PhonePe Sdet (Software Development Engineer in Test) Interview Questions and Answers

Round duration - 60 minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

test timing: 7-8 pm
2 programming questions
webcam proctored

Q1. 
Minimum Cost to Reach End Problem
You are provided with an array ARR of integers of size 'N' and an integer 'K'. The goal is to move from the starting index to the end of the array with the minimum possib...read more
Ans. 
Find minimum cost to reach end of array by jumping with constraints
• Use dynamic programming to keep track of minimum cost at each index

• Iterate through the array and update the minimum cost based on reachable indices within K steps

• Calculate cost to jump from current index to reachable indices and update minimum cost accordingly
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Round duration - 60 Minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

Q1. 
Palindrome String Validation
Determine if a given string 'S' is a palindrome, considering only alphanumeric characters and ignoring spaces and symbols.
Note:
The string 'S' should be evaluated in a case...read more
Ans. 
The task is to check whether a given string is a palindrome or not, considering only alphabets and numbers and ignoring symbols and whitespaces.
• Convert the string to lowercase and remove all symbols and whitespaces.

• Reverse the modified string and compare it with the original string.

• If they are equal, then the string is a palindrome.

• If not, then the string is not a palindrome.
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Q2. 
Square Root (Integral) Problem Statement
Given a number N, calculate its square root and output the integer part only.
Example:
Input:
18
Output:
4
Explanation:
The square root of 18 is approximate...read more
Ans. 
The task is to find the integral part of the square root of a given number.
• Use the built-in square root function to find the square root of the number.

• Convert the result to an integer by rounding down or using the floor function.

• Print the integer part of the square root as the output.
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Q3. 
Min Steps to One Using Dynamic Programming
Given a positive integer N, your task is to determine the minimum number of steps required to reduce N to 1.
Allowed Operations:
1) Subtract 1 from it: n = n -...read more
Ans. 
The task is to find the minimum number of steps required to reduce a positive integer to 1 using three given operations.
• Use dynamic programming to solve the problem efficiently.

• Create an array to store the minimum steps required for each number from 1 to N.

• Iterate from 2 to N and calculate the minimum steps for each number based on the three operations.

• Return the minimum steps for N.
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Round duration - 60 Minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

They started Fundamentals of OOP- Inheritance, Polymorphism

Q1. 
Maximum Subarray Sum Problem Statement
Given an array of integers, determine the maximum possible sum of any contiguous subarray within the array.
Example:
Input:
array = [34, -50, 42, 14, -5, 86]
Out...read more
Ans. 
The maximum sum of any contiguous subarray in an array is found using Kadane's algorithm in O(N) time.
• Initialize two variables, maxSum and currentSum, both set to the first element of the array.

• Iterate through the array from the second element.

• For each element, update currentSum by adding the element to it.

• If currentSum becomes negative, reset it to 0.

• If currentSum is greater than maxSum, update maxSum.

• After iterating ...read more
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Round duration - 30 Minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

Some people had two HR interviews but I only had one and interview went up till 11:30 pm and you get only 5-10 minutes to prepare for HR on Zoom

Round duration - 90 Minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

The test was organized online on Amcat and there were 3 coding problems. There were no MCQs in this round.

Q1. 
Ninja Technique Problem Statement
Implement a function that determines whether a given numeric string contains any substring whose integer value equals the product of two consecutive integers. The functio...read more
Ans. 
Implement a function to determine if a numeric string contains a substring whose value equals the product of two consecutive integers.
• Iterate through all substrings of the input string and check if their integer value equals the product of two consecutive integers.

• Use nested loops to generate all possible substrings efficiently.

• Check if the product of two consecutive integers matches the integer value of the substring.

• ...read more
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Q2. 
Find Nodes at a Specific Distance from Target in a Binary Tree
Given a binary tree, a target node within this tree, and an integer K, identify and return all nodes that are exactly K edges away from the t...read more
Ans. 
Find nodes at a specific distance from a target node in a binary tree.
• Traverse the binary tree to find the target node.

• Perform a depth-first search to identify nodes at distance K from the target node.

• Return the values of nodes found at distance K in an array.
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Round duration - 50 Minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

This round was scheduled by the college Training and Placement team virtually. The interviewer asked me questions pertaining mainly to DSA and we discussed my projects.

Q1. 
Segregate Even and Odd Nodes in a Linked List
You are given the head node of a singly linked list head. Your task is to modify the linked list so that all the even-valued nodes appear before all the odd-v...read more
Ans. 
Reorder a singly linked list so that all even-valued nodes appear before odd-valued nodes while preserving the original order.
• Create two separate linked lists for even and odd nodes

• Traverse the original list and move nodes to respective even or odd lists

• Merge the even and odd lists while maintaining the original order
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Round duration - 60 Minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

Again, the round was virtual. This was a Tech + Managerial round organized by the college T & P cell. The interviewer asked questions related to fundamental subjects such as Operating Systems, Object-oriented programming, and DBMS. There was one coding round at the end.

Q1. 
Diagonal Traversal of a Binary Tree
Given a binary tree of integers, find its diagonal traversal. Refer to the example for clarification on diagonal traversal.
Example:
Explanation:
Consider lines at a...read more
Ans. 
Diagonal traversal of a binary tree involves printing nodes at 135 degree angle in between lines.
• Traverse the tree in a diagonal manner, starting from the root node.

• Maintain a map to store nodes at each diagonal level.

• Print the nodes at each diagonal level in the order of traversal.
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Round duration - 40 Minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

The round was virtual and was organized by the T & P cell of the college. The interviewer asked some behavioural and situation-based questions. There was one puzzle at the end.