Unacademy Software Engineer interview experience, Web
Tags: webdev, interview, job, react
Published: 2021-08-07 15:33:19

Hello everyone,
I'm Kushagra Mehta, a final year student from Jaipur. I have joined Unacademy as a Software Engineer. In today's blog, I'll be sharing my interview experience at Unacademy for a Software Engineer position.
![Unacademy-logo](https://media.giphy.com/media/Kx8BFbGTiW95FDnUR3/giphy.gif)
> Big shoutout to [Rajat Gupta](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajatetc/) who, wrote a great Interview experience article that helps me along the way. [Link🔗](https://rajatgupta.xyz/unacademy-interview)

## How it started?

Hmm, This is an interesting one. From my side, I did some cold-DM's in mid of Jun-21 asking for interviews([_Great videos on it_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wQGd6Crkaw&list=PLLbfvOX935JELl4VMj-Sao382KYNJctly&index=28)).

Then on the sweet morning of 13-Jul, I got a call from HR team of Unacademy asking that, Was I available for an interview or not. From here, my journey started, So the call goes like this

- \*\* **Basic introduction** \*\*
- **HR**: _Can you tell me something about yourself_
- **Me**: _I'm kushagra....._
- **HR**: _Awsome man_
- **Me**: 😳 **OK.!!**
- **HR**: _Let's schedule a call for your next round_
- **Me**: 😮 _Why not_ (Inside me:- Am I dreaming or what 😶)

The recruiter explained everything related to the next rounds over the call and scheduled the first round.

> I asked my recruiter where he got my profile from, he said he liked my [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/kushagra-mehta-/) & [Github](https://github.com/KushagraMehta/) profile and that's why he reached out to me. So boys and girls it's time to improve your online profiles.

## Interview rounds✨

1. JS Fundamentals (~ 1 hr)
2. Frontend with React (~ 1 hr)
3. Senior Engineering Manager (~ 30 m)
4. Culture ( ~ 30 m)

**Platform**: _Google Meet_

**Coding Environment**: _CodeSandbox_

Let's dive into each round in detail.

## 👨🏻‍💻 JS Fundamentals

It started with a simple intro. Then we quickly jumped into the realm of JS. The questions revolved around basics concepts of Javascript like:- `this`, `let`/`var`/`const`, `Promises`

The interview was more around discussion-based, **Why** or **How** something is happening. We started with output-based questions,  where we discussed _What_, _Why_ & _How_ things are happening.

He told me to implement `Promises` after that, we discussed my approach.

At last, we discussed `eventHandling`, `debouncing` & `throttling`. After that, I was asked to build debouncing function and implement a use-case for it(build Search bar).

**How to prepare**:[💛javascript.info](https://javascript.info/), [Akshay Saini - FE Interview Ques](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlasXeu85E9eV5xUEgrWUB8NAUvNZGsK0)

> Everything was chill, he helped me in every step of the interview. Even when I did something wrong with `.addEventListener` he explained why things are not working and helped me with the process🤯

## ⚛️Frontend with React

This happened the day after the first round. We started with building a [Google timer clone](https://www.google.com/search?q=google+timer). I was asked to explain the approach I took.

After that, We discussed some basic concepts of JavaScript
closures, `setTimeout`, `this`, `async`/`await`, `promises`, `async`/`defer`, event loop... Then we jumped into some basic CSS questions like `inline`/`inline-block`, Box model, etc.

Then we jumped into the territory of ReactJs. The questions ranged from what is React, State/Props, Lifecycle methods, Lifecycle in Class components vs Functional components, Virtual DOM.

At last, I was given a basic problem to solve [Sort an array of 0s, 1s and 2s](https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/sort-an-array-of-0s-1s-and-2s/)

**How to prepare**: [Front End Interview Handbook✨](http://frontendinterviewhandbook.com/), [List of top 500 ReactJS Interview Ques😵](https://github.com/sudheerj/reactjs-interview-questions#what-is-react)

> This round was also super chill. I stuttering a lot in explaining things. Even I got confused in some question, but interviewer helped me understand them🤯.

## 👨🏻‍💼Senior Engineering Manager

It was more of a discussion on my decisions over tech-stack, team dynamics, and culture fit. It started with technical questions on Why I choose ReactJs, what I did in my previous internship, What I learned from there, and What I did not like there.

Then he asked me some behavioral questions like:

1. _How will you suggest someone to opt ReactJs rather than other options?_
2. _What if there is some conflict with your manager. How will you resolve them?_
3. _What if a mentor in a new Organization is not helping much how would you be going to tackle the situation?_

Then I was asked, If I have any questions for them and what I would like to work on.(_If you see my profile, I'm more of a full-stack guy._ 😅 _They said we're a flexible team you can work on anything until you're sure about its working_ 🤩)

**How to prepare**: [60 Toughest Interview Questions😎](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_uFUgT469LGn_X3swjY-L9j0KBqK9ocv/view?usp=sharing)

> After this round, I got very excited as I wanted to work as a Full-stack guy and got a green flag from the Manager. 🕺🏻

## Culture

In this round, we discussed the working of the company.

This round was all about behavioral and situation questions like how will you react if the project you're working on for a few months gets shelved.

## 🥳The End

After all these rounds, I got an Offer letter💌 and I accepted it (_voilà_ 🎊).
I really liked the complete interview process at Unacademy. All the rounds were more oriented toward discussion rather than typical Questions and Answers sessions.

Big thanks to **Unacademy** for giving me chance to prove myself and to the Talent Acquisition team for the wonderful interview experience. I can't even imagine that I would ever receive an offer from Unacadmey, whole process was like a dream to me (_some say I'm still dreaming till this date_ 😳)

If you're someone who wants to build the future of education, please apply here 👉🏻[https://apply.workable.com/unacademy/](https://apply.workable.com/unacademy/)