Software Engineer · Full Journey · Coding

Rippling — Software Engineer ❌ Failed

Level: Intern

Round: Full Journey · Type: Coding · Difficulty: 6/10 · Duration: 60 min · Interviewer: Neutral

Topics: Depth-First Search, Matrix Traversal, Algorithms

Location: San Francisco Bay Area

Interview date: 2025-12-05

Got offer: False

Summary

Round 1: Coding

Question: I had to find connected areas in a matrix representing houses and return the top-left and bottom-right coordinates of each house in a specific format (e.g., A2, B3). The matrix had irregular rows.

Details

The coding question involved a matrix where connected areas represent houses. I needed to return the top-left and bottom-right coordinates of each house. The matrix was irregular, with each row having a different number of elements. The example matrix format was:

[ * * * * 1 1 1 * *] [* 1 1 * *] [* * 1 1* * *]

I used Depth-First Search (DFS) but didn't finish the implementation during the interview. I analyzed the complexity. I was rejected the next day.

My approach:

1. I attempted to implement DFS to traverse the matrix and identify connected components.
2. I focused on correctly identifying the boundaries (top-left and bottom-right) of each connected component.

Key insights:

• Efficiently handling irregular matrix formats requires careful attention to boundary conditions.
• Time management is crucial in coding interviews; ensure a working solution is presented, even if it's not fully optimized.

LeetCode similar: LeetCode 695