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

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Online AssessmentDSA / CodingMachine CodingLow-Level Design

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

MIT · © 2026

← PayPal

Staff+ Backend at PayPal

BackendStaff+No offer◆ Commonly asked· 2023

A staff backend loop. Fast-paced; expect follow-ups that push on depth.

The loop · 5 rounds

01

Round 01 · 3 questions

DSA / Coding

Data structures & algorithms on a whiteboard or shared editor.

  • Serialize and deserialize a binary tree.
    Staff+Hard◆ Commonly asked
    #tree#dfs
    PracticeLeetCode↗GeeksforGeeks↗
  • Maximum product subarray.
    Staff+Medium◆ Commonly asked
    #array#dp
    PracticeLeetCode↗GeeksforGeeks↗
  • Word search in a grid.
    Staff+Medium◆ Commonly asked
    #backtracking#grid
    PracticeLeetCode↗GeeksforGeeks↗
02

Round 02 · 1 question

Low-Level Design

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

  • Design a deck of cards + a card game.
    Staff+Easy◆ Commonly asked
    #oop
    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 metrics/time-series ingestion pipeline.
    Staff+Hard◆ Commonly asked
    #time-series#ingestion
    PracticeGeeksforGeeks↗Search↗
04

Round 04 · 1 question

Hiring Manager

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

  • How do you give difficult feedback to a peer?
    Staff+◆ Commonly asked
    #leadership
05

Round 05 · 2 questions

Behavioral / HR

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

  • Describe a disagreement on a code review and how it ended.
    Staff+◆ Commonly asked
    #conflict#star
  • Tell me about a time you simplified something overly complex.
    Staff+◆ Commonly asked
    #judgment#star

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