Housing.com Software Engineer Interview Questions, Process, and Tips

Round duration - 60 minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

Resume based and 1 coding question. Briefly discussed about projects in resume and questions were completely related to projects mentioned.

Q1. 
Find Duplicate in Array Problem Statement
You are provided with an array of integers 'ARR' consisting of 'N' elements. Each integer is within the range [1, N-1], and the array contains exactly one duplica...read more
Ans. 
Find the duplicate element in an array of integers.
• Iterate through the array and keep track of seen elements using a set or hashmap.

• If an element is already in the set, it is the duplicate element.

• Return the duplicate element once found.
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Round duration - 60 minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

This round was completely pen and paper coding round. 3 coding questions were asked.

Q1. 
Sum Root to Leaf Numbers
You are given an arbitrary binary tree consisting of N nodes, each associated with an integer value from 1 to 9. Each root-to-leaf path can be considered a number formed by concat...read more
Ans. 
Calculate the total sum of all root to leaf paths in an arbitrary binary tree.
• Traverse the tree from root to leaf nodes, keeping track of the current path sum.

• Add the current node value to the path sum and multiply by 10 for each level.

• When reaching a leaf node, add the final path sum to the total sum.

• Return the total sum modulo (10^9 + 7) as the final result.
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Q2. 
Subarray Challenge: Largest Equal 0s and 1s
Determine the length of the largest subarray within a given array of 0s and 1s, such that the subarray contains an equal number of 0s and 1s.
Input:
Input beg...read more
Ans. 
Find the length of the largest subarray with equal number of 0s and 1s in a given array.
• Iterate through the array and maintain a count of 0s and 1s encountered so far.

• Store the count difference in a hashmap with the index as key.

• If the same count difference is encountered again, the subarray between the two indices has equal 0s and 1s.
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Q3. 
The Skyline Problem
Compute the skyline of given rectangular buildings in a 2D city, eliminating hidden lines and forming the outer contour of the silhouette when viewed from a distance. Each building is ...read more
Ans. 
Compute the skyline of given rectangular buildings in a 2D city, eliminating hidden lines and forming the outer contour of the silhouette.
• Iterate through the buildings and create a list of critical points (x, y) where the height changes.

• Sort the critical points based on x-coordinate and process them to form the skyline.

• Merge consecutive horizontal segments of equal height into one to ensure no duplicates.

• Return the fin...read more
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Round duration - 20 minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

Only one coding question was asked with time limit of 10 minutes

Q1. 
Word Break Problem Statement
You are provided with a continuous non-empty string (referred to as 'sentence') which contains no spaces and a dictionary comprising a list of non-empty strings (known as 'wor...read more
Ans. 
Given a dictionary of words and a continuous string, generate all possible sentences by inserting spaces.
• Iterate through the continuous string and check all possible substrings to see if they are in the dictionary.

• Use recursion to generate all possible sentences by inserting spaces at different positions.

• Return the valid sentences formed using the words from the dictionary.
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Round duration - 60 minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

This was a technical round with questions on CSS and Node js.
Tip : Have a basic knowledge about : SASS,Susy,Jade,npm,grunt,gulp,yeoman,LibSASS

Q1. What are the different attributes of the CSS position property?
Ans. 
The CSS position property defines the positioning method of an element.
• Static: Default position, elements are positioned according to the normal flow of the document.

• Relative: Positioned relative to its normal position.

• Absolute: Positioned relative to the nearest positioned ancestor.

• Fixed: Positioned relative to the viewport, does not move when the page is scrolled.

• Sticky: Acts like a combination of relative and fixed
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Q2. What are the data types that SassScript supports?
Ans. 
SassScript supports data types like numbers, strings, colors, booleans, lists, and maps.
• Numbers: Can be integers or decimals, with or without units (e.g. 10, 2.5px)

• Strings: Can be enclosed in single or double quotes (e.g. 'Hello', "World")

• Colors: Represented in various formats like hex, RGB, or named colors (e.g. #FF0000, rgb(255, 0, 0), red)

• Booleans: Represented as true or false values

• Lists: Ordered collection of valu...read more
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Q3. What are Grunt modules or plugins?
Ans. 
Grunt modules or plugins are extensions that provide additional functionality to the Grunt task runner.
• Grunt modules or plugins are used to automate tasks in web development.

• They can be used for tasks like minification, compilation, unit testing, etc.

• Examples of Grunt plugins include grunt-contrib-uglify for minifying JavaScript files and grunt-sass for compiling Sass files.
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Q4. What is the difference between Sockets and Ajax?
Ans. 
Sockets allow real-time bidirectional communication between client and server, while Ajax enables asynchronous communication for updating parts of a web page without reloading.
• Sockets provide a continuous connection for real-time data exchange, while Ajax makes asynchronous requests to update specific parts of a web page.

• Sockets are commonly used in applications requiring real-time updates like chat applications, onlin...read more
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Round duration - 60 minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

This was a technical round with questions on Java script, Web Fundamentals etc.
Tip : Have knowledge about Closures,Prototypes,Function/variable hoisting,prototypal inheritance,modular pattern,JSONP,this etc

Q1. How does a server work?
Ans. 
A server is a computer or software that provides functionality for other programs or devices, typically over a network.
• A server receives requests from clients and processes them to provide the requested services or data.

• Servers can host websites, store files, manage databases, or perform other specialized tasks.

• Examples of servers include web servers like Apache or Nginx, database servers like MySQL or PostgreSQL, and ...read more
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Q2. What is the difference between a function expression and a function declaration?
Ans. 
Function expression is assigned to a variable, while function declaration is hoisted to the top of the scope.
• Function expression is not hoisted, while function declaration is hoisted.

• Function expression can be anonymous, while function declaration must have a name.

• Function expression can be assigned to a variable, while function declaration cannot.
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Round duration - 30 minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

This was a puzzle round. 2 puzzles were given to solve .

Q1. You have a bag of coins, and you need to determine which coins are of different denominations. What strategy would you use to identify the coins?
Ans. 
Use a combination of weighing and counting to identify coins of different denominations.
• Separate coins by weight to identify different denominations (e.g. pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters)

• Count the number of each denomination to confirm the identification

• Use a scale to measure weight differences between coins
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Q2. The Josephus problem is a theoretical problem related to a certain counting-out game. In this problem, a group of people stands in a circle and every k-th person is eliminated until only one person remains...read more
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