Just got a call out of the blue from Indeed to set up an interview for L2, possibly uplevel to L3. Actually stoked, as I've been working for 🥜🥜 at small fry defense places and this is the kind of TC and WLB I've been looking for, not to mention it's remote. Anyway, they use Karat still for leetcode-style interviews for the first round. I've never done a leetcode interview. Already signed up for a couple Algo mock interviews and leetcode premium. Anybody that can share how you'd zero to hero leetcode prep in a week? That's all the time I have. Also, any Indeeders or other folks who've done Karat/Indeed interviews interested in sharing their experience? Every little detail is helpful. No idea what to expect for later rounds either. Am I kidding myself about this job opportunity? Or is it actually possible? TC: 125 YOE: 6 #leetcode #interview #swe
If all you have is one week, then focus on blind75. Follow Neetcode's videos when you can't solve a problem. Good luck!
What is blind75?
google it - it's a list of 75 questions that gives you enough breadth
Did the Karat interview last month. Definitely go through the Karat and Indeed tagged questions on LC. From the discussion it seems like they rarely if ever change their question bank. Most people that interview with Karat, specifically indeed, mention 2 specific problems, which were the ones I got as well, along with a 3rd hard level follow up that was also in the list. There’s also a brief quiz where you can choose between a list of topics to get quizzed on. Basic stuff like OOP, multi threading, and front end design. Tbh I’m not even sure this matters as the recruiters explicitly state you need to pass 2 algo questions. Good Luck!
Thank you! This is exactly the kind of information I was hoping for.
Are same rules apply like FAANG interviews? Did you get offer?
For the Karat interview, focus on complete solutions. You want to complete at least two of the three coding questions. After that, they care about optimality, debugging, and complexity analysis. Your recruiter should be telling you all of this and sending you a document with more details about this and the later interviews.
Thank you! My recruiter was very enthusiastic, but basically all technical questions went to "that should be in the email." And they mentioned I needed two optimal solutions; nothing about debugging, complexity, or non optimal solutions, so that's extremely helpful info.
The good news is you get a little more than a week because they offer a redo. I needed the redo and still landed an L3 so don’t panic if you fail the first time. LC helped a ton but the questions as asked didn’t 100% line up with what was there. The Karat questions I got were basically an LC easy style question that then progressed into an LC medium style question after I solved the first. The 3rd was a progression of the 2nd that I would still consider LC medium. The basic algorithms needed were all in the tagged indeed LC questions. You need to get 2 to correctly compile and run all the test cases they provide. On my first attempt I got 1 down and 2 worked except for one test case before I ran out of time. I asked the recruiter and he was pretty upfront that I needed to retake so don’t be afraid to ask if you passed or not. I got through both in the second attempt and barely started the third. Keep in mind this is a pass/fail thing so don’t get caught up over-explaining. Give short answers and if the proctor wants more info, make them ask for it. I don’t know what they consider passing for the trivia section but it’s pretty easy. Just again don’t spend too much time on it.
Thanks! That's really helpful. I've been stressing over my ability to talk through it while I'm working. Found the Indeed-labeled questions thanks to another commenter, just need to shore up some of my algorithmic deficiencies in the meantime and hopefully get through the Indeed questions and onto Blind 75 easy and mediums.
As a follow-up, may I ask what you needed to know for L3? Was it a lot of systems design? I'm just getting back into web dev after taking a jaunt for a few years into embedded and C++ Linux and am wondering what to prioritize studying.
The main topics you need to practice are Binary search, backtracking (recursion), left/right boundary movement, deques, stacks and most importantly- discarding trivial cases before you start your main algorithm. These solve 95% of leetcode problems. The more you practice these the less you will make careless mistakes. This will give you a really good chance to think of the last 5% on the spot.
The interviewer wont tell you upfront but there are follow up questions and the expectation is that you complete a few follow-ups to pass. I didn’t know this so when I realised the question was very easy I coded it really slow to use up all interview time, turns out there were follow ups and I had to rush at the end to finish everything.
Nice, thanks for the heads-up. I ended up cancelling the interview as it was clear that I was going to fail. A week of leetcoding part time was definitely not enough. My recruiter was super chill, so I'll probably just push it out a ways and schedule when I'm ready.
Great to hear your recruiter was chill. Preparing for interviews while working full time is really hard so it is totally understandable to cancel/reschedule. Take your time so you dont burn out and best of luck!
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One week is a tough time frame for no leetcode experience. Not saying this to be discouraging. You really should be grinding to get every little edge you can. The opportunity will come, even if Indeed doesn’t work out in the end. Wishing you the best!! Really hope you can nail it.
Yep, gonna be grinding like crazy. Thanks for the realistic feedback. If you have any idea of which types of problems might be best to study, I'm all ears.
gotta play to your strengths and weaknesses. I’d say don’t even attempt dp questions, you won’t stand a chance with just a week (assuming you’re not rock solid on your cs theory). Not many companies ask those questions anymore anyways. Think dfs/bfs based questions are most common these days generally speaking