OLA Interview Experience | Set 11 ( For Internship)
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Round 1 (Online Test): Four Programming Questions- a) Given a string find number of different substrings that are palindromes. b) In a matrix we can destruct it's one colu...
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Round 1 (Online Test): Four Programming Questions- a) Given a string find number of different substrings that are palindromes. b) In a matrix we can destruct it's one column by vanishing any of the element in column . We have to destruct the matrix completely so that sum of the elements destucted by us (not that destructed itself) is minimum, given the constraint that atleast one of the elements in a row should be canceled by us.
Output is that minimum sum. c) Given N points in a grid we have to find all different(altlest one uncommon side) squares of side length K. N, K and points will be input and number of different squares will be output. d) Given an array we have to sort that in inceasing order such that value of V is minimum. where V = sum(position of element in given array * position of element sorted array), position of element is 1 based.
Output is sorted array and V. Round 2 (Interview Round 1): Concepts of OOPs like Polymorphism and Inheritance and questions related to projects done. Round 3 (Interview Round 2): 1. Some more OOPs concepts. 2. Data Structures like Hashmap, Sorting algos ( Quick sort and Merge sort ) (complextiy and just how to implement them). 3. What is Java (as it was my primary programming language). 4. Difference between static and dynamic programming languages. 5. Implementation of Linked List (Code with proper syntax). 6. How to find Square root of a number (without using inbuilt functions, best efficient way O(logN)). 7. In a array each number is stored twice except one that is placed only once. (Best efficient O(logN)). 8. In a sorted array having elements from 1 to N, only one is missing and so array size is N-1. Find missing number in best efficient way (O(logN)) and without possibility of overflow. Related Practice Problems Count Palindrome Sub-Strings of a String Find the element that appears once in sorted array Alone in couple Count Squares Distinct palindromic substrings Missing number in array All Practice Problems for Ola-Cabs !
About This Question
This is a reported interview question from a ola cabs interview for a swe role (intern level) during the oa round reported in 2025.
It covers the following topics: Linked List, Strings, Dynamic Programming, Sorting, Hash Table, Arrays, Matrix .
More Ola Cabs Interview Questions
About Ola Cabs Interview Reports
This question was reported by a candidate who interviewed at Ola Cabs. 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 Ola Cabs are the higher-signal extractions to take from this report.
For broader preparation context, the Ola Cabs 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 Ola Cabs reports consistently are the ones worth investing in; one-off niche problems are not.
During Your Ola Cabs 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 Ola Cabs 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.