Reddit Question · Feb 2026

Rippling SDE-2 Phone Screening (Reject)

SWE Phone Screen Easy
27 upvotes 17 replies

Question Details

YOE: 6 years # Part 1 – Basic Implementation

Problem Statement: We are given a list of drivers and the deliveries they are making. Implement a service to compute the total cost of all deliveri

Full Details

YOE: 6 years # Part 1 – Basic Implementation

Problem Statement: We are given a list of drivers and the deliveries they are making. Implement a service to compute the total cost of all deliveries. The service should expose three methods: 1. addDriver(driverId) 2. addDelivery(startTime, endTime) 3. getTotalCost()

Key Points: * getTotalCost() needed to run in optimized time. * I optimized by computing and maintaining the total cost at the time of adding the delivery (instead of recalculating each time getTotalCost() is called).

Result: * The interviewer tested against custom test cases → all passed. * He confirmed my optimization approach was valid. # Part 2 – Payment Functionality

New Requirements: Add two new functionalities: 1. payUpToTime(upToTime) → settle the delivery cost up to this time. 2. getCostToBePaid() → get the remaining delivery costs left after settling the payment.

My Approach: * Did I mess up here? I suggested we store the intervals for each driver and when payUpTo is called, loop over the intervals, sum up the costs and mark intervals as paid up. I explicitly asked my interviewer that this loops over all entries and if i should think of a more optimal solution, to which they said this is fine and asked me to implement * Then:costToBePaid = totalCost - paidCost

Result: * Tested with interviewer’s test cases → all worked as expected. Final

Result Got a reject. What should I have done differently here?

About This Question

This is a reported interview question from a rippling interview for a swe role during the phone screen round reported in 2026.

It covers the following topics: General Experience .

Difficulty rating: Easy