Kotak SDE 1 interview Experience

I applied to Kotak Mahindra Bank via LinkedIn (don’t exactly remember when 😅). After some time, HR reached out, and we discussed my expectations. I mentioned a base salary of around 20–22 LPA, and the interview process was scheduled.

The process consisted of 3 rounds, primarily focused on DSA, problem-solving, and CS fundamentals.

🧠 Round 1: Bar Raiser (DSA + CS Fundamentals + Design)

⏱️ Duration: ~90 minutes

🔹 Introduction

Started with a brief introduction and discussion about my experience.

🔹 DSA Questions Two Sum Length of Last Word in a String

👉 These were straightforward. The interviewer focused more on clarity and explanation rather than just the final answer.

🔹 LLD (Low-Level Design)

Design a Library Management System

Discussed:

Entities (User, Book, Issue, Return, etc.) Database schema APIs (search, issue, return, availability) Overall system flow 🔹 HLD + CS Fundamentals

Covered:

Horizontal vs Vertical Scaling Load Balancing Scheduling Algorithms Basics of Distributed Systems

👉 This round tested depth across fundamentals.

⚙️ Round 2: Coding + Problem Solving

⏱️ Duration: ~1 hour

🔹 Custom Problem: Smart Cache with Dependency-Aware Eviction

Design a caching system where items can have dependencies. If an item is invalidated, all dependent items must also be invalidated. The goal is to minimize total recomputation cost across access patterns.

💡 Approach Used: HashSet → cache Graph → dependencies DFS → calculate eviction impact Strategy: On cache full → evict item with minimum dependency impact Recursively invalidate dependent items

👉 This was more of a problem modeling + optimization question rather than standard DSA.

🧩 Round 3: Coding + Problem Solving + Fundamentals

⏱️ Duration: ~1 hour

🔹 Introduction + Project Discussion

Discussed my memory management / JSON-related work.

🔹 Problem Solving ✅ Minimum Counters required in banks so that no customers should wait. given list of start time and end time. (similar to https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/problems/minimum-platforms-1587115620/1)

✅ Diameter of Binary Tree Explained: O(N²) approach Optimized O(N) approach using single traversal 💬 Overall Experience Interviewers were supportive and interactive Focus was on: Problem-solving approach Communication Understanding of fundamentals ❗ Outcome & Feedback

I was expecting a positive outcome, especially since I felt my final round went the strongest among all three rounds. The discussion was smooth, I was able to solve the problems less than the expected time and which was shared by interviewer during interview, and even received positive feedback during the interview that i did good.

However, I received a rejection with limited feedback stating that “I was not able to explain the problem statement clearly.”

From my perspective, this was a bit unclear, The problem statement is something explained by the interviewer, not by the interviewee. I did complete a proper dry run and wrote code for both problems in less than the expected time, which was also acknowledged during the interview.

No matter how well the interviews go or what feedback you receive during the rounds, the final decision can still be unpredictable.

It’s better to: Stay grounded Keep preparing Continue interviewing elsewhere