1500+ Associate Software Engineer Interview Questions and Answers

The task is to find all distinct triplets in an array that sum up to a specified number.

• Iterate through the array and use nested loops to find all possible triplets.

• Keep track of the triplets that sum up to the target number.

• Handle cases where no triplet exists for a given target sum.

Find the intersection of two integer arrays in the order they appear in the first array.

• Iterate through the first array and store elements in a hashmap with their frequencies.

• Iterate through the second array and check if the element exists in the hashmap, decrement frequency if found.

• Return the elements that have non-zero frequencies as the intersection.

Valid password must have at least 4 characters, one numeric digit, one capital letter, no space or slash, and cannot start with a number.

• Password must be at least 4 characters long

• Password must contain at least one numeric digit

• Password must contain at least one capital letter

• Password cannot have space or slash (/)

• Password cannot start with a number

The problem involves finding the maximum profit that can be achieved by buying and selling stocks on different days.

• Iterate through the array of stock prices and find the local minima and maxima to calculate profit

• Keep track of the total profit by adding the differences between consecutive maxima and minima

• You can perform multiple transactions, so buy at each local minima and sell at each local maxima

• Example: For prices = [7, 1, 5, 3, 6, 4], buy at 1, sell at 5, buy at 3, sel...read more

The problem is to connect N ropes of different lengths into one rope with minimum cost.

• Sort the array of rope lengths in ascending order.

• Initialize a variable to keep track of the total cost.

• While there are more than one rope remaining, take the two shortest ropes and connect them.

• Add the cost of connecting the two ropes to the total cost.

• Replace the two shortest ropes with the connected rope.

• Repeat the above steps until only one rope remains.

• Return the total cost as the mini...read more

Modify a singly linked list by inserting a new node after every 'K' nodes with the sum of previous 'K' nodes.

• Traverse the linked list while keeping track of 'K' nodes at a time

• Calculate the sum of the 'K' nodes and insert a new node with the sum after every 'K' nodes

• Handle the case where the number of remaining nodes is less than 'K' by inserting a node with the sum of remaining nodes

• Update the pointers accordingly to maintain the linked list structure

Use a 3-way encryption method to securely send a box and key from Kolkata to Delhi.

• 1. Split the message into three parts: A, B, and C.

• 2. Encrypt part A with the recipient's public key.

• 3. Encrypt part B with the sender's public key.

• 4. Send parts A and B separately to the recipient.

• 5. Send part C unencrypted, as it contains no sensitive information.

• 6. The recipient can decrypt parts A and B using their private key and the sender's public key.

The minimum number of swaps required to sort a given array of distinct elements in ascending order.

• Use a sorting algorithm like bubble sort or selection sort to count the number of swaps needed

• Track the swaps made during the sorting process to determine the minimum number of swaps

• Optimize the sorting algorithm to reduce the number of swaps needed

The task is to rearrange the given array such that every second element is greater than its left and right element.

• Read the number of test cases

• For each test case, read the number of elements in the array and the array elements

• Iterate through the array and swap elements at odd indices with their adjacent elements if necessary

• Check if the rearranged array satisfies the conditions and print 1 if it does, else print 0

Rearrange elements in an array based on the value of the K-th bit, with 0s coming before 1s.

• Iterate through the array and separate elements based on the K-th bit value.

• Use bitwise operations to check the K-th bit of each element.

• Maintain the relative order of elements within each group.

• Combine the two groups to get the final rearranged array.

Generate and print all prime numbers between 2 and N, inclusive.

• Iterate from 2 to N and check if each number is prime

• A prime number is only divisible by 1 and itself

• Print each prime number on a new line

As a team leader, I would identify the reason for the delay and work with the employee to find a solution to complete the work on time.

• Have a one-on-one meeting with the employee to understand the reason for the delay

• Identify any roadblocks or challenges the employee is facing and work together to find a solution

• Set clear expectations and deadlines for the employee to complete the work

• Provide support and resources to help the employee complete the work on time

• Regularly check ...read more

Given two linked lists, find the node where they intersect, if any.

• Traverse both lists to find their lengths and the difference in lengths

• Move the pointer of the longer list by the difference in lengths

• Traverse both lists in parallel until they meet at the intersection node

Reverse a given stack of integers using recursion without using extra space or loop constructs.

• Use recursion to pop all elements from the original stack and store them in function call stack.

• Once the stack is empty, push the elements back in reverse order using recursion.

• Ensure to handle base cases like empty stack or single element stack.

• Example: If the input stack is [1, 2, 3], after reversal it should be [3, 2, 1].

Find the shortest distance between two states in Ninjaland with at most one special path.

• Use Dijkstra's algorithm to find the shortest path between two states.

• Keep track of the shortest path with at most one special path included.

• Consider both normal and special paths while calculating the shortest distance.

• Handle cases where multiple paths exist between two states.

Car A's speed is 90kmph

• Use the formula: Speed = Distance/Time

• Assume the distance to be the same for both cars

• Calculate Car A's time using the given information

• Substitute the values in the formula to get Car A's speed

Generate all possible combinations of balanced parentheses given the number of pairs.

• Use backtracking to generate all valid combinations of balanced parentheses.

• Keep track of the number of open and close parentheses used in each combination.

• Recursively build the combinations by adding open parentheses if there are remaining, and then adding close parentheses if the number of open parentheses is greater than the number of close parentheses.

• Example: For N = 2, valid combination...read more

Distribute chocolates among students to minimize the difference between the largest and smallest number of chocolates.

• Sort the array of chocolates packets.

• Use sliding window technique to find the minimum difference between the largest and smallest packets distributed to students.

• Return the minimum difference as the output.

Find the Kth smallest and largest elements in an array.

• Sort the array and return the Kth element for smallest and (N-K+1)th element for largest.

• Ensure K is within the array size to avoid out of bounds error.

• Handle multiple test cases efficiently by iterating through each case.

Find pairs of elements in an array that sum up to a given value, sorted in a specific order.

• Iterate through the array and for each element, check if the complement (S - current element) exists in a hash set.

• If the complement exists, add the pair to the result list.

• Sort the result list based on the criteria mentioned in the problem statement.

An Armstrong number is a number that is equal to the sum of its own digits raised to the power of the number of digits.

• Iterate through each digit of the number and calculate the sum of each digit raised to the power of the total number of digits.

• Compare the calculated sum with the original number to determine if it is an Armstrong number.

• Return 'YES' if the number is an Armstrong number, 'NO' otherwise.

Calculate the sum of all numbers that can be formed using the digits 3, 4, and 5 with given constraints.

• Iterate through all possible combinations of 3, 4, and 5 based on the given constraints.

• Calculate the sum of each combination and add them up.

• Return the final sum modulo 10^9 + 7.

The question asks to find the minimum number of left shift operations required to obtain the longest common prefix of two given strings.

• Perform left shift operations on string B to find the longest common prefix with string A

• Count the number of left shift operations required to obtain the longest common prefix

• Return the minimum number of left shift operations for each test case

Find the equilibrium index of an array where sum of elements on left equals sum on right.

• Iterate through the array and calculate the total sum of all elements.

• For each index, calculate the left sum and right sum and check if they are equal.

• Return the index if found, otherwise return -1.

Determine if two strings are anagrams of each other by checking if they have the same characters in different order.

• Create a frequency map of characters for both strings and compare them.

• Sort both strings and compare if they are equal.

• Use a dictionary to count the occurrences of each character in both strings and compare the dictionaries.

To reverse a singly linked list of integers, return the head of the reversed linked list.

• Iterate through the linked list, reversing the pointers to point to the previous node instead of the next node.

• Keep track of the previous, current, and next nodes while traversing the list.

• Update the head of the reversed linked list to be the last element of the original list.

Conflict resolution involves communication, empathy, and collaboration to find a mutually beneficial solution.

• 1. Open Communication: Initiate a private conversation to discuss the conflict openly and honestly.

• 2. Active Listening: Listen to their perspective without interrupting, showing that you value their opinion.

• 3. Find Common Ground: Identify shared goals or interests that both parties can agree on.

• 4. Focus on Solutions: Shift the conversation towards finding a resolution...read more