Interview Experience🚀📊

Data Engineer III @ Expedia Group

Hello everyone! Today, I would like to share my recent interview experience with Expedia for the Data Engineer III role (L Level, Y.O.E: 5.8). Let’s dive into the details.

The Initial Contact

I was referred to Expedia for the SDE III (Data) role by a friend of mine working in Expedia Group. After a week or so post-referral, I received a call from the Talent Acquisition (TA) team. The initial conversation was quite straightforward:

• Basic Introduction and Job Profile: The TA team member started with a brief introduction about the role and asked me about my aspirations related to the job profile.

• Salary and Notice Period: They also inquired about my expected salary and notice period.

• Scheduled my first round of interview with the Engineering Manager for cultural fit.

Interview Rounds

Round 1: (Engineering Manager) Cultural fit round

• Introduction: A quick self-introduction followed by a discussion of my recent projects. I elaborated on two projects related to the job description’s required skills.

• Tools and Technologies: Detailed discussion on the tools and technologies I have utilized in my previous roles.

• Motivation for Change: The Engineer manager was curious about why I wanted to change my current job.

• Relocation and Overtime: Questions about my willingness to relocate and work overtime.

• Python-Related Questions: I was asked several Python-related questions to test my programming skills.

• Open Q&A: At the end of the round, I had the opportunity to ask questions. I inquired about the projects I would be working on and whether they were new or existing ones.

Result

I got a call after 2 days that I’ve been cleared in the first round, and the team wants to schedule 3 more rounds in the next week.

Round 2: Problem-Solving and Python Skills (Technical)

• Introduction

• Project discussion in brief.

• Python basics: Difference between iterator and generator, and when to use them.

• Detect an anagram from a given list and return by grouping.

• Check if a word can be formed using a word map.

• Coin change problem.

• 1 more Dynamic programming problem (Pseudo code)

Round 3: Problem-Solving, Data Structures & Algorithms (Technical)

• Introduction

• Set format questions: 1 easy and 1 medium

  • Easy: Scores are given for players and their moves. Detect who wins at the end or if it’s a tie.

  • Medium: Longest sum subsequence with negative integers and, at most, 1 element can be skipped.

• Q&A Discussion about the projects/tech stack I’ll be working on.

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Round 4: System Design (Technical)

• Introduction: Self-introduction and a detailed explanation of my recent project.

  • For recent projects, explain High-Level Design (HLD) and Low-Level Design (LLD).

  • Why did I choose what I chose (like InfluxDB) in my recent projects?

• Main Question: Design UBER 🚕

  • Database designs with ER diagrams

  • Uber’s Driver Find analysis: In-depth discussion about how Uber finds a driver using Maps.

• SQL Queries

  • Return the fifth-highest salary from the Salary table, which has id,emp_id, and salary.

  • Rank function

  • Dense rank function

• Q&A

Verdict

After patiently waiting two days, I received a call from HR informing me that I’’ve been selected for Expedia’s Data Engineer III role! 🤩🎉🎉

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