CodeToLive

Previous Year Questions (PYQs)

Reverse a Linked List

Write a function to reverse a singly linked list.

Coding

Explain CAP Theorem

What is CAP theorem, and how does it apply to distributed systems?

Technical

Tell Me About Yourself

How would you introduce yourself in an interview?

HR

Two Sum Problem

Given an array of integers, return indices of the two numbers that add up to a specific target.

Coding

Explain Load Balancing

What is load balancing, and how does it work in distributed systems?

Technical

Conflict Resolution

How would you handle a conflict within your team?

Managerial

Binary Tree Traversal

Write a function to perform an in-order traversal of a binary tree.

Coding

Explain ACID Properties

What are ACID properties in database systems?

Technical

Why Microsoft?

Why do you want to work at Microsoft?

HR

Merge Intervals

Given a collection of intervals, merge all overlapping intervals.

Coding

Explain React Virtual DOM

How does React's virtual DOM improve performance?

Technical

Team Leadership

How do you motivate your team to meet deadlines?

Managerial

Palindrome Check

Write a function to check if a string is a palindrome.

Coding

Explain MVC Architecture

What is MVC, and how does it work in web development?

Technical

Strengths and Weaknesses

What are your strengths and weaknesses?

HR

Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters

Find the length of the longest substring without repeating characters.

Coding

Explain Microservices

What are microservices, and how do they differ from monolithic architecture?

Technical

Handling Pressure

How do you handle pressure and tight deadlines?

Managerial

Reverse Words in a String

Reverse the order of words in a given string.

Coding

Explain Electric Vehicle Architecture

How does Tesla's electric vehicle architecture work?

Technical

Why Tesla?

Why do you want to work at Tesla?

HR

Find the Missing Number

Given an array containing n distinct numbers taken from 0 to n, find the missing number.

Coding

Explain CPU Scheduling Algorithms

What are the different CPU scheduling algorithms, and how do they work?

Technical

Team Collaboration

How do you ensure effective collaboration within a team?

Managerial

Check for Balanced Parentheses

Write a function to check if a string of parentheses is balanced.

Coding

Explain Blockchain Technology

What is blockchain, and how does it ensure data integrity?

Technical

Why IBM?

Why do you want to work at IBM?

HR

Implement a Stack Using Queues

Write a program to implement a stack using two queues.

Coding

Explain Database Indexing

What is database indexing, and how does it improve query performance?

Technical

Handling Deadlines

How do you prioritize tasks to meet tight deadlines?

Managerial

Implement a Queue Using Stacks

Write a program to implement a queue using two stacks.

Coding

Explain Memory Management in OS

How does memory management work in operating systems?

Technical

Describe a Challenging Project

Tell us about a challenging project you worked on and how you overcame the challenges.

HR

Find the Kth Largest Element in an Array

Write a function to find the kth largest element in an unsorted array.

Coding

Explain MapReduce

What is MapReduce, and how does it work in distributed systems?

Technical

Describe a Time You Failed

Tell us about a time you failed and what you learned from it.

HR

Rotate an Array

Write a function to rotate an array to the right by k steps.

Coding

Explain Consistent Hashing

What is consistent hashing, and why is it used in distributed systems?

Technical

Delegating Tasks

How do you decide which tasks to delegate to your team members?

Managerial

Validate a Binary Search Tree

Write a function to check if a binary tree is a valid binary search tree.

Coding

Explain RESTful APIs

What are RESTful APIs, and how do they work?

Technical

Describe Your Ideal Work Environment

What does your ideal work environment look like?

HR

Find the Median of Two Sorted Arrays

Write a function to find the median of two sorted arrays.

Coding

Explain GraphQL

What is GraphQL, and how does it differ from REST?

Technical

Handling Underperforming Team Members

How do you handle underperforming team members?

Managerial

Implement a Trie

Write a program to implement a trie (prefix tree).

Coding

Explain Swift's Memory Management

How does memory management work in Swift?

Technical

Describe a Time You Took Initiative

Tell us about a time you took initiative at work.

HR

Design a Rate Limiter

Design a rate limiter system to handle API requests.

Coding

Explain Event-Driven Architecture

What is event-driven architecture, and how does it work?

Technical

Managing Remote Teams

How do you manage and motivate remote teams?

Managerial

Implement a Circular Buffer

Write a program to implement a circular buffer.

Coding

Explain Autonomous Driving Systems

How do autonomous driving systems work?

Technical

Describe a Time You Solved a Complex Problem

Tell us about a time you solved a complex problem at work.

HR

Find the Longest Palindromic Substring

Write a function to find the longest palindromic substring in a given string.

Coding

Explain Android Architecture

What are the key components of Android architecture?

Technical

Describe a Time You Worked Under Pressure

Tell us about a time you worked under pressure and how you handled it.

HR

Implement a Hash Table

Write a program to implement a hash table.

Coding

Explain CPU Cache

What is CPU cache, and how does it improve performance?

Technical

Handling Conflicting Priorities

How do you handle conflicting priorities in a project?

Managerial

Implement a Binary Search Algorithm

Write a function to implement a binary search algorithm.

Coding

Explain Quantum Computing

What is quantum computing, and how does it differ from classical computing?

Technical

Describe a Time You Led a Team

Tell us about a time you led a team to achieve a goal.

HR

Implement a Priority Queue

Write a program to implement a priority queue.

Coding

Explain Database Sharding

What is database sharding, and how does it improve scalability?

Technical

Handling Stakeholder Expectations

How do you manage stakeholder expectations in a project?

Managerial

Design a Photo Editor

How would you design the core functionality of a basic photo editing application?

Coding

Explain Image Compression

What are the different image compression algorithms and when would you use each?

Technical

Creative Problem Solving

Describe a time when you had to think creatively to solve a technical problem.

HR

Design Ride Pricing Algorithm

How would you design an algorithm to calculate dynamic pricing for rides?

Coding

Explain Geohashing

What is geohashing and how would you implement it for location-based services?

Technical

Scaling Challenges

How would you handle the technical challenges of scaling a service globally?

Managerial

Implement Search with Filters

Design a system to handle property searches with multiple filters (price, location, amenities).

Coding

Explain Recommendation Systems

How would you build a recommendation system for suggesting properties to users?

Technical

Cultural Fit

How do you approach building products that respect diverse cultures and communities?

HR

Design Twitter Feed

How would you design the backend for displaying a user's Twitter feed?

Coding

Handle Trending Topics

What system would you implement to identify and display trending topics in real-time?

Technical

Content Moderation

How would you approach the challenge of content moderation at scale?

Managerial

People You May Know

Design an algorithm to suggest "People You May Know" connections.

Coding

Explain Social Graph

How would you represent and query a professional social graph efficiently?

Technical

Professional Growth

How do you stay updated with the latest technologies in your field?

HR

Design Music Recommendation

How would you design a music recommendation system based on listening history?

Coding

Streaming Audio

What technical challenges are involved in streaming high-quality audio efficiently?

Technical

Personalization at Scale

How would you approach personalizing content for millions of users?

Managerial

Fraud Detection

Design a system to detect fraudulent transactions in real-time.

Coding

Secure Transactions

What security measures would you implement for online payment processing?

Technical

Handling Sensitive Data

Describe your approach to working with sensitive financial data.

HR

GPU Optimization

How would you optimize a matrix multiplication algorithm for GPU processing?

Coding

Explain CUDA

What is CUDA and how does it enable parallel computing on GPUs?

Technical

Hardware-Software Co-design

How would you approach a project requiring close collaboration between hardware and software teams?

Managerial

Telemetry Data Processing

Design a system to process and analyze real-time telemetry data from spacecraft.

Coding

Real-time Systems

What are the unique challenges of developing software for real-time aerospace systems?

Technical

Mission-Critical Thinking

Describe your approach to writing code where failures could have serious consequences.

HR

Stock Price Analysis

Design a system to analyze and predict stock price movements based on historical data.

Coding

Low-Latency Systems

How would you design a low-latency trading system?

Technical

Risk Management

How would you approach building systems that need to balance speed with risk management?

Managerial

Inventory Management System

Design a distributed inventory management system that tracks stock across thousands of stores in real-time.

Coding

Explain Eventual Consistency

How would you implement eventual consistency in a global retail database system?

Technical

Handling Scale

Describe your experience working with systems that need to handle massive scale.

HR

Video Compression Algorithm

How would you optimize a video compression algorithm for real-time conferencing?

Coding

Network Optimization

What techniques would you use to optimize video streaming under poor network conditions?

Technical

Privacy Challenges

How would you balance feature development with security and privacy concerns?

Managerial

Flight System Simulation

Design a flight control system simulation that processes sensor data in real-time.

Coding

Safety-Critical Systems

What special considerations are needed when developing software for safety-critical aerospace systems?

Technical

Regulatory Compliance

Describe your experience working with regulated industries and compliance requirements.

HR

Clinical Trial Data Analysis

Design a system to process and analyze large-scale clinical trial data while maintaining patient privacy.

Coding

HIPAA Compliance

How would you design a system to ensure compliance with healthcare data regulations like HIPAA?

Technical

Cross-Functional Teams

How would you facilitate collaboration between technical teams and medical researchers?

Managerial

Content Recommendation Engine

Design a recommendation system for Disney+ that suggests content based on viewing history across movies, shows, and parks.

Coding

Digital Rights Management

How would you implement a secure digital rights management system for streaming content?

Technical

User Experience Focus

How do you approach creating magical user experiences through technology?

HR

Network Monitoring System

Design a system to monitor network performance across millions of devices in real-time.

Coding

5G Optimization

What technical challenges are unique to developing applications for 5G networks?

Technical

Infrastructure Projects

How would you manage a large-scale infrastructure project with multiple stakeholders?

Managerial

Autopilot Sensor Fusion

How would you implement sensor fusion to combine data from cameras, radar, and ultrasonic sensors?

Coding

Over-the-Air Updates

Design a secure system for delivering over-the-air software updates to vehicles.

Technical

Spacecraft Telemetry Processing

Design a system to process and visualize telemetry data from spacecraft with high reliability requirements.

Coding

Fault-Tolerant Systems

What architectural patterns would you use to design fault-tolerant systems for space missions?

Technical

Mission-Critical Mindset

Describe your approach to writing code where failures could have catastrophic consequences.

HR

Fraud Detection Algorithm

Design a machine learning algorithm to detect fraudulent transactions in real-time.

Coding

Blockchain Applications

How could blockchain technology be applied in traditional banking systems?

Technical

Multi-Tenant Architecture

Design a multi-tenant SaaS architecture that securely isolates customer data.

Coding

Metadata-Driven Development

Explain how metadata-driven development enables platform customization.

Technical

Distributed File System

Design the core components of a distributed file system like GFS.

Coding

Recommendation Algorithms

How would you improve Amazon's product recommendation algorithms?

Technical

Payment Processing System

Design a fault-tolerant payment processing system that handles millions of transactions per day.

Coding

PCI Compliance

Explain how you would design systems to maintain PCI DSS compliance while processing payments.

Technical

Developer Experience

How would you improve the developer experience for third-party integrations with your API?

Managerial

Large-Scale Data Visualization

Design a system to visualize and interact with petabytes of interconnected data.

Coding

Data Access Control

How would you implement fine-grained access control for sensitive government datasets?

Technical

Ethical Considerations

How do you approach ethical considerations when working with sensitive data?

HR

Video Feed Algorithm

Design the recommendation algorithm for TikTok's "For You" video feed.

Coding

Content Moderation

How would you implement real-time content moderation at scale for short videos?

Technical

Global Localization

How would you adapt the platform for different cultural markets while maintaining a consistent codebase?

Managerial

Financial Data Terminal

Design the core architecture for a real-time financial data terminal handling millions of updates per second.

Coding

Low-Latency Messaging

How would you implement a low-latency messaging system for financial data distribution?

Technical

Financial Knowledge

How do you stay informed about financial markets when developing products for traders?

HR

Game Physics Engine

Design the collision detection system for a 3D game physics engine.

Coding

Unreal Engine Optimization

How would you optimize rendering performance for complex scenes in Unreal Engine?

Technical

Cross-Platform Development

How would you coordinate development for games targeting multiple platforms (PC, console, mobile)?

Managerial

Stock Trading System

Design the core trading system that executes orders with minimal latency.

Coding

Financial Regulations

How would you implement systems to comply with SEC and FINRA regulations?

Technical

Democratizing Finance

How would you make complex financial systems accessible to novice investors?

HR

Autonomous Vehicle Routing

Design the path planning algorithm for an autonomous vehicle in urban environments.

Coding

Sensor Data Fusion

How would you combine data from LIDAR, cameras, and radar for object detection?

Technical

Safety Certification

How would you approach the software development process for safety-critical autonomous systems?

Managerial

Distributed Query Execution

Design the query execution engine for a cloud data warehouse that scales elastically.

Coding

Data Warehouse Architecture

Explain the separation of storage and compute in cloud data warehouses.

Technical

Enterprise Adoption

How would you design features to encourage enterprise adoption of a new database technology?

HR

Language Learning Algorithm

Design the spaced repetition algorithm for optimizing language learning retention.

Coding

Speech Recognition

How would you implement real-time pronunciation evaluation for language learners?

Technical

User Engagement

How would you increase daily active users through product features?

Managerial

Spark Optimization

How would you optimize Apache Spark jobs for large-scale data processing?

Technical

Industrial IoT

Design a system to collect and analyze sensor data from industrial equipment.

Technical

Autonomous Decision Making

How would you implement decision-making algorithms for autonomous vehicles in complex traffic scenarios?

Technical

Reverse a Linked List

Write a function to reverse a singly linked list.

Coding

Explain CAP Theorem

What is CAP theorem, and how does it apply to distributed systems?

Technical

Two Sum Problem

Given an array of integers, return indices of the two numbers that add up to a specific target.

Coding

Explain Load Balancing

What is load balancing, and how does it work in distributed systems?

Technical

Binary Tree Traversal

Write a function to perform an in-order traversal of a binary tree.

Coding

Merge Intervals

Given a collection of intervals, merge all overlapping intervals.

Coding

Palindrome Check

Write a function to check if a string is a palindrome.

Coding

Payment Processing System

Design a fault-tolerant payment processing system that handles millions of transactions per day.

Coding

Large-Scale Data Visualization

Design a system to visualize and interact with petabytes of interconnected data.

Coding

Genomic Data Processing

Design a pipeline to process and analyze large-scale genomic sequencing data for vaccine development.

Coding

Radar Signal Processing

Implement an algorithm to filter noise from radar signals in real-time.

Coding

Production Line Optimization

Design a system to optimize vehicle manufacturing production lines using IoT sensor data.

Coding

Distributed File System

Design the core components of a distributed file system like GFS.

Coding

Financial Data Terminal

Design the core architecture for a real-time financial data terminal handling millions of updates per second.

Coding

Recommendation Algorithms

How would you improve Amazon's product recommendation algorithms?

Technical

Spark Optimization

How would you optimize Apache Spark jobs for large-scale data processing?

Technical

Tell Me About Yourself

How would you introduce yourself in an interview?

HR

Conflict Resolution

How would you handle a conflict within your team?

Managerial

Implement a Bloom Filter

Write an implementation of a bloom filter with configurable false positive rates.

Coding

Explain Consistent Hashing

How does consistent hashing work in distributed systems like Google's infrastructure?

Technical

Design a Shopping Cart Service

Implement a scalable shopping cart service for Amazon's e-commerce platform.

Coding

DynamoDB Architecture

Explain how Amazon DynamoDB achieves high availability and partition tolerance.

Technical

Implement Azure Blob Storage

Design the core components of a cloud blob storage system similar to Azure Blob Storage.

Coding

Windows Scheduler

How does the Windows OS scheduler handle process prioritization?

Technical

News Feed Ranking

Design an algorithm to rank posts in a user's news feed based on relevance.

Coding

TAO Architecture

Explain how Facebook's TAO system handles social graph data at scale.

Technical

iOS Memory Management

Implement reference counting for Objective-C memory management.

Coding

APFS Features

What are the key technical advantages of Apple's APFS filesystem?

Technical

Video Encoding Pipeline

Design a distributed video encoding pipeline for multiple quality levels.

Coding

Open Connect Architecture

How does Netflix's Open Connect CDN reduce internet congestion?

Technical

Autopilot Sensor Fusion

Implement sensor fusion for combining camera, radar, and ultrasonic data.

Coding

Battery Management System

How does Tesla's battery management system optimize performance and longevity?

Technical

Handling Failure

Describe a time you failed and what you learned from the experience.

HR

Disagreeing with Leadership

How would you handle a situation where you disagree with your manager's decision?

Managerial