Hive (CA) Software Engineer interview experience

The structure was relatively simple: one leetcode-style coding screen, then a “final round” that combined one more coding problem and a system design question.

The coding difficulty was on the leetcode-hard side, and what surprised me was the way the questions seemed to reward knowing a specific trick. The system design piece felt fair and generic—exactly the kind of widely used prompt you’d see across many companies.

I didn’t get an offer, and I remember walking out with mixed feelings. The bar for the coding felt more selective than “standard difficulty,” but the system design was