with no reply then got generic rejection email.

I am having the same feeling of getting ghosted again