theloop
CompaniesRoundsQuestionsSearchProgress
theloop

Interview questions from top companies, mapped to the exact round they show up in. Prep for what you will actually face.

View source

Browse

CompaniesSearchAll rounds

Rounds

Online AssessmentDSA / CodingMachine CodingLow-Level Design

Contribute

Share an interviewReport an issueStar on GitHub

The Loop aggregates publicly shared interview experiences and curated commonly-asked questions, each labeled with its source. Not affiliated with any company listed.

CC BY-NC 4.0 · © 2026

← DigitalOcean

Staff+ Backend at DigitalOcean

BackendStaff+Rejected◆ Commonly asked· 2025

5-round staff backend process. Fundamentals mattered as much as getting to an answer.

The loop · 5 rounds

01

Round 01 · 3 questions

DSA / Coding

Data structures & algorithms on a whiteboard or shared editor.

  • Sliding window maximum.
    Staff+Hard◆ Commonly asked
    #deque#sliding-window
    PracticeLeetCode↗GeeksforGeeks↗
  • Longest substring without repeating characters.
    Staff+Medium◆ Commonly asked
    #sliding-window#string
    PracticeLeetCode↗GeeksforGeeks↗
  • Word break.
    Staff+Medium◆ Commonly asked
    #dp#string
    PracticeLeetCode↗GeeksforGeeks↗
02

Round 02 · 1 question

Low-Level Design

Object-oriented / low-level design of a focused module.

  • Design a rate limiter with multiple strategies.
    Staff+Medium◆ Commonly asked
    #oop#rate-limit
    PracticeGeeksforGeeks↗Search↗
03

Round 03 · 2 questions

System Design

High-level architecture of a large-scale system.

  • Design a ride-matching backend (riders ↔ nearby drivers).
    Staff+Hard◆ Commonly asked
    #geospatial#matching#realtime
    PracticeGeeksforGeeks↗Search↗
  • Design a rate limiter for a public API.
    Staff+Medium◆ Commonly asked
    #token-bucket#redis
    PracticeGeeksforGeeks↗Search↗
04

Round 04 · 1 question

Hiring Manager

Scope, ownership, and role-fit discussion with the manager.

  • How do you run an incident and the postmortem after?
    Staff+◆ Commonly asked
    #reliability#process
05

Round 05 · 2 questions

Behavioral / HR

Values, collaboration, and past-experience (STAR) questions.

  • Describe working with an ambiguous or shifting requirement.
    Staff+◆ Commonly asked
    #ambiguity#star
  • How do you handle being blocked for several days?
    Staff+◆ Commonly asked
    #ownership#star

Practice each round across every company

  • DSA / Coding
  • Low-Level Design
  • System Design
  • Hiring Manager
  • Behavioral / HR

◆ This experience is composed from commonly reported questions for this role and level. Real, individually-shared interviews will be layered in over time.