Interview Experience – FloQast
🧪 Round 1: Online Assessment (OA)
The Online Assessment consisted of 3 Data Structures and Algorithms (DSA) problems.
- I was able to fully solve 2 problems.
- For the third problem, I passed 7 out of 14 test cases.
- Based on my performance, I was shortlisted for the next round.
🧠 Round 2: Technical Interview
The interview started with a deep dive into my internship project.
🔍 Project Discussion:
- Explained my role, contributions, and implementation details
- Justified design and technical decisions
- Discussed challenges faced and how I resolved them. The interviewer then focused heavily on my DSA and Competitive Programming background, as highlighted in my resume.
💡 DSA Problem:
I was given the problem: Minimum Removals for Target Sum
Instead of directly solving, the interviewer emphasized:
- Reframing the problem correctly
- Explaining thought process clearly
After exploring multiple approaches, I reframed the problem as:
👉 Find the longest subarray whose sum is (total sum – target). Then, minimum removals = total elements – length of this subarray.
⚙️ Approaches Discussed:
- Recursive Approach: Time Complexity: O(2ⁿ) Space Complexity: O(n)
- Prefix + Suffix Arrays: Time Complexity: O(n) Space Complexity: O(n)
- Sliding Window (Optimal): Time Complexity: O(n) Space Complexity: O(1)
🎯 Key Focus Areas:
- Clear problem understanding and reframing.
- Ability to iterate over multiple approaches.
- Explaining time-space trade-offs.
- Writing clean, working code.
- Thinking out loud and taking interviewer feedback constructively
🧩 Round 3: Managerial Interview
This round focused on both project understanding and problem-solving mindset.
📌 Discussion:
- Detailed explanation of my projects
- Questions around design choices and real-world applicability
🧠 Open-Ended Problem:
I was asked to design a solution for:
👉 Scheduling a common elective slot for students across 3 departments such that maximum students can attend without conflicts.
🧭 Approach:
- Started by asking clarifying questions.
- Identified:
- Constraints (time slots, number of students, department schedules)
- Optimization goal (maximize participation)
- Proposed a structured and optimized scheduling approach.
🎯 What Was Evaluated:
- Ability to handle ambiguity
- Asking the right questions before solving
- Structured thinking and communication
- Real-world optimization mindset
🧑💼 Round 4: HR Interview
This was a behavioral and cultural fit round.
Topics Covered:
- My background and journey
- Hobbies and interests
- Future career goals
- General discussion to assess cultural alignment
The round was conversational and comfortable.
✅ Final Verdict: Selected 🎉
- A total of 5 students were selected.
💡 Key Takeaways:
- Strong focus on problem understanding over just coding
- Importance of reframing problems correctly
- Clear communication and thinking out loud is crucial
- Interviewers value depth over speed
