Interview Experience - 143 - Sharechat | SDE 2 | Senior Software Engineer
Summary
📌 Job Role: Software Development Engineer
🔢 Number of Rounds: 5
📜 Offer Status: Rejected
📍 Location: Bangalore
👤 Candidate Name: Not disclosing due to signed NDA
Interview Process
A recruiter from Sharechat reached out to me via LinkedIn. The overall process had five rounds:
Online Assessment (OA) on HackerEarth
Data Structures & Algorithms (DSA) Round
System Design Round
Hiring Manager Round
Final Round with a Director
After clearing all the rounds, I was asked to share documents for verification, and we started salary negotiations. By this point, I already had two offers from companies in the EU, so I decided to put this offer on hold.
The recruiter was supportive and gave me the flexibility to make a decision. I took about two weeks to evaluate and ultimately declined the offer via email.
Preparation Guide
I had initially started preparing for Amazon SDE roles in San Francisco. This focused preparation helped me significantly during the Sharechat interview process.
Additionally, I had set my LinkedIn profile to "Open to Work" for opportunities in the US and EU regions and had actively been applying to companies in the EU. My preparation included:
Solving LeetCode problems daily (especially medium to hard)
Practicing system design questions
Deep-diving into my past projects to explain them in detail
Reviewing architecture and scalability concepts
Interview Rounds
## Round 1: Online Assessment (OA)
Duration: 90 minutes
Difficulty Level: Medium
Experience:
I received a HackerEarth test link in mid-February. The test comprised three coding problems:
One medium LeetCode-level problem
One medium-hard LeetCode-level problem
One hard LeetCode-level problem
Frankly, I wasn’t very impressed by the question set. I solved the medium-hard question completely, managed a partial solution for the medium one, and didn’t even attempt the hard question. I wrapped up the test in about an hour, although the full duration was 90 minutes.
Despite my lack of enthusiasm and not solving all questions fully, I surprisingly cleared the OA round.
Key Learnings:
Even partial solutions can carry you through if others underperform.
Don’t overestimate the difficulty or the expectations of OA rounds.
## Round 2: DSA Round
Duration: 60 minutes
Difficulty Level: Medium
Experience:
This was a pure DSA round focused on problem-solving and coding.
Q1: All Nodes Distance K in Binary Tree
I used a hashmap to store child-parent relationships and solved it using BFS. The interviewer asked if the solution could be implemented without extra space. I explained a method to find the parent during traversal itself, though that would impact time complexity. He acknowledged the trade-off.
Q2: Jump Game II
This was new to me. I came up with a BFS-based approach and discussed it with the interviewer. After getting a go-ahead, I implemented the solution.
Key Learnings:
Be ready to defend your space and time trade-offs.
Even if you haven’t seen a problem before, structured thinking can get you through.
## Round 3: System Design Round
Duration: 40 minutes
Difficulty Level: Medium
Experience:
This round was taken by a manager. After quick introductions, I was asked to design a paginated API, similar to an Instagram user’s profile feed—where more posts are loaded as the user scrolls.
I had experience with similar APIs in my current organization. I designed a solution that indexed posts by timestamp in the DB and filtered results based on a last_seen_timestamp, which would be sent by the client in subsequent requests. I added default limits on the number of records and included the next timestamp in the response to continue pagination.
We also discussed the trade-offs between timestamp-based pagination vs LIMIT & OFFSET. It was a relatively simple system design question, and the round wrapped up in 40 minutes.
Key Learnings:
Simpler problems still require clarity in API design.
Always be prepared to compare design alternatives and their impact on latency and scale.
## Round 4: Hiring Manager Round
Duration: 45 minutes
Difficulty Level: Easy
Experience:
This round was focused on discussing my current project and the architectural decisions behind it. I gave a deep dive into the system design, explained the components, data flow, and scalability concerns.
The interviewer asked follow-up questions to test the depth of my understanding, and I was able to answer them effectively. Toward the end, I asked him questions about the team, the work they are doing, and the kind of problems they solve.
Key Learnings:
Be ready to go in-depth on your current work.
Prepare meaningful questions to ask the interviewer—it shows genuine interest.
## Round 5: Final Round
Duration: 30 minutes
Difficulty Level: Easy
Experience:
This was a casual conversation with a director from a different team. We discussed my professional background, skillsets, and general career trajectory.
He shared insights into his team’s responsibilities, how Sharechat is growing, and what their future hiring plans looked like. It felt more like a culture-fit and expectation-matching round than an evaluation.
Key Learnings:
Director rounds can be more about fit and alignment than technical skills.
Use this as a two-way discussion to learn about the organization’s future plans.
Final Thoughts
Having offers from other companies gave me the confidence to stay calm throughout the process.
A lot of preparation overlaps across companies. Targeting one company (in my case, Amazon SF) helped me clear interviews at others.
Don’t underestimate rounds based on their titles. Even a "simple" round can be decisive.
Be proactive in conversations—especially with hiring managers and directors. It’s as much about them selling their team as it is about you showcasing your skills.