My American Express SDE Interview Journey: Learnings Despite Rejection
Round 1: Resume Shortlist
The first round was a resume shortlist, which took place across all of India. After a few weeks, the coding round was conducted.
Round 2: Coding Challenge (1 hour 30 minutes)
The coding round was conducted on the HackerRank platform. There were three questions: two were coding problems and one involved debugging. The questions were based on strings and binary search trees. Two of them were easy, and one was of medium difficulty.
Round 3: Technical Round
After the coding round results were announced, they selected 12 people from all over India, and fortunately, I was one of them. The technical round was conducted on the Webex online platform. There were two panellists, and they asked easy to medium questions based on what I had mentioned in my CV. In my case, the question was related to computer networks.
Round 4: Final Round (HR + Technical)
This round was quite tough for me as they asked questions related to both technical and basic HR aspects. Towards the end, they presented me with a puzzle problem related to maps, and I struggled to code it in the given time. The other questions were relatively easy.
The Outcome:
Unfortunately, I didn’t get selected. It was a bit of a shock, but I’m not giving up! I learned a bunch from this experience, and I’m thinking about how I can do better next time. I guess the main reason for the rejection was that I couldn’t figure out the code for the puzzle problem.
What I Learned:
- It’s not just about the technical skills – strong communication and logical skills are very important too!
- Always believe in yourself, whether facing rejection or selection.
Tips for Your Interview:
- Practice solving coding problems every day, especially those related to Data Structures and Algorithms, Databases, Object-Oriented Programming, Operating Systems, and Networking.
- Develop at least one project you can talk about in detail during the interview.
- Get ready for puzzles and real-world problem-solving scenarios.