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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.

CC BY-NC 4.0 · © 2026

← Pine Labs

New Grad / Junior Backend at Pine Labs

BackendNew Grad / JuniorWithdrew◆ Commonly asked· 2023

Junior backend interview. Fundamentals mattered as much as getting to an answer.

The loop · 5 rounds

01

Round 01 · 1 question

Online Assessment

Timed online coding / aptitude screen, usually the first filter.

  • Spiral order traversal of a matrix.
    New Grad / JuniorMedium◆ Commonly asked
    #matrix
    PracticeLeetCode↗GeeksforGeeks↗
02

Round 02 · 3 questions

DSA / Coding

Data structures & algorithms on a whiteboard or shared editor.

  • Word ladder — shortest transformation sequence.
    New Grad / JuniorHard◆ Commonly asked
    #bfs#graph
    PracticeLeetCode↗GeeksforGeeks↗
  • Trapping rain water.
    New Grad / JuniorHard◆ Commonly asked
    #two-pointers#array
    PracticeLeetCode↗GeeksforGeeks↗
  • Min cost to connect all points.
    New Grad / JuniorMedium◆ Commonly asked
    #graph#mst
    PracticeLeetCode↗GeeksforGeeks↗
03

Round 03 · 2 questions

Machine Coding

Build a working component or service under time pressure.

  • Implement an LRU + TTL cache library.
    New Grad / JuniorHard◆ Commonly asked
    #cache#ttl
    PracticeGeeksforGeeks↗Search↗
  • Implement a bulk-upsert endpoint with validation.
    New Grad / JuniorMedium◆ Commonly asked
    #api#validation
    PracticeGeeksforGeeks↗Search↗
04

Round 04 · 3 questions

Tech Deep-Dive

Deep questions on your core stack and fundamentals.

  • Message queues vs pub/sub — when to use each.
    New Grad / JuniorMedium◆ Commonly asked
    #messaging
    PracticeGeeksforGeeks↗Search↗
  • Explain the difference between horizontal and vertical scaling.
    New Grad / JuniorEasy◆ Commonly asked
    #scale
    PracticeGeeksforGeeks↗Search↗
  • Explain how a hash index differs from a B-tree index.
    New Grad / JuniorHard◆ Commonly asked
    #databases#indexing
    PracticeGeeksforGeeks↗Search↗
05

Round 05 · 2 questions

Behavioral / HR

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

  • Describe mentoring or unblocking another engineer.
    New Grad / Junior◆ Commonly asked
    #mentorship#star
  • Tell me about a time you failed and what you learned.
    New Grad / Junior◆ Commonly asked
    #growth#star

Practice each round across every company

  • Online Assessment
  • DSA / Coding
  • Machine Coding
  • Tech Deep-Dive
  • 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.