Atlassian Interview Experience
Application Process
This was an Off Campus opportunity. Every year in the month of May or June some openings for new grads come up on the basis of requirements. I was contacted by one of my friends who was already interning there to ask if I was interested. So, If you are also interested make sure to reach out to the peeps working there during the above months.
Interview Rounds
Online Assessment
Time — 90 minutes
It was an Online Assessment consisting of 3 questions and with a time limit of 90 minutes.
The first question was an easy one involving strings.
The second question was a medium implementation question involving arrays.
The third question was a difficult one involving Dynamic Programming. This question took up most of my time.
Problem Solving Round
Time — 60 minutes
It was a problem-solving round testing our Data Structures and Algorithmic Skills. The question involved using maps and sets and was an implementation question. The interviewer for this round was super helpful and calm.
I approached the problem first in a brute-force way. The time and space complexity were then discussed.
Then the question was changed to accommodate queries. This changes the time complexity. Then I suggest we use a map to reduce the time complexity again to O(n). He was satisfied with this approach after I explained the time and space complexity of my solution.
Then, he asked another question which was an extension of the same question.
I again approached first in a brute force way. He then again introduced q queries again. Then I constructed a prefix array to optimise the solution. We again discussed about time and space complexity. He was satisfied with the approach and the round ended here.
Few tips from my side
- Never give the most optimal solution in the first go even if you know it. Try to build the solution from scratch and then optimise it so the interviewer can understand your thought process.
- Always try to ask questions about corner cases and constraints from the interviewer and never assume anything.
System design Round
Time — 70 minutes
This was a system design round and I thought this would be the most challenging round during the interview process and sad to say, I was right.
I was asked to design an online collaboration tool where multiple people can simultaneously work on it and multiple people can make updates to the same cell. I first tackled the problem of choosing the Database using the CAP theorem. Then proceeded to tackle the concurrency problem using locking and critical section solutions. Also tackled the issue of scalability using consistent hashing and defined type of scalability(i.e Horizontal or vertical) which was in Sync with the Database chosen.
Then comes the low-level design. I used a doubly linked list to keep track of the updates and to know the order in which to process them. The doubly linked list was used as delete operations can be done in O(1) time. I was also asked some other questions in low-level design which I can’t recall right now. Again the interviewer was super helpful and calm.
Few tips
- Try to ask as many questions about the requirement of a particular feature from the interviewer as you can.
- Try to give appropriate reasons for your choice of DB, Hashing, and Message queue.
Values and Hiring Manager Round
Time — 45 minutes
It was a Values and Hiring Manager round. I would advise everyone to go through 5 Core Atlassian values before this round.
The interviewer was an Engineering Manager. Here we discussed my projects and he asked me if I wanted to elaborate on any particular project. I chose the one where 3 friends of mine worked as a team to complete it because it demonstrated a core Atlassian value play as a team.
Then Interviewer asked me some questions like Have you ever mentored someone? Have you ever received negative feedback and how have you dealt with it? to assess how I implement Atlassian core values in my Daily life.
Few Tips
- Try to find out real-life scenarios where you have applied Atlassian values in your lives.
- Ask questions about Atlassian culture and work from the interviewer in this round.
Verdict
I received a mail 2 days later to let me know I was going to an Atlassian. I would say the difficulty of the interview process was on the medium side.