HackerRank — SDE Intern Interview Experience

Anubhav Gupta
5 min readFeb 1, 2024

In this blog, I’ll share my interview experience appearing for Software Developer Intern position at HackerRank for Winter 2024 batch.

Introduction

HackerRank is a technology hiring platform that is the standard for assessing developer skills for over 3,000 companies around the world. HackerRank helps companies hire skilled developers and innovate faster by enabling tech recruiters and hiring managers to objectively evaluate talent at every stage of the recruiting process.

HackerRank runs 2 cycles of internship every year:

  1. Winter Intern (Jan-June)
  2. Summer Intern (July-December)

I had applied from the official careers page of HackerRank. I had applied for the 2024 Winter Intern cycle on 7th October 2023.

Round 1: Coding Assesment 🧑‍💻

The very first round is the coding test. As soon as you apply for the position, you’ll receive a coding test link

  • Date: 7th October 2023
  • Total Questions: 1
  • Time Limit: 1 hour

It was NOT a DSA question but a very simple coding question based on basic string processing, just to test that you are able to code. HackerRank does not ask DSA questions in its interview process at any stage.

Once you clear the coding test, you move on to the next round.

Coding Assesment

Round 2: Resume Shortlisting 📄

This is where your resume undergoes scrutiny by HackerRank’s CTO, Hari, who personally handles the shortlisting process. Unlike other companies, there is no Applicant Tracking System (ATS) involved; each resume is individually read and reviewed.

If your resume is selected, then you move on to the next round.

Round 3: CTO Round 🤴

After clearing the coding assessment and resume shortlisting, candidates advance to the CTO Round.

I was informed on 24th November 2023 that I’ve cleared the previous rounds and I’m invited to schedule interview for the CTO round.

CTO Round
  • Date: 26th November
  • Duration: 20 minutes

The CTO round, held on 26th November, was a brief 20-minute call. No core technical questions were asked in this round. . Hari focused on understanding my educational background and internship experiences. This round is more about getting to know the candidate on a personal level.

This is a very easy round and you should not be scared. Hari is a very humble person and he will make you feel welcome.

Round 4: Engineering Manager Round 🧙‍♂️

Once you clear the CTO Round, you move on to the Engineering Manager Round.

I was informed on 28th November 2023 that I had cleared the CTO round and have been invited to schedule the Engineering Manager interview call.

Engineering Manager Round

This was a core technical round. This round was with Akshay Gupta — Director Of Engineering at HackerRank.

  • Date: 2nd December 2023
  • Time: 30 minutes

I was asked questions based on my resume, past internships and past projects. You can expect technical questions on projects which you have made or internship that you have done.

In my case, firstly I was asked to share my screen and go through the open source pull requests that I had made as part of my previous internship. I showed the work I had done, the code I had written, and then he asked me questions from that code.
Next, after all the questions from my previous internships were over, I was asked questions from my projects. I had made a number of web development projects and so he asked me questions from web development only.

That being said, don’t think of it as a very difficult round. Make sure you know how each thing works. If you have really worked on the project on your own then it will not be a problem but if you have just copied it from somewhere, then it might be a problem.

Just like Hari, Akshay is also very humble and will help you feel welcome.

Round 5: HR Round 🧑‍🏫

Well, if you’ve made it to this round, then congratulations. It more than likely means that you’ve been selected.

On December 20, 2023, I received the news of my selection! I was briefed regarding my benefits and other details and was sent the offer letter. This call was with Vaasavi, People Partner at HackerRank.

Offer Letter

Unfortunately, due to personal reasons I did not join HackerRank. However, I was amazed by the complete hiring process and the humble team of HackerRank. I got to know that they have a very good company culture from the hiring process itself.

I for sure would apply once again in the future, if opportunity strikes, and if my personal reasons aren’t a hurdle anymore.

Conclusion

The interview process is very good and much easier as compared to other companies. While most of the companies focus on DSA, HackerRank is one of the few, which focuses on your actual technical skills and gives it more importance. If you are someone who has made projects on his own, or has done genuine internships, then it should not be a difficult task for you. On the other side, if you don’t have any work experience or projects, a few months of hard work might lead you at the same path.

If you liked this article and you think it helped you know about the interview process, consider giving this post a like and sharing it with your friends who might have the same doubts.

If you still have any questions, you can reach out to me on my socials (Twitter or Linkedin) and I’ll be more than happy to help. FYI: nohello.net

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