Syfe SDE-2 Interview Questions and Answers

Round duration - 90 minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

There will be 2 coding questions easy to medium based on DP and linkedlist.

Q1. 
Count Ways To Reach The N-th Stair Problem Statement
You are given a number of stairs, N. Starting at the 0th stair, you need to reach the Nth stair. Each time you can either climb one step or two steps. ...read more
Ans. 
The problem involves finding the number of distinct ways to climb to the N-th stair by taking one or two steps at a time.
• Use dynamic programming to solve this problem efficiently.

• The number of ways to reach the N-th stair is the sum of the number of ways to reach the (N-1)th stair and the (N-2)th stair.

• Handle large inputs by taking modulo 10^9+7 of the result.

• Example: For N=3, there are 3 ways to climb to the third sta
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Round duration - 60 minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

the questions will be be based on trees, linked list and stacks and queues, DP

Q1. 
Left View of a Binary Tree
Given a binary tree, your task is to print the left view of the tree. The left view of a binary tree contains the nodes visible when the tree is viewed from the left side.
Inpu...read more
Ans. 
The task is to print the left view of a binary tree, which contains the nodes visible when the tree is viewed from the left side.
• Traverse the tree level by level and keep track of the leftmost node at each level

• Use a queue for level order traversal and a map to store the leftmost nodes

• Print the values of the leftmost nodes stored in the map as the left view of the tree
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Q2. 
Next Greater Element Problem Statement
You are given an array arr of length N. For each element in the array, find the next greater element (NGE) that appears to the right. If there is no such greater ele...read more
Ans. 
The task is to find the next greater element for each element in an array to its right, if no greater element exists, return -1.
• Use a stack to keep track of elements for which the next greater element is not found yet.

• Iterate through the array from right to left and pop elements from the stack until a greater element is found.

• Store the next greater element for each element in a separate array.

• If the stack is empty afte...read more
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Round duration - 60 minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

(DSA, work experience and personal projects)

Q1. 
Problem: Sort an Array of 0s, 1s, and 2s
Given an array/list ARR consisting of integers where each element is either 0, 1, or 2, your task is to sort this array in increasing order.
Input:
The input sta...read more
Ans. 
Sort an array of 0s, 1s, and 2s in increasing order.
• Use a three-pointer approach to partition the array into sections of 0s, 1s, and 2s.

• Iterate through the array and swap elements based on their values to achieve the sorting.

• Time complexity should be O(N) where N is the number of elements in the array.
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Round duration - 60 minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

It started in the afternoon after the lunch.

Q1. You will be given certain conditions for which you need to design a system. Can you explain your approach to low-level system design?
Ans. 
Approach to low-level system design involves understanding requirements, breaking down components, defining interfaces, and optimizing performance.
• Understand the requirements and constraints of the system

• Break down the system into smaller components/modules

• Define clear interfaces between components for communication

• Optimize performance by considering data structures, algorithms, and resource utilization
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Round duration - 25 minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

Once all the rounds were cleared. I was told that i have 1 more round with manager.

Q1. How do you handle critical situations in a workplace?
Ans. 
I remain calm, assess the situation, prioritize tasks, communicate effectively, and collaborate with team members to find a solution.
• Remain calm and composed under pressure

• Assess the situation to understand the root cause

• Prioritize tasks based on urgency and impact

• Communicate effectively with team members and stakeholders

• Collaborate with team members to brainstorm and implement solutions
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Round duration - 75 minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

There were 2 coding questions. One was easy to medium difficult and other was of medium difficulty.

Q1. 
Sum Queries in a Sorted Array
Given two arrays arr and queries, your task is to determine the sum of all elements in arr that are less than or equal to each element in queries. The array arr is provided i...read more
Ans. 
Find sum of elements in a sorted array less than or equal to each element in queries.
• Iterate through queries and for each query, find the sum of elements in arr less than or equal to the query element.

• Use binary search to efficiently find the index of the last element less than or equal to the query element.

• Keep track of cumulative sum while iterating through arr to avoid recalculating sums.

• Return the list of sums for
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Q2. 
Find K Closest Elements
Given a sorted array 'A' of length 'N', and two integers 'K' and 'X', your task is to find 'K' integers from the array closest to 'X'. If two integers are at the same distance, pre...read more
Ans. 
Given a sorted array, find K integers closest to X, preferring smaller ones in case of same distance.
• Use binary search to find the closest element to X in the array.

• Maintain two pointers to expand around the closest element to find K closest elements.

• Compare distances and values to select the K closest elements, preferring smaller ones if distances are equal.
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Round duration - 60 Minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

Q1. 
Reverse Only Letters Problem Statement
You are given a string S. The task is to reverse the letters of the string while keeping non-alphabet characters in their original position.
Example:
Input:
S = "...read more
Ans. 
Reverse the letters of a string while keeping non-alphabet characters in their original position.
• Iterate through the string and store the non-alphabet characters in their original positions.

• Reverse the letters of the string using two pointers approach.

• Combine the reversed letters with the non-alphabet characters to get the final reversed string.
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Q2. 
Find The Sum Of The Left Leaves Problem Statement
Given a binary tree with ‘root’, your task is to find and return the sum of all the left leaf nodes.
Example:
Input:
1 2 3 4 -1 5 6 -1 7 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1...read more
Ans. 
Find and return the sum of all the left leaf nodes in a binary tree.
• Traverse the binary tree using depth-first search (DFS)

• Check if a node is a leaf node and a left child

• Sum up the values of all left leaf nodes
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Round duration - 60 Minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

Questions related to Java, OOPs, SQL etc. 

Round duration - 60 Minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

It was an HR round.Questions related to resume, Low level design, work experience, behavioural etc. This round stretched more than scheduled time so another round was scheduled which was again a DSA based technical round.

Round duration - 60 Minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

This round had 3 problems. easy, medium and hard.

Q1. 
Median of Two Sorted Arrays
Given two sorted arrays A and B of sizes N and M, find the median of the merged array formed by combining arrays A and B. If the total number of elements, N + M, is even, the m...read more
Ans. 
Find the median of two sorted arrays by merging them and calculating the median of the combined array.
• Merge the two sorted arrays into one sorted array.

• Calculate the median of the combined array based on the total number of elements.

• Return the median as the result.
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Q2. 
Palindrome Checker Problem Statement
Given an alphabetical string S, determine whether it is a palindrome or not. A palindrome is a string that reads the same backward as forward.
Input:
The first line ...read more
Ans. 
Check if a given string is a palindrome or not.
• Iterate through the string from both ends and compare characters.

• If all characters match, return 1 indicating a palindrome.

• If any characters don't match, return 0 indicating not a palindrome.
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Q3. 
Minimum Character Deletion Problem Statement
You have been provided a string STR. Your task is to find and return the minimum number of characters that need to be deleted from STR so that each character's...read more
Ans. 
Find the minimum number of character deletions needed to make each character's frequency unique in a given string.
• Iterate through the string and count the frequency of each character.

• Identify characters with the same frequency and calculate the minimum deletions needed to make them unique.

• Return the total minimum deletions for each test case.
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Round duration - 50 minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

Problem-solving round in javascript.
Asked me questions of easy to medium level data structures and algorithm.

Q1. 
Similar String Groups Problem Statement
Two strings S1 and S2 are considered similar if either S1 equals S2 or we can swap two letters of S1 at different positions so that it equals S2.
Input:
The first...read more
Ans. 
The problem involves determining the number of similar string groups in a given list of strings based on a specific criteria.
• Iterate through each pair of strings in the list and check if they are similar based on the given criteria.

• Use a hash set to keep track of visited strings to avoid counting duplicates in the same group.

• Consider implementing a function to check if two strings are similar by allowing at most one sw...read more
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Round duration - 50 minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

Javascrip specific questions

Round duration - 50 minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

Focussed on behavioural aptitude

Round duration - 90 minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

It was conducted in Hacker rank which consisted of 10 aptitude questions that included C, C++, Java MCQ. 2 programming questions were also given.

Q1. 
Minimum Cost Path Problem Statement
Given an N x M matrix filled with integers, determine the minimum sum obtainable from a path that starts at a specified cell (x, y) and ends at the top left corner of t...read more
Ans. 
The problem involves finding the minimum sum path from a specified cell to the top left corner of a matrix.
• Start from the specified cell and calculate the minimum sum path to reach the top left corner using dynamic programming.

• Consider the three possible moves: down, right, and down-right diagonal.

• Keep track of the minimum sum at each cell and update it based on the minimum of the three possible moves.

• Finally, the mini...read more
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Q2. 
Balanced Parentheses Combinations
Given an integer N representing the number of pairs of parentheses, find all the possible combinations of balanced parentheses using the given number of pairs.
Explanati...read more
Ans. 
Generate all possible combinations of balanced parentheses for a given number of pairs.
• Use backtracking to generate all possible combinations of balanced parentheses.

• Keep track of the number of open and close parentheses used in each combination.

• Recursively generate combinations by adding open parentheses if there are remaining, and closing parentheses if the number of open parentheses is greater than the number of clo...read more
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Round duration - 60 minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

Technical round with questions based on data structures, oops and networking.

Q1. 
Character Counting Challenge
Create a program that counts and prints the total number of specific character types from user input. Specifically, you need to count lowercase English alphabets, numeric digi...read more
Ans. 
Create a program to count lowercase alphabets, digits, and white spaces from user input until '$' is encountered.
• Read characters from input stream until '$' is encountered

• Count lowercase alphabets, digits, and white spaces separately

• Print the counts of each character type as three integers separated by spaces
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Q2. 
K Largest Elements Problem Statement
Given an unsorted array containing 'N' integers, you are required to find 'K' largest elements from the array and return them in non-decreasing order.
Input:
The fir...read more
Ans. 
Find K largest elements in an unsorted array and return them in non-decreasing order.
• Sort the array in non-decreasing order.

• Return the last K elements of the sorted array.
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Q3. How can you check whether you have an internet connection on your system?
Ans. 
To check internet connection on a system, you can use various methods like pinging a website or checking network status.
• Use ping command to check connectivity to a website (e.g. ping www.google.com)

• Check network status using network settings or command line tools

• Try accessing a website or online service to verify internet connection
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Q4. What happens when you type a URL in a web browser?
Ans. 
When you type a URL in a web browser, the browser sends a request to the server hosting the website, which then responds with the necessary files to display the webpage.
• Browser checks cache for DNS resolution

• If not found, browser sends a DNS query to resolve the domain name to an IP address

• Browser establishes a TCP connection with the server

• Browser sends an HTTP request to the server for the webpage

• Server processes the...read more
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Round duration - 60 minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

Technical round with questions based on data structures, oops and networking.

Q1. 
Counting Sort Problem Statement
Ninja is learning about sorting algorithms, specifically those that do not rely on comparisons. Can you help Ninja implement the counting sort algorithm?
Example:
Input:
...read more
Ans. 
Implement counting sort algorithm to sort an array of integers without comparisons.
• Count the frequency of each element in the input array.

• Calculate the prefix sum of frequencies to determine the position of each element in the sorted array.

• Place each element in its correct position based on the prefix sum.

• Time complexity of counting sort is O(n+k), where n is the number of elements and k is the range of input.

• Example: ...read more
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Q2. What are the applications of the Fibonacci series in real life?
Ans. 
The Fibonacci series has applications in various fields such as mathematics, computer science, art, and nature.
• Used in algorithms for optimization problems and dynamic programming.

• Found in nature, such as the arrangement of leaves on a stem, the branching of trees, and the spiral shapes of shells.

• Applied in financial markets for predicting stock prices and analyzing market trends.

• Utilized in art and design for creating
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Round duration - 30 minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

HR round where the interviewer asked questions to know more about me.

Round duration - 60 minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

Technical Interview Round with questions based on Data structures, OOPS and SQL.

Q1. 
Delete a Node from a Linked List
You are provided with a linked list of integers. Your task is to implement a function that deletes a node located at a specified position 'POS'.
Input:
The first line co...read more
Ans. 
Implement a function to delete a node from a linked list at a specified position.
• Traverse the linked list to find the node at the specified position.

• Update the pointers of the previous and next nodes to skip the node to be deleted.

• Handle edge cases such as deleting the head or tail of the linked list.

• Ensure to free the memory of the deleted node to avoid memory leaks.
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Q2. Write an SQL query to find the nth highest salary.
Ans. 
SQL query to find the nth highest salary
• Use the ORDER BY clause to sort salaries in descending order

• Use the LIMIT and OFFSET clauses to skip the first n-1 highest salaries

• Combine the above steps in a single query to find the nth highest salary
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Q3. Can you explain the concepts of Object-Oriented Programming (OOP)?
Ans. 
OOP is a programming paradigm based on the concept of objects, which can contain data in the form of fields and code in the form of procedures.
• OOP focuses on creating objects that interact with each other to solve problems.

• Key concepts include encapsulation, inheritance, and polymorphism.

• Encapsulation involves bundling data and methods that operate on the data into a single unit.

• Inheritance allows classes to inherit at...read more
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Round duration - 60 minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

Was asked me about my favorite technologies, What i liked about Facebook. And asked me to design a cinema ticket reservation web site­ like the one satyam has.

Q1. 
Kth Largest Element Problem
Given an array containing N distinct positive integers and a number K, determine the Kth largest element in the array.
Example:
Input:
N = 6, K = 3, array = [2, 1, 5, 6, 3, ...read more
Ans. 
Find the Kth largest element in an array of distinct positive integers.
• Sort the array in non-increasing order and return the Kth element.

• Handle multiple test cases efficiently.

• Ensure all elements in the array are distinct.
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Q2. What are virtual functions?
Ans. 
Virtual functions are functions in a base class that are overridden in derived classes to achieve runtime polymorphism.
• Virtual functions are declared in a base class with the 'virtual' keyword.

• They are overridden in derived classes using the 'override' keyword.

• They allow a function to be called based on the runtime type of an object.

• Virtual functions enable dynamic binding and late binding in C++.

• Example: virtual void ...read more
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Q3. Design a Cinema Ticket Reservation System.
Ans. 
Design a Cinema Ticket Reservation System
• Use a database to store movie information, showtimes, and seat availability

• Allow users to search for movies, select showtimes, and choose seats

• Implement a payment system for ticket purchases

• Send confirmation emails with QR codes for ticket validation
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Q4. In how many attempts can you find a defective ball among 10 given balls using a two-pan balance scale?
Ans. 
You can find a defective ball among 10 given balls in 2 attempts using a two-pan balance scale.
• Divide the 10 balls into two groups of 5 each.

• Weigh the two groups on the balance scale.

• If one group is heavier, it contains the defective ball. If they are equal, the defective ball is in the remaining 5 balls.

• Divide the group of 5 balls with the defective one into two groups of 2 and 3 balls.

• Weigh the two groups on the bala...read more
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Round duration - 30 minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

HR round that lasted for about 30 minutes. The interviewer asked me questions to know more about me and a puzzle.

Q1. Can you tell me about your projects and your extracurricular activities?
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Round duration - 60 minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

I couldn't find an optimal approach to the first question, so she skipped that question and proceeded to next questions. Remaining questions I have answered satisfactorily.

Q1. 
Subset Sum Equal To K Problem Statement
Given an array/list of positive integers and an integer K, determine if there exists a subset whose sum equals K.
Provide true if such a subset exists, otherwise r...read more
Ans. 
Given an array of positive integers and an integer K, determine if there exists a subset whose sum equals K.
• Use dynamic programming to solve this problem efficiently

• Create a 2D array to store if a subset with a particular sum exists

• Iterate through the array and update the 2D array accordingly

• Check if the value at the end of the iteration is true for the given K
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Q2. 
BFS Traversal in a Graph
Given an undirected and disconnected graph G(V, E) where V vertices are numbered from 0 to V-1, and E represents edges, your task is to output the BFS traversal starting from the ...read more
Ans. 
BFS traversal in a disconnected graph starting from vertex 0.
• Implement BFS algorithm to traverse the graph starting from vertex 0.

• Use a queue to keep track of visited nodes and their neighbors.

• Ensure to print the traversal sequence in the correct order.

• Handle disconnected components by checking for unvisited nodes.

• Follow the BFS approach of exploring neighbors before moving to the next level.
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Round duration - 60 minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

I told that my strength is problem solving and I can always find a way when there is a bottle-neck. Gave some examples of my experiences while doing my assignments.

Q1. 
Replace Spaces in a String
Given a string STR consisting of words separated by spaces, your task is to replace all spaces between words with the characters "@40".
Input:
The first line contains an integ...read more
Ans. 
Replace spaces in a string with '@40'.
• Iterate through each character in the string

• Replace spaces with '@40'

• Return the modified string
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