CRED (SDE-Intern + FTE) Backend Interview Experience

CRED is a fintech company that rewards users for timely credit card payments. With a sleek app interface, it not only simplifies bill payments but also offers exclusive perks, making financial management a rewarding experience.

• Selection status: Rejected ️❌
• Level: Hard
• Interview and Recruitment process: Good

Application Process

CodeChef

I participated in CodeChef contests and secured a global rank of 168. Subsequently, a recruiter from CRED contacted me for further rounds, taking into account both my contest performance and resume experience for the selection process.

Structure of the Interview/Rounds

1. Coding Contest
2. Project Round
3. Technical Interview
4. CRED Mark / Managerial Round

R1 → Coding Contest (Div 1 for me)

Time -: 3 Hours
Platform -: CodeChef

The coding round consisted of 6 problems ranging from easy to hard difficulty levels. I managed to solve only 3 out of the given problems.

Problem 1 (Easy)
It was an easy-level question based on Arrays.

Problem 2 (Medium)
It was a medium-level problem based on the Sets and Brute Force.

Problem 3 (Medium — Hard)
This was a hard-level problem based on Segment Tree and DP.

Problem 4, 5, 6 (Hard)
Unsolved

R2 → Project Round

HackerRank

In the project round, I was presented with a problem statement that required the implementation of a flight booking backend. The task involved developing core functionalities without a user interface or the use of a database. Additionally, it was crucial to ensure that the code was modular, extensible, adhered to SOLID principles, and followed coding best practices.

After coding, I had to pass all unit test cases and create extra ones to check how well the code handles special cases, adding complexity to the challenge.

Received positive feedback from my round and successfully advanced to the next round! :)

R3 → Technical Interview

In the technical interview round, two interviewers from Cred introduced themselves, initiating the discussion with a review of my previous project round, specifically focusing on the implementation of the flight booking system. After detailing my approach, I was presented with a new functionality to enhance the existing code. While I effectively explained my initial implementation, I overlooked considerations for improving the code with the new functionality and my implementation was not accurate.

Subsequently, the interviewers delved into CS fundamentals, querying me on topics such as database management systems (DBMS) and the CAP theorem.

Received negative feedback from my interview. :(

Important tips for CRED Interviews:

1. Practice DS as well as CP problems to prepare for the coding round.
2. Learn a backend technology and develop a backend project for a backend role.
3. Learn SOLID principles, object-oriented programming (OOP), and Database Management System (DBMS) concepts for a technical interview.
4. Explain your approaches before the actual implementation.

Important Resources:

Striver’s SDE Sheet — Top Coding Interview Problems

Thank you for reading. Please consider following me for more articles. If you find my content valuable, you can show your support by clicking the Clap button.

Happy Coding :)

Dheeraj Bhagchandani on Linkedin