Salesforce Interview Experience (On-Campus)

This was an on-campus offer. (Interview date: 27′ Sept 2022(approx))

Online Assessment:
This round comprised a total of 3 DSA problems. No questions were asked about CS fundamentals or LR topics.

Question 1: Similar to  Maximum number of envelopes that can be put inside other bigger envelopes
Question 2: Similar to  https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/minimum-steps-required-to-make-an-array-decreasing/
Question 3: Similar to Number of subsequences in a string divisible by n

The problems were medium-hard type. One should have sound knowledge in dp, stack, comparator sorting, and implementation to solve these problems.
I managed to solve all 3 problems although people who managed to solve 2-2.5 problems were also short-listed for the first round of interviews.

Technical Interview(Round 1):(45 minutes approx.)
A total of 30 students were selected for this interview round based on OA. The interview was held online.
I joined via the given link 5 minutes before the scheduled time. The interviewer asked me to introduce myself. I told him about the basic projects I had( one was a path-finding visualizer (using graph concepts) and another one was a web full-stack project(which I made with my friends in a hackathon). I also stressed that my interest lay mainly in DSA and problem-solving.

He asked me to discuss the projects briefly.
He asked about the tech stacks used in the full-stack projects. Why NoSQL over SQL(pros and cons). What is REST API etc? He asked me to briefly tell him about all the graph algorithms that I have used in the path-finding visualizer project.
Then he gave me a problem based on knapsack-DP(medium) and told me to code on the hackerrank platform. I explained my solution while coding. Thankfully all TCs passed.
The next question was, given a string how can u say if the given string is a valid IP address or not? I explained my thought process and then coded it. He just asked the pseudo-code for it.
Then he asked a puzzle(I cannot remember it as of now but it was on the easy-medium side.).(note: Many of my friends got a lot of puzzle problems in their rounds. be prepared with that.)
He then moved to OOPs concepts. He gave me code snippets on various concepts like hybrid inheritance, function overriding, and over-loading and asked me to tell the O/Ps. Definitions of some common OOPs concepts followed it.
Then he asked me to write SQL queries in the hackerrank platform for some given problems that he provided. Having a basic knowledge of standard SQL operations would be enough.

Technical Interview(Round 2):(1 hr 15 minutes(approx.))
A total of 15 made it to the 2nd round. I was one of them.

 I entered the meeting 5 minutes before the scheduled time. The interview was very welcoming. He talked about my health and hobbies and then moved on to the introduction part. I introduced myself the same way as before stressing that my interest lay more in problem-solving.

He asked me the basic difference between BFS and DFS. I explained to him by drawing figures in MS-paint(xd). He then threw various scenarios at me and asked which traversal would be better and the reasons for that. (He was exhaustively cross-questioning based on my answers.)
He then gave me a link that redirected me to the hacker rank platform. It was a problem based on Dijkstra’s algorithm on matrix. The code thankfully passed except for one TC. I asked if I would get time to fix it. But the interviewer said that he was fine with the logic and implementation and moved on to the next problem.
He then gave me the famous egg-dropping puzzle(https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/puzzle-set-35-2-eggs-and-100-floors/). Although he asked a verbal answer about how I would solve it. I explained to him the dp-approach of taking out the best of all worst scenarios possible. I could understand he had some binary-search logic in his head but I stuck to my logic and explained it to him. And finally, when he still had doubts I opened an editor and coded it, and asked him to give I/Ps and match my O/Ps.
Then he asked me a standard problem of the LPS array(Longest Proper Prefix which is also a proper suffix.).Count the number of occurrences of string s in string t in O(s.length()+t.length()) time. I studied this concept from the “pepcoding youtube channel” and explained the concept.
The next question he asked was to Count the number of palindromic subsequences in a given string. Also a standard dp question. I was asked to write the pseudo code along with the logic behind it.
He then moved on to DBMS and asked whether I knew about triggers in SQL to which I said NO. Then he asked me about indexing in DBMS. I prepared this topic from Gate Smashers and explained all types of indexing with diagrams in MS Paint clearly.
The interview gave very positive feedback for my performance in this round(The scheduled 45 mins interview was extended to 1 hr 15 mins xd.). He said he would recommend me for selection but the final decision was not in his hand. He asked me to prepare for the next round and then asked if I had some questions. I asked a few questions about the five principles of Salesforce and what domain was he currently working in. Second Round ended.

Hiring Manager Round(Final Round):
A total of 8 candidates were selected for this round. The interviewer was aged and had 15 years of experience in various companies.
He asked for a brief introduction of myself and then gave his introduction. He then mentioned that this round would be an open discussion round. The result of this round won’t affect my selection.

For the first question, he asked to suggest some method/procedure by which you can accurately predict the total number of buses in your city. (Tbh I was literally shocked by the question as I never expected such type of question in the rounds and at the last round every answer mattered). I calmed myself and told him my thought process(dividing the city into disjoint sub-domains and keeping track of all bus-number plates and making a database in every sub-domain.) Finally, the merge of all these data will give us our answer. He had some statistical calculations which he then told me. I said this would not give an exact accurate answer. (According to me I should not have said this loud.)

The next question he asked was that if I was given the responsibility to organize a birthday party what measures should I take to minimize the cost of the party? 

I again explained the ways that were best according to my opinion. He also added a few points. It was nothing sort of a right/wrong question. I just had to give as many suitable ideas as possible in that frame of time.

Then he asked me if I had taken part in any group events, what were my contributions and what did I learn from each member respectively and from the team as a whole?

As I had taken part in a hackathon with 3 of my batchmates, I explained to him the qualities I lacked that I found in other members and how I incorporated those in me. I explained about the roles(both technical and non-technical) which I had to perform while working with the team. Finally, the interviewer asked if I had any questions for him.

I asked about the five prime principles of Salesforce and a few of its products. He was very interested to tell me about these things. Finally, the interview concluded.

VERDICT: SELECTED