Hey everyone! I’m currently in the onboarding stage at Google, and in the hardware selection portal, I can only see a 14-inch Lenovo Chromebook as an option.

Is this normal, or should there be other options available?

For those who joined Google recently, did you have other laptop options to choose from, or was the Chromebook the only one available?

Thanks!

The Walt Disney has established a banglore office recently. I wanted to know about the work culture, benefits and the Compensation package for P3 role?

How the company is performing right now?

I've noticed a pattern in my DSA placement preparation, and I'm curious whether others experience the same thing.

When I'm solving DSA problems, I can sometimes build momentum and get into a flow. I start understanding patterns, connecting concepts, and making progress. But the moment I step away, even for a short break, getting back into it feels surprisingly difficult. And the longer I stay away, the harder it seems to become.

It's almost as if there's a growing resistance to restarting. Watching videos, scrolling through social media, or doing something more immediately enjoyable makes returning to DSA feel even less appealing. After a while, even opening LeetCode and attempting a problem feels like a task in itself.

My understanding is that this might have something to do with contrast and the brain gravitating toward whatever offers the least resistance or the most immediate reward. DSA requires sustained effort, and the reward often comes much later, whereas distractions provide instant gratification.

This makes me wonder: Is the solution to avoid breaking the momentum in the first place? Should I structure my placement prep so that I take breaks without completely disengaging from DSA or switching to highly stimulating activities?

Or is this a sign that I'm not genuinely interested enough in software engineering? If I really wanted the outcome badly enough, would I naturally find it easier to return to studying?

I'm trying to understand whether this is mainly a problem of habits, attention, and momentum, or whether it comes down to motivation and interest.

For those who've gone through DSA and placement preparation, what has actually helped you? How do you take breaks, enjoy your free time, and still consistently return to solving problems without having to fight yourself every time?

Hi everyone,

I’m a frontend developer with 7+ years of experience, currently working in a service-based company. I’ve worked with multiple frameworks including React.js, Next.js, and Vue.js, and have built scalable UI applications over the years.
I’m now aiming to transition into a product-based company, ideally in a frontend-heavy full-stack role. I’m confident I can pick up Node.js and backend concepts as needed.
However, my main concern is DSA — I can solve basic problems, but I’m not at the level of consistently solving LeetCode medium/hard questions.
So I wanted to ask:
Is it realistic to switch to product-based companies at my experience level without going deep into DSA?

Are there companies that focus more on practical/frontend skills, system design, and real-world experience instead of heavy DSA?

If yes, which companies or types of companies should I target?

If not, what would be the most effective strategy for someone in my position?

I’m not aiming for FAANG-level companies — even a solid small/mid-size product company would be great.

Would really appreciate honest advice from people who’ve been in a similar situation.
Thanks!

I started my DSA journey with Striver A2Z Sheet.

I am more of a read and learn person than watch videos and playlists.

I liked Striver's previous style of explanation from Brute Force to Optimized and solutions in his website.

But after the recent update, it's become shit.

The A2Z sheet has become a list of problems with no solutions or locked behind premium.

Are there any other free online resources to learn DSA from scratch which covers common problems across all OAs?

Do you guys recommend to go for videos instead of any blogs or sites?

PS - I use C++ for coding so please suggest accordingly

Any advice and links are appreciated!

Thanks a lot in advance!😊

I have completed solving 500+ plus leetcode problems over 8 months, still hardly able to solve a medium and sometimes not able to solve at all. Any suggestions please 🙏🏻.

I’ve been working at a service based company with 4.5 lpa for 2 years now and I’d appreciate a plan that i can follow for the next few months which will help me reach that amount.

Hi everyone,
I recently applied to Rubrik, and a recruiter reached out to me with some interview preparation resources. They asked me to go through the material, do some research about the interview process, and let them know when I’d be ready to start the interviews.
The thing is, although I applied for the role, I haven’t actually started preparing for interviews yet. I have around 1.5 years of work experience, but this would be my first interview since campus placements, so I’m quite out of practice.
I’ll need to spend some time getting back up to speed with DSA (I’ve forgotten quite a bit), as well as preparing OS and going deeper into some of the system/concurrency topics.
For people who have recently interviewed with Rubrik, how much preparation time would you realistically recommend before starting the interview process?
Also, if you’ve interviewed with Rubrik recently, I’d really appreciate any advice on what topics I should prioritize and what the interview rounds are actually like.
Thanks!

Hi, did anyone appear in 2nd round of product SDE2 for Disney? HR told it will be sys design round, but he didnt make it clear it will be HLD or LLD or it will be scenario based qeustion.

Hey everyone, I have cleared interview process for State Street Bengaluru for AVP role. Before I make my decision I wanted to get some honest insights from people who currently work or have worked there.

I have a technical screening on October 23, and I’m struggling with anxiety.
I often know the approach but make silly implementation mistakes, like forgetting Number() or a return, which cost me time to debug.
I’m worried I’ll go blank or struggle to code while the interviewer watches.
For those who’ve experienced this, how did you manage interview anxiety and improve implementation under pressure? Honest advice would really help.

I have an upcoming interview for specialist full stack dev position at BNY Mellon. Has anyone recently completed this interview or have one scheduled in the near future? Are there any recommended topics to focus on? What topics does BNY focuses more on? .Any tips would be a big help.

Hey everyone! I'm a third-year BTech CSE student looking for interesting project ideas to improve my skills and strengthen my resume for software engineering placements.

My skills: C++, JavaScript, MERN stack, DSA, DBMS, OS, CN, Git/GitHub. I've also worked on projects involving algorithms, 3D visualization, and ML.

I'm open to any tech stack — MERN, Java/Spring Boot, Python, C++, etc. I'm willing to learn new technologies.

I'm looking for projects that:

• Solve real-world problems.
• Involve core CS concepts like DSA, OS, networking, DBMS, concurrency, or distributed systems.
• Go beyond basic CRUD apps and clones.
• Are technically challenging and worth discussing in interviews.
• Or you can just suggest some resources from where I can get some references

What are some unique projects you'd recommend? I'd love to hear about projects you've built or ideas that would teach me something genuinely useful.

Thanks!

Hello peeps
I have my round 1 with tesco for sde 2 . Could anyone tell if appeared recently what can I expect ?

I have mine scheduled tomorrow. Will be helpful if someone can guide what kind of questions they ask.. I’m seeeing mixed reviews online

So I know someone who is 25' grad and joined Apple as a system engineer - 1. Can anyone tell me what is the fixed salary & the total ctc Apple is offering for the role in India?

I gave my amazon online assessment for SDE 1 role on 27th September and on 28th September, i got an email asking about my details for an in-person interview. In the email it was written that the interview will be scheduled around 12th October but in the form it was written tentatively between 16th - 24th October. Then i received a mail on 5th october in which again i had to fill the previous form but this time instead of any date, inside the form it was written that that are you available for in-person interview in Banglore/Hyderabad in the month of october. After that I have not received any communication from their end. Anyone else also facing the same issue?

Binary tree Camera . My idea is we can have two states the current one is covered by a camera or it has a camera . we can store it in pair<bool,bool> and always try the camera one before covered since both of them will have covered = true. now we do post order dfs Case 1 : Either of the child has camera , then if the other is covered then no need of camera here, if the other is not covered then we need to place a camera here . Case 2 both of the child are covered by a camera but they dont have a camera , in this case we dont need a camera at current one . Case 3 either of them are not covered by any camera then in this case we are forced to place a camera at current . So keep a state of cam in dfs and do cam++ wheneever placing camera and at the end just check if the root is civered by camera or not , if it isnt then increment cam by 1./**
* Definition for a binary tree node.
* struct TreeNode {
* int val;
* TreeNode *left;
* TreeNode *right;
* TreeNode() : val(0), left(nullptr), right(nullptr) {}
* TreeNode(int x) : val(x), left(nullptr), right(nullptr) {}
* TreeNode(int x, TreeNode *left, TreeNode *right) : val(x), left(left), right(right) {}
* };
*/
class Solution {
public:
//camera hai , covered hai
pair<bool,bool>dfs(TreeNode* root,int &cam){
if(!root){
return {false,true};
}
auto [La,Lb]=dfs(root->left,cam);
auto [Ra,Rb]=dfs(root->right,cam);
if( La || Ra ){
//dono mai se ek par bhi camera hai .
if(La){
//left pe cam hai
if(Rb){
//right covered hai
//no need of cam here.
//but ye covered hai due to left cam
return {false,true};
}
else if(!Rb){
//right covered nahi hai
//to humein yaha par cam place krna hee padega
cam++;
return {true,true};
}
}
else if(Ra){
//right pe cam hai .
if(Lb){
//left covered hai
//no need of cam here
// and current bhi covered hai due to right cam
return {false,true};
}
else if(!Lb){
//left covered nahi hai
//yaha cam place krna padega
cam++;
return {true,true};
}
}
}
if( Lb && Rb){
//matlab kisi ek pe cam to nahi hai but dono hee covered hai so no need to place camera here.
return {false,false};
}
if(!Rb || !Lb){
//right covered nhi hai ya to left covered nahi hai
cam++;
return {true,true};
}
return {false,true};
}
int minCameraCover(TreeNode* root) {
int cam=0;
auto [x,y]=dfs(root,cam);
if(!y){
//root covered nahi hai
cam++;
}
return cam;
}
};

Hello! I'm a BTech CSE student, about to graduate in 2028.

To be honest I'm totally confused and don't know what and how and where to study from.

Can someone guide me for a fresher what are topics I need to know and from where I should study from.

Mostly I want guidance for off-campus interviews and also to become a good programmer.

i am currently in second year of btech,and till now i am almost 0 level in both dsa and cp but i realised i want to do now both of these seriously,the only issue is with me that till now i could not do much is because i cant decide things on my own fast and get carried away and change decisions as there are many free resources ,but whenever theres something more strucutred i can do that easily,Thats why i am thinking to buy TLE PRIME course by tle eliminators which is cp course and i am getting at 5k ruppes,i know i have seen many people say not to buy such courses and just refer the free resources out there but pls help me with my scenario and learning method if i should buy it,i dont want to regret not taking it and not doing much later as i am already late

Hey everyone,

Sharing my full interview experience for the Amazon SDE-1 role (India) from initial outreach through all 4 rounds. The process was spread out over several months with a mix of an on-site drive in Bangalore and virtual rounds on Zoom.

Timeline & Application Flow

• Initial Outreach: Reached out by a recruiter around Sep/Oct of last year. Separately applied to another relevant Job ID in April.
• Online Assessment (OA): Received the OA link in May (~7 months post-initial outreach).
• Hiring Interest Form: Cleared the OA and received the hiring interest form in mid-June.
• Onsite Invite: Mid-July, received confirmation for the in-person Round 1 drive at Amazon's Bangalore office scheduled for July 29th.

Round 1: In-Person Onsite Screening (Bangalore Office)

• Format: Face-to-face on pen and paper (1 SDE-1 + 1 SDE-2 panelist).
• Logistics: Arrived around 9:00 AM, passes handed out, and lunch was arranged by Amazon. Due to scheduling queues across multiple candidates, my slot kicked off around 3:00 PM.
• DSA Questions:
  1. Variant of Koko Eating Bananas (Binary Search on Answer): Had to explain the search space, define the predicate function, and write complete code on paper.
  2. Daily Temperatures (Monotonic Stack): Standard monotonic decreasing stack pattern.
• Experience:
  • Being my first in-person office interview, I had some initial nerves during the dry runs and tracing steps on paper, but I worked through the boundary cases.
  • After the coding portion, they asked about my past experience and had me sketch out high-level system architecture on paper. The panelist cross-checked the design and components, which went smoothly.
  • Wrapped up with an engaging 15–20 minute discussion regarding tech, AI.
• Outcome: HR briefed us to wait ~1.5 hours, then informed us that remaining loop rounds would be virtual and that hard eliminations would begin post-Round 2.

Round 2: LLD & Core Problem Solving (Virtual via Zoom)

• Gap: Scheduled roughly 2 weeks after Round 1.
• Interviewer: Senior SDE.
• Format: Started with an LP question followed by live coding in a shared editor.
• Problem: Task / Job Dependency Scheduler (Topological Sort / Kahn’s Algorithm)
  • Given boilerplate code, had to implement the core execution queue and scheduling logic.
  • Implemented it using Kahn’s Algorithm (indegree tracking + BFS queue) for cycle detection and execution ordering.
  • The interviewer dynamically shifted constraints mid-problem, and I was able to adapt the logic and data structures quickly.

Round 3: Hiring Manager / SDM Round (Virtual via Zoom)

• Gap: Approximately one month after Round 2.
• Format: Behavioral (LPs) + Core Problem Solving / System Logic.
• LP Discussion: Started with an LP question focused on doing something different or beyond standard expectations.
• Technical Problem: Design an In-Memory Rate Limiter
  • Discussed low-level mechanics and edge cases.
  • Walked through the progression from a basic in-memory counter to an optimized sliding window using a std::deque to accurately enforce sub-second window boundaries.
  • The discussion was deep and ran ~10 minutes over schedule, but the interviewer seemed very satisfied with the technical direction and trade-offs.

Round 4: Bar Raiser / Peer Round (Virtual via Zoom)

• Gap: Approximately one month after Round 3.
• Interviewer: Senior SDE from an external org.
• Format: Deep LP evaluation + Candidate Q&A , No DSA(~30–35 mins total).
• LP Probes:
  • Started with: "What is something you did outside of / apart from what the job required?" Followed by deep probing into the why, what, operational trade-offs, and metrics.
  • Followed up with: "What is the most critical piece of feedback you have received?" Owned a real past gap and clearly explained the corrective mechanism implemented to address it.
• Flow & Wrap-up:
  • The interviewer finished all their questions in about 25 minutes, mentioning they had collected all the data points needed.
  • We spent the remaining 5–10 minutes on my questions about team structure, mobile/client architectures, and engineering trade-offs. The entire round concluded smoothly in around 30 to 35 minutes.

All Rounds were kinda very DSA heavy and like very deep dive kinda tbh.

Current Status

Currently waiting on the final results/debrief update. Really hoping for a positive outcome!

Happy to answer any general questions about the logistics or DSA patterns in the comments!

One thing I’ve noticed is that some activities naturally give you a sense of progress. You can see yourself getting stronger at the gym, exams have clear targets and deadlines, and games give you milestones to chase.
But placement preparation can feel endless. There’s always another DSA problem, another project to build, another concept to learn, and no clear indication of when you’re actually ready.

How would you recreate that sense of progress and gratification artificially?

What kind of system could make the process more visual, give you concrete goals to chase, provide regular feedback, and make you feel like you’re actually achieving something along the way?

Could it involve milestones, leaderboards, mock interviews, public commitments, scheduled evaluations, or something completely different?

Curious to hear what has worked for others. The goal isn’t just to force yourself to study more, but to make the preparation itself feel rewarding enough that you genuinely want to keep going.