Tata 1MG Interview Experience for SDE-1 (On-Campus)
Question Details
This is an On-campus offer. Eligibility Criteria was a minimum of 7 pointer. There were a total of 4 rounds (1 Coding Test+2 Technical Interviews+ 1 Managerial)Round 1 (Co...
Full Details
This is an On-campus offer. Eligibility Criteria was a minimum of 7 pointer. There were a total of 4 rounds (1 Coding Test+2 Technical Interviews+ 1 Managerial) Round 1 (Coding Assessment): It has 3 Coding Question of medium-hard level and time limit was 1 hour only. I don’t exactly remember the questions but I was able to do only two of them completely. Only 14 students were shortlisted for
next round. Suggestion: I would suggest doing coding practice from sites like GeeksforGeeks, Leetcode etc as it will give the confidence to solve problems. Tips: Don’t spend too much time on the first question you pick, if you are not able to do the first one try doing the second. Read the instructions very carefully Focus on the test input, then handle edge cases Then 3 rounds of Interviews was scheduled one day . Round 2(Technical Interview 80 min): First, the interviewer introduced himself and then asked to introduce myself. Then he asked about the projects I did. After an introductory discussion on projects, he gave me 3 coding questions on their personal live code environment. He asked me to explain the approach first and then code it down. I had to explain the time complexity of each solution and optimal code if possible with lesser time complexity. First question was based on cache memory, he has given me a function with arguments and i have to just write it's definition. After 5-10 minutes of discussion I was able to solve the problem and code it down. The approach uses concept of hashing. I would rate it as a easy problem. The second problem was Print all possible words from phone digits , I have already done this question before and I explained him the logic of my approach and he seems satisfied with it. It was sort of medium-level difficulty. Question: https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/dsa/find-possible-words-phone-digits/ Last question was slight variation of Count the number of words with given prefix using Trie. Instead of returning count i just need to print all the words. I gave him a brute force approach with which he was not satisfied. Then he gave me time to think and asked for more optimized approach. Then after 5 min i gave him this Trie solution and then i explained him the structure of trie along with the code Question: https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/dsa/count-the-number-of-words-with-given-prefix-using-trie/ Round 3(Technical Interview 80 min): In this round interviewer gave me 2 coding questions and asked me to code on any editor of my choice. I opened VS code to code those problems. The first question was Largest Sum Contiguous Subarray. I explained him my approach (Kadane's algorithm) and he seems satisfied with it and asked to code it down. Question: https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/dsa/largest-sum-contiguous-subarray/ The second question was LRU cache problem. I gave him brute force solution but interviewer was not satisfied. I was stuck for some time, then he helped me with data structure (doubly linked list). After 15-20 min of discussion I was able to do that question and code it down. Question: https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/system-design/lru-cache-implementation/ Suggestion: Even if have done coding question previously it's completely your responsibility to start the solution from basic idea and further you can proceed with optimization. Do not directly jump on the most optimized solution. And if you are feeling any difficulty, you can discuss it with interviewer. Round 3(Managerial 40 min): The interviewer was very friendly. He asked me about myself and previous interviews. Then he jumped on my projects. I explained him and answered all the follow up questions After share link to 1MG website and asked me design DB for it. He gave me 5-10 min to think and design DB. Finally in the end, he asked me standard HR type question like where do you see yourself in 2 years, startup with 2X salary or stable company with X salary, why you want to join us etc. Finally, after 2 hours results came and 4 students were selected. Luckily, I was one of them. Tips for interviews: Listen to the question carefully and clear all your doubts at the same time before proceeding to solution Even If you are stuck, discuss your thinking process with the interviewer. They can help you with some hints. Prepare HR question before coming to interviews. Stay calm, confident and be in sync with interviewer all the time
About This Question
This is a reported interview question from a 1mg interview for a swe role during the oa round reported in 2025.
It covers the following topics: Arrays, Sql, Binary Tree, Trie, Linked List, System Design, Behavioral .
Difficulty rating: Easy
About 1Mg Interview Reports
This question was reported by a candidate who interviewed at 1Mg. LeakCode aggregates interview reports from 10+ sources, including 1Point3Acres, Glassdoor, LeetCode Discuss, Blind, Reddit, Indeed, and Nowcoder. Each report is translated where necessary, deduplicated against existing entries, and tagged by company, role, round type, and reporting date.
Use this question as one calibration data point, not a memorization target. Companies typically rotate their question pools every 2-4 months; the exact wording of a 2024 question may differ from what you encounter today. The underlying pattern, difficulty level, and follow-up depth at 1Mg are the higher-signal extractions to take from this report.
For broader preparation context, the 1Mg interview process typically includes a recruiter screen, one or two technical phone screens, and a 4-5 round on-site loop covering coding, system design (at L4+ levels), and behavioral. Reports tagged on LeakCode show the round-by-round distribution and typical difficulty calibration. To browse questions filtered by round type and seniority, use the company hub linked above.
How To Practice This Type of Question
Solve similar problems on LeetCode under timed conditions (25-35 minutes per medium difficulty). The goal is pattern recognition: recognize the underlying technique (sliding window, two-pointer, BFS, memoized recursion, etc.) within 60-90 seconds of reading. Strong candidates verbalize their hypothesis out loud before coding, then iterate based on feedback. Weak candidates dive into implementation immediately, lose time on the wrong approach, and run out of time for follow-ups.
Companies update their question pools every 2-4 months. The exact wording of any given question may have been retired by the time you interview. Focus your prep on the pattern, not the specific problem. The patterns that appear in 1Mg reports consistently are the ones worth investing in; one-off niche problems are not.
During Your 1Mg Round
Apply the standard interview round template: clarify requirements (2-3 minutes), state your approach out loud and confirm direction with the interviewer (3-5 minutes), code with narration (15-25 minutes), test with concrete examples including edge cases (5 minutes), discuss optimization or trade-offs if time permits (5 minutes). This template is universally accepted across FAANG and adjacent companies; deviating from it produces weaker interviewer feedback signal.
The single most predictive failure mode in 1Mg reports tagged "no hire": not asking clarifying questions. Interviewers are explicitly trained to weight this. Strong candidates ask 3-5 clarifying questions even on problems that look obvious; weak candidates dive into code immediately. The clarifying-question check is often the first signal recorded in the interviewer's written notes.