Interview Experience for Engineer at CareStack
I graduated from Govt. Model Engineering College in June 2023 with a BTech in Computer Science, and for the previous few months, I have been searching for SDE career opportunities. My college junior friend, who was an intern at CareStack, told me about the opportunity there. I asked him what CareStack was about because I had never heard of the company before or had any prior knowledge of it. He gave me an overview of the product and the tech stack that the company used. I was happy to discover that CareStack is a startup established by a Malayali and located in Kerala, Trivandrum.
After reviewing the company’s website and LinkedIn profile, I informed him that I was interested and asked him to forward my CV. After a few days, I received a call from the company’s HR department, and the first technical interview was planned online. I’ve been prepared for interviews and have given a few in the months following graduation. As part of my preparation for the first tech interview, I reviewed the OOPS concepts and Database topics and practiced some simple DSA questions.
My first technical round experience:
The online interview commenced with an engaging initial conversation and the first question “Tell me about yourself”. Then the interviewer asked me about my internship, which I did in my final semester of college. He was keen to know what my contribution was and what I learned during those 6 months. He also asked me about the 2 projects I mentioned in my resume, was interested in the idea, and asked how me and the team came up with it. The subsequent rounds involved technical assessments, where the first question was a system design for a library management system.
I had to explain how I would approach this task and also explain what classes and tables were to be used in the database. He then gave me a coding question on arrays. I could solve the question in any preferred coding language, and it was a database related question for which I had to write a query. So, I shared my screen and began answering the question in the document shared with me. I could solve that coding question as well as my SQL question. The interviewer then informed me about the company, including what tech stack the company is working on and what possibilities and opportunities the company has for a fresher like me. Then he asked me if I had any questions for him and gave me the opportunity to ask questions and understand more about CareStack.
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Even though it was an online interview, the interviewer was really kind and helpful the entire time, even offering advice when I was having trouble with a technical topic. I learned during the interview that the interviewer was passionate about football, so we had a constructive conversation about the game and concluded the interview well.
Second technical round and HR discussion
I had to complete the next two rounds offline at the CareStack office in Trivandrum after passing the first technical round. The second round was also a technical round with the company’s VP of Engineering. He exuded positivity and was an energetic person. He gave a brief introduction about himself, and then the interview began. He then inquired about my internship experience before asking a coding question involving a list of strings. I took some time to think about the solution and gave an answer. Subsequently, the interviewer slightly altered the original question and asked for a solution. The modification was the size of the incoming data. This was to give me an understanding of how large the data can go at an enterprise level and how to solve the problems that deal with continuous large data in such a way that it is a cost efficient and fault free method. He then asked me to describe my projects and the process by which my team and I came up with the concept. Then the interviewer gave me additional insights about CareStack, including its functionalities and future developments. Then I got the chance to ask him the questions I had.
The HR discussion began with the self-introduction. The interviewer then asked me about my family and my overall college experience. Then she inquired about my interests and pastimes. Next, a few behavioral questions, such as “What are some good traits that my friends say I have?” and “What are some bad traits that my friends say I have?” were asked. She then wanted to know about my expectations to work with CareStack and provided me with the information about the training process and how teams are formed to complete projects or tasks.
Both of these interviews were more like formal conversations where I learned a lot about the company and its work culture than they were strictly structured interviews with questions and answers.
The end of this interview journey resulted in a job offer for the role of Engineer at Carestack. The culmination of this journey was not just mere acceptance of a role but an invitation to be part of a new ecosystem. As I step into this new chapter, I’m eager to contribute, learn, and grow, embracing the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
