Software Engineer · Full Journey · Multiple Types

Palo Alto Networks — Software Engineer ❌ Failed

Level: Mid-Level

Round: Full Journey · Type: Multiple Types · Difficulty: 7/10 · Duration: 120 min · Interviewer: Unfriendly

Topics: Data Structures, Algorithms, Linked Lists, Hash Tables, Dynamic Programming

Location: San Francisco Bay Area

Interview date: 2025-02-15

Got offer: False

Summary

Interview Rounds Overview

• Round 1: Phone Screen
• Round 2: Onsite

Details

I interviewed for a software engineer position. My experience included a phone screen and an onsite interview.

Phone Screen: I was asked about my previous experience and then had to implement the reversal of a singly linked list.

Onsite Interview: The onsite interview included the following questions:

• Find the top k elements.
• Find the maximum and minimum values in a data stream.
• Implement an LRU and LFU cache.
• Given an M x N 2D matrix where each point is a router or a strength value, find the path that steps on the most routers.