I applied through a recruiter. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Capital One in Jun 2021
Interview
Process (~3 weeks):
1) Cold contacted from recruiter
2) HackerRank: Online assessment
3) Power Day: 4 hours of back-to-back 1 hr block virtual interviews. 1 - Coding, 1 - System Design, 1 - Behavioral, 1 - Business Case Study/Coding
Experience:
- Very disjointed, unorganized scheduling.
-- Example: Not given the proper links to interview until minutes beforehand. Had to re-do a block weeks later due to another initial scheduling error.
- Interviewers all nice but questions/expectations were vague and answering process mismanaged.
-- Example 1: Interviewer asked systems design question but did know how to use HackerRank tool for assessing answer. Expected candidate to know how to use "white-boarding" tool seen for the first time, and produce design diagrams in 45 min, but did not specify any details on their expectations, besides overall vague "design" question.
-- Example 2: Interviewer did not know how to access HackerRank for a coding pair and expected candidate to solve technical access problems. This significantly cut into coding time. When finally accessed, question was presented unclearly, and interviewer rushed through problem solving process, due to access issues earlier.
- Overall professionalism was lacking.
-- Example 3: After meeting with 7 different people for 6 hours overall, received automated "application" rejection. No feedback, no follow-up. Not even provided with emails to thank interviewers for their time. Obviously, to be expected for big companies in 2021, but still not professional.
Expecting a challenging experience, I found the interview at Capital One to be intense, particularly during the system design section. The question on designing a rate limiter with a token bucket algorithm took me by surprise; mid-way through the problem, I realized it was very similar to a drill I’d practiced on prachub.com just days earlier. The technical rounds included several DSA questions, and the interviewers were thorough but supportive. Ultimately, I received an offer and happily accepted, feeling well-prepared despite the pressure.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Design a rate limiter using a token bucket algorithm and discuss how it would handle bursty traffic and distributed deployments.
Recruiter screening to begin with. Then, technical discussion about java, spring boot, design pattern, small coding tasks and followed by design assessment for distributed systems. Finally, managerial round for the team fit
Scheduled a call with recruiter. Recruiter didnt show up for the screening call and cancelled it 5 mins after the scheduled time. Dropped a follow up email and got no response. After a week, I got an email from the recruiter stating I am selected for the next round i.e Assessment. Sent me an email with the assessment description but no link. When I sent a follow up email asking for the link, I got ghosted again. It was a bad experience. Felt like she is toying with me. Why ghost an applicant repetitively? Unprofessional recruiter who doesn't respect an applicant's time or efforts!