Interview Experience - 144 - Booking.com | SDE-2 | Amsterdam, Netherlands
Summary
📌 Job Role: Software Development Engineer (SDE-2)
🔢 Number of Rounds: 5
📜 Offer Status: Offer
📍 Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
👤 Candidate Name: Not disclosing due to signed NDA
Interview Process
Applied through the Booking.com careers portal.
Received an online assessment link the next day.
Completed a 90-minute online assessment.
Received the assessment result within a few hours.
Attended a recruiter screening call.
Received an invite for 3 virtual on-site interviews after a few days.
Coding Interview (60 minutes)
System Design Interview (90 minutes)
Cultural Fit Interview (60 minutes)
Received the offer.
Preparation Guide
For the online assessment:
Practiced LeetCode problems extensively, including:
Easy sorting and array traversal problem
The preparation was focused on a mix of array manipulation, dynamic programming, and problem-solving speed, which helped build confidence for the coding assessment. For system design, revisiting high-level design concepts and thinking in terms of scalability and fault tolerance was essential.
Interview Rounds
Round 1: Online Assessment
Duration: 90 minutes
Difficulty Level: Easy
Experience:
The online assessment consisted of three coding questions. One was an easy array sorting and traversal problem. The other two were more algorithmic in nature:
Maximal Square, which tested dynamic programming concepts.
Award Top K Hotels, which involved processing and ranking data.
The assessment was straightforward, and the results were shared within a few hours. Shortly after, a recruiter screening was scheduled.
Key Learnings:
Covering a variety of question types on LeetCode helps.
Focus on clean, optimized solutions since time complexity is often discussed.
Dynamic programming and data processing questions are highly relevant for Booking.com assessments.
Round 2: Recruiter Screening
Duration: 30 minutes
Difficulty Level: Easy
Experience:
This was a standard recruiter screening call. The recruiter asked questions about my experience, expectations, current compensation, and any ongoing interview processes with other companies.
After this round, I received the invitation for the virtual on-site interviews.
Key Learnings:
Be transparent about expectations and timeline.
This round is not technical but sets the tone for the rest of the process.
Round 3: Coding Interview
Duration: 60 minutes
Difficulty Level: Medium
Experience:
The interview began with brief introductions. I was presented with a single coding problem:
Logs for payments and bookings were provided in JSON format.
I had to write code to process the logs and generate a report that the payment operations team could use.
The challenge required asking clarifying questions to determine what information should be included in the report. Follow-up scenarios were added progressively, requiring me to adapt my code. The interviewer also asked about the runtime complexity of my solution and ways it could be optimized.
Key Learnings:
Communication is crucial. Asking clarifying questions shows problem-solving ability beyond coding.
Be prepared to explain trade-offs and optimizations for your solution.
Understanding how to handle real-world JSON data and edge cases is key.
Round 4: System Design Interview
Duration: 90 minutes
Difficulty Level: Medium
Experience:
I was asked to design a service to detect fraudulent credit cards for the "book now, pay later" feature. The high-level requirements were:
Booking.com allows users to book a hotel room now and pay later, on or before check-in. However, fraudulent credit cards could be used for such bookings. The task was to design a system that can detect and block fraudulent cards using a third-party API that provides a list of newly reported fraudulent cards.
We discussed the high-level architecture, data flow, and APIs. I provided a solution that included:
Real-time fraud detection service
Database for flagged transactions
Integration with the third-party fraud detection API
Mechanisms for blocking suspicious cards before bookings are confirmed
There were a few follow-up questions, but they did not dive too deep into specifics.
Key Learnings:
Be clear about trade-offs between real-time detection and batch processing.
Focus on building a scalable and extensible architecture.
Always confirm the assumptions and adapt based on follow-up questions.
Round 5: Cultural Fit Interview
Duration: 60 minutes
Difficulty Level: Medium
Experience:
This round was behavioral and felt similar to Amazon's Leadership Principles interviews. I was asked about situations where I had to handle conflicts, lead initiatives, or deliver results under pressure. The interviewer probed into how I collaborated with teams and handled feedback but did not go into deep follow-ups for each question.
Key Learnings:
Prepare for behavioral interviews using the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) method.
Focus on real examples from your experience.
Align your answers with Booking.com’s culture of ownership and collaboration.
Final Thoughts
Booking.com’s interview process is structured, transparent, and quick.
Coding rounds require strong problem-solving skills, clear communication, and adaptability.
System design requires a good understanding of distributed systems and high-level architecture rather than deep implementation details.
Cultural fit interviews hold significant weight, so prepare thoroughly with relevant behavioral examples.
Overall, consistent preparation on problem-solving and clear communication in interviews helped secure the offer.