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Principle Interview Questions

The questions to prepare for Principle interviews, across all roles. Questions from real interview reports rank first. Updated weekly.

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1
CodingStart here. 9 questions · ~96 min
First Non-Repeating CharacterEasy
Practice

Find the first non-repeating character in a string using frequency counting and a second pass in O(n) time.

Hash TablesStringsSearchingPrinciple
Longest Subarray With Target SumMedium
Practice

Use prefix sums and a hash table to find the longest continuous subarray with a given sum in O(n) time.

Hash TablesArraysSearchingPrinciple
Cycle Detection in Linked ListsMedium

Tests linked-list cycle detection strategies and complexity tradeoffs.

Linked ListsAlgorithmsTwo PointersPrinciple
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2
SQL & Data Manipulation4 questions + 2 drills · ~63 min
Third-Highest Salary Department-WiseMedium
Practice

Use DENSE_RANK and a CTE to find employees earning the third-highest distinct salary in each department.

Window FunctionsRankingGroup ByPrinciple
Clustered vs Non-Clustered IndexesMedium

Explain how clustered and non-clustered indexes differ in storage, lookup behavior, and query performance.

JoinsData WranglingPrinciple
Normalization vs Denormalization TradeoffsMedium

Explain normalization, why it improves data integrity, and when denormalization is a practical performance tradeoff.

schema designperformanceData ModelingPrinciple
SQL Queries for RankingMedium
Practice
Practice drill

Rank active HSBC employees by division and return every employee tied for the highest or second-highest salary.

javasqlHsbc
Top Daily Rides by VehicleMedium
Practice
Practice drill

Rank the top 3 completed rides per vehicle per day using joins, a CTE, and ROW_NUMBER.

Window FunctionsJoinsData WranglingWaymo
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3
Behavioral & Leadership3 questions · ~32 min
Custom Exceptions for Financial TransactionsMedium

Tests designing robust error handling, categorization, logging, and recovery flows for transaction systems.

error handlingdesign decisionsPrinciple
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4
More topics1 question · ~11 min
End-to-End Spring ArchitectureHard

Evaluates your ability to design and explain a Spring-based application end-to-end.

javaarchitecturePrinciple
The finish line: interview-readyComplete all 17 questions plus 2 hands-on drills to finish this plan.