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Software Engineer Interview Questions
Practice 9403 coding, system design and machine learning questions from 546 companies, sorted by role, topic and interview round. Every question has step-by-step hints, a code runner that supports 8 languages and an AI mentor; members also get the full solution walkthrough.
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Showing 1741–1770 of 2629 results
- OpenAIHardSoftware EngineerMicroorganism Eating Simulation: Largest Survivor After Left-to-Right Rounds
Simulate a row of microorganisms in which each one may eat a strictly smaller neighbor from a different family, with rounds resolved from left to right, and report the family and size of the largest survivor at equilibrium. It tests precise rule-following, list mutation during iteration, and careful per-round bookkeeping.
Coding & AlgorithmsOnline Assessment - OpenAIMediumSoftware EngineerMinimize deaths in spreading plant infection
This problem tests your ability to simulate a state-based grid propagation and optimize intervention timing using either greedy or dynamic programming approaches.
Coding & AlgorithmsTechnical ScreenSimulationBFSGrid - OpenAIMediumSoftware EngineerOptimize C++ Performance with Provided Concurrency
This question evaluates a developer's skills in C++ performance engineering and concurrent systems, covering profiling, bottleneck identification (e.g., cache locality and lock contention), and code-level performance reasoning to improve throughput and latency.
Coding & AlgorithmsTechnical Screen - OpenAIMediumSoftware EngineerOrder Recipe Prep Steps Into the Smallest Valid Sequence
Return a deterministic, lexicographically smallest valid ordering of named prep steps with dependency constraints, correctly including steps with no prerequisites and steps unconnected to any dependency.
Coding & AlgorithmsTechnical Screentopological-sortgraphsheap - OpenAIMediumSoftware EngineerOrder Tasks with Dependencies Using a Deterministic Topological Sort
Tests deterministic topological sorting of a directed acyclic graph using Kahn's algorithm and a priority queue to guarantee lexicographical tie-breaking.
Coding & AlgorithmsTechnical Screengraphtopological-sortheap - OpenAIMediumSoftware EngineerRebalance shard ranges under overlap limit
This problem tests interval manipulation and greedy optimization by requiring you to adjust a set of shard ranges so that no more than k ranges overlap at any integer point, while minimizing the number of boundaries moved.
Coding & AlgorithmsTechnical ScreenAlgorithmsSweep-LineIntervals - OpenAIHardSoftware EngineerRefactor a chat message processing function
This problem tests your ability to refactor procedural, error-prone code into a robust, extensible pipeline for parsing and managing chat message state.
Coding & AlgorithmsTechnical ScreenRefactoringString-ManipulationOOP - OpenAIHardSoftware EngineerResolve Short-Link Redirect Chains That May Loop
Follow single-target redirects from a start code and return the final code, or the last code before the walk would revisit one. Then answer many starts in linear total time. Tests visited-set bookkeeping and functional-graph structure.
Coding & AlgorithmsTechnical Screengraphsfunctional-graphcycle-detection - OpenAIMediumSoftware EngineerReturn the Lexicographically Smallest Topological Order
Implement a deterministic topological sort using a min-heap to return the lexicographically smallest ordering of a directed graph, or detect cycles and return an empty list.
Coding & AlgorithmsOnsitegraphtopological-sortheap - OpenAIHardSoftware EngineerRotate Couriers Daily at Minimum Total Cost
Choose one courier company per day so that no company works two days in a row and the total price is minimal, then return the schedule. Tests DP over a small state, path reconstruction, and the best/second-best trick for k options.
Coding & AlgorithmsTechnical Screendynamic-programmingreconstructionarrays - OpenAIEasySoftware EngineerSimulate a Turn-Based Two-Player Game
This problem tests your ability to design a robust state management system and implement validation logic for a rule-based game.
Coding & AlgorithmsTechnical ScreenState ManagementAPI DesignSimulation - OpenAIMediumSoftware EngineerSpreading Contagion on a Grid
Tests modeling multi-source breadth-first search (BFS) on a 2D grid to compute simultaneous state propagation across discrete time steps.
Coding & AlgorithmsTechnical Screenmulti-source-bfsgraphsmatrix - OptiverMediumSoftware EngineerBuild and Validate a Binary Tree from Parent-Child Pairs
This question evaluates understanding of tree and graph concepts, strict string parsing and validation, duplicate and cycle detection, and the construction of canonical S-expressions within the Coding & Algorithms category.
Coding & AlgorithmsOnline Assessment - OptiverMediumSoftware EngineerCalculate Days Between Arbitrary Gregorian Dates
This problem tests the ability to implement a calendar-based calculation algorithm, specifically handling leap year logic and modular arithmetic without iterating through every day.
Coding & AlgorithmsOnline AssessmentAlgorithmsMathCalendar - OptiverHardSoftware EngineerCargo Order Allocation Across Departing Planes
This question evaluates competence in deterministic resource allocation, stateful simulation, and capacity-management under time constraints, exercising algorithmic reasoning and data-structure handling within the Coding & Algorithms domain.
Coding & AlgorithmsTechnical Screen - OptiverMediumSoftware EngineerCompare common data structures and uses
Compare common data structures and uses evaluates algorithm design, data structures, correctness, complexity, edge cases, and implementation details in a realistic interview setting. A strong answer states assumptions, handles edge cases, explains trade-offs, and shows how to validate the result clearly.
Coding & AlgorithmsTechnical Screen - OptiverMediumSoftware EngineerCount nonnegative buy/sell sequences
This question evaluates combinatorial reasoning and algorithmic analysis by asking for the count of constrained buy/sell sequences, testing competence in counting under constraints and reasoning about sequence invariants.
Coding & AlgorithmsTechnical Screen - OptiverMediumSoftware EngineerCount the Days Between Two Dates
This question evaluates date arithmetic, calendar logic, string parsing, and correct leap-year handling as implementation competencies. It is commonly asked to assess algorithmic correctness and edge-case handling across month, year, and leap boundaries, falls under the Coding & Algorithms domain (date/calendar problems), and targets practical application rather than purely conceptual understanding.
Coding & AlgorithmsOnline Assessment - OptiverMediumSoftware EngineerCourier Drone: Fastest Fixed-Distance Segment From Tick Logs
From per-tick distance logs, find the highest average speed over any time span that covers exactly a target distance, where spans may start and end partway through a tick. Tests prefix sums, linear interpolation, and showing that an optimal span touches a tick boundary.
Coding & AlgorithmsOnline Assessmentprefix-sumsbinary-searchsliding-window - OptiverMediumSoftware EngineerDays Between Two Calendar Dates
This question evaluates proficiency in date and calendar arithmetic, specifically handling varying month lengths, leap year rules, and computing absolute differences between dates.
Coding & AlgorithmsOnline Assessment - OptiverMediumSoftware EngineerDecide and implement DP/heap and approximation
This question evaluates dynamic programming for counting constrained subsequences, priority-heap implementation and API robustness for job scheduling, and heuristic approximation methods for NP-hard selection problems, along with algorithmic complexity analysis.
Coding & AlgorithmsTechnical Screen - OptiverMediumSoftware EngineerDesign a Balloon Festival Simulator
This question evaluates proficiency in data structures, event-driven simulation, numerical aggregation of spatially varying fields, and time-based state tracking for mutable entities.
Coding & AlgorithmsOnline Assessment - OptiverMediumSoftware EngineerDesign a balloon stability tracker
This question evaluates event-driven simulation, time-ordered state management, floating-point numerical evaluation of aggregate functions, and data-structure design for tracking dynamic object states and stability thresholds; it falls under the Coding & Algorithms domain, specifically simulation, event processing, and algorithmic data structures.
Coding & AlgorithmsOnline Assessment - OptiverMediumSoftware EngineerDesign a circular queue data structure
This problem tests your ability to implement a fixed-capacity circular queue using a static array, focusing on efficient pointer arithmetic and state management.
Coding & AlgorithmsTechnical ScreenData StructuresArraysQueues - OptiverMediumSoftware EngineerDesign a queue and analyze tradeoffs
This question evaluates understanding of FIFO data structures, algorithmic complexity analysis, memory and cache behavior, and concurrent access concerns.
Coding & AlgorithmsTechnical Screen - OptiverMediumSoftware EngineerDesign a satellite propagation simulator
Optiver software-engineer take-home: implement a SatelliteNetwork that simulates timed message propagation over an undirected graph and fires OnSatelliteReportedBack callbacks in deterministic order. It tests graph modeling, discrete-event simulation, priority-queue scheduling, and careful handling of 10s-per-hop forwarding and 30s report timing with tie-breaking by SatelliteId.
Coding & AlgorithmsOnline Assessment - OptiverHardSoftware EngineerDetect Currency Arbitrage After a Cycle Fee
You are given a matrix of positive currency exchange rates, where rates[i][j] units of currency j are received for one unit of currency i. Work through the function contract, boundary cases, correctness argument, and time and space complexity expected in a production-quality solution.
Coding & AlgorithmsTechnical Screen - OptiverMediumSoftware EngineerDetect currency arbitrage with costs
This question evaluates a candidate's competency in algorithmic problem modeling, graph-based cycle detection, and numerical reasoning about exchange rates and transaction costs.
Coding & AlgorithmsTechnical Screen - OptiverMediumSoftware EngineerEstimate expected comparisons in a BST
Estimate expected comparisons in a BST evaluates algorithm design, data structures, correctness, complexity, edge cases, and implementation details in a realistic interview setting. A strong answer states assumptions, handles edge cases, explains trade-offs, and shows how to validate the result clearly.
Coding & AlgorithmsOnline Assessment - OptiverMediumSoftware EngineerFastest 1000 Meters: Max Average Speed from 5-Second Distance Splits
Given the meters a runner covers in each consecutive 5-second interval, find the highest average speed over any continuous stretch of exactly 1000 meters, where stretches may start or end mid-interval. Tests sliding-window reasoning, linear interpolation at boundaries and edge cases such as one interval exceeding 1000 meters.
Coding & AlgorithmsOnline Assessment
OpenAI
Optiver