Atlassian's hiring process for summer interns began with a coding round. Students from CSE, ECE, and EE branches with a CGPA of 7 or above were eligible to participate. The process consisted of three rounds: a coding round, a technical interview, and an HR round.
Round 1: Coding Round
The coding round featured 3 DSA questions of varying difficulty:
- Simple Binary Search – Easy level.
- Dynamic Programming (DP) – Medium level.
- Graph Problem – Hard level, involving a disjoint set variation.
To qualify for the interview process, candidates had to solve at least 2.5 questions. I solved:
- Two questions completely.
- The third question partially, passing 11/15 test cases.
Although I submitted my last solution with just 10 seconds to spare, accuracy was prioritized over time, which worked in my favor. Out of all participants, 9 students were selected for the interview round, including me.
Round 2: Technical Interview
The technical interview was held a week after the online assessment round. This was my first interview, and it was conducted by two invigilators:
- A ma'am, who asked the questions.
- A sir, who observed to ensure fairness and prevent malpractices.
Question Asked
The interviewer began the session without asking for my introduction and directly presented a problem:
"Design a system like YouTube where if any likes or comments come, increase the popularity; if any dislikes come, decrease it. Return the channel with maximum popularity."
My Solution
- I initially solved the problem using an unordered map.
- The interviewer then asked me to optimize the solution. She highlighted that the functions for increase popularity, decrease popularity, and maximum popularity should ideally have a time complexity of O(1) for maximum popularity.
- I revised my solution using an ordered map.
When asked about the time complexity for insert and delete operations in an ordered map, I couldn’t provide the answer as I wasn’t familiar with it at the time.
Outcome
Unfortunately, I couldn’t proceed to the next round due to my incomplete response to the time complexity question. However, I learned a great deal from the experience.
HR Round
The HR round was conducted after the technical interview. One more student was eliminated in this round. Ultimately, 3 students were selected from our college for the internship.
Key Takeaways
Understand Data Structures Thoroughly:
- Know the time complexities of operations for all commonly used data structures (e.g., ordered and unordered maps).
Optimization Matters:
- Be ready to optimize solutions and explain the thought process behind your approach.
Learn from Every Experience:
- Even if you don’t clear all rounds, treat the process as an opportunity to identify and improve your weaknesses.
While I couldn’t make it to the final selection, the experience was invaluable. It gave me insights into problem-solving, optimization, and how to handle technical interviews effectively. I hope this helps others preparing for Atlassian or similar companies. Best of luck!