Software Engineer · Onsite · Multiple Types

Meta — Software Engineer ✅ Passed

Level: Mid-Level

Round: Onsite · Type: Multiple Types · Difficulty: 7/10 · Duration: 240 min · Interviewer: Friendly

Topics: String Manipulation, Data Structures, System Design, Concurrency, BST, Doubly Linked List

Location: San Francisco Bay Area

Interview date: 2026-01-20

Summary

Interview Rounds Overview

• Round 1: Coding
• Round 2: Coding
• Round 3: Coding
• Round 4: System Design

Details

I recently completed my onsite interview. Overall, I felt the competition was intense and the bar was high. The questions were of the type where it seems like you've seen them before, but they've been modified.

Coding Rounds:

1. LeetCode 8, String to Integer: I was overconfident and took too long to debug all the cases. Because I was flustered, the code I wrote wasn't optimal.
2. LeetCode 71 variant, Simplify Path: Not as simple as the original problem. It incorporated settings such as the current path, with many potential pitfalls.
3. Similar to LeetCode 426, Convert Binary Search Tree to Sorted Doubly Linked List.
4. Simplified version of LeetCode 227, Basic Calculator.

System Design Round:

Design a ticketing system. The interviewer focused on concurrent locks and ticket grabbing scenarios. The question wasn't difficult, but the emphasis was on communication and understanding the interviewer's needs.

I finished by discussing the market, layoffs, and AI with one of the interviewers.

LeetCode similar: LeetCode 8, LeetCode 71, LeetCode 426, LeetCode 227