Nike Software Engineer 2 Interview Experience: Java Spring and System Design

Round 1: Bar-Raiser (Conducted by 3rd Party) This round focused on core technical competency and fundamental coding. 1. DSA: One Medium-level problem (focused on Array/String manipulation). 2. Tec

Round 1: Bar-Raiser (Conducted by 3rd Party) This round focused on core technical competency and fundamental coding. 1. DSA: One Medium-level problem (focused on Array/String manipulation). 2. Technical: Deep dive into Java 8+ features, Spring Boot annotations, and Bean lifecycle. Round 2: Technical Round (Conducted by Nike SE-3) A heavy emphasis on algorithmic problem-solving and optimization. 1. Problem 1 (Dynamic Programming): A variation of the Knapsack or Coin Change problem. Focused on transition states and space optimization. 2. Problem 2 (Binary Search): A "Binary Search on Answer" type question. 3. Some AWS theory questions. Discussion: We discussed time and space complexity ($O(n \log n)$ vs $O(n)$) extensively. Round 3: Technical & Design (Conducted by Engineering Manager) This round pivoted toward system architecture and clean code. 1. System Design: Asked to Design a Rate Limiter. We discussed various algorithms like Token Bucket, Leaking Bucket, and Fixed Window Counter. 2. Java/Spring Boot: Questions on multithreading, Exception Handling in Spring, and Dependency Injection. 3. SOLID Principles: I had to explain each principle with real-world examples from my previous projects. 4. The AWS Part: I was honest with the manager that while I’m strong in Java/Spring Boot, I haven't had much "hands-on" production experience with AWS yet. - Theory: Because of that, the questions were more theoretical to see if I understood the concepts. We talked about: - EC2 vs. Lambda (when to use which). - S3 for storage vs. RDS. - Using SQS/SNS for decoupling services. Round 4: Hiring Manager Round Mostly behavioral but with a few technical "high-level" curveballs. Behavioral: Focused on Nike’s core values, handling conflict in a team, and my experience with CI/CD (Jenkins). Technical: Discussed scalability and how I approach learning new technologies. Vibe: Very casual and conversational. # And finally got the offer from Nike.