What It's Like to Interview at Reelo for Full Stack Developer Role

About Me

I hold a BTech in Computer Science and Engineering, a 2024 Batch graduate from Jaypee University of Engineering and Technology. During my BTech, I was associated with DeltaX as an Associate Product Engineer Intern and with CodingNinjas as a DSA Mentor Intern. I am a Full Stack Developer with a hunger to learn more and I am interested in how systems are made to handle millions and billions of data.

About Reelo

Reelo is a modern customer data and marketing platform that requires zero experience to market like a big brand. It is a product that step by step guides Restaurants and Retail businesses to harness their customers data, automate their marketing, and stay top of mind with their customers.

How did I apply at Reelo

While scrolling LinkedIn, I came across a post by Reelo’s HR Team. They were hiring for multiple roles in the Engineering department. I applied for both Full Stack Developer Intern and Full Stack Developer (Fresher) roles.

Pre-Screening Round

After around 3 days of applying, I got a reply that I had cleared the pre-screening round and was moved to the next round, which was an Assignment round.

Take Home Assignment Round

Just a few hours after receiving the mail for clearing the pre-screening round, I got a mail for the take-home assignment round. In that assignment, we had to create a music player web application using MERN Stack with features like User authentication, Song Library, Playlist Management, and Audio Player. I got a time of 7 days to complete the assignment, which was more than enough. I built the entire backend within a day and took the rest of the time to improve my frontend. The major challenges I faced while making this assignment were in implementing the Audio Player component. It might seem simple on the surface level, but the Audio Player has to run while changing components, like when we move from playlists to the song library, that same music has to run. Another challenge was to think of edge cases for moving track index in song tracks. I was able to tackle these challenges after experiments and brainstorming.

After 2 days, I got a reply from the HR Team that I had cleared this round.

Technical Interview

I got an additional two days of time before my interview was scheduled after I got the results of the last round. I utilized this time to go through JavaScript and React.js Notes, and Top Interview questions of Node.js and Express.js. I also revised entire Database Systems and Object-Oriented Programming.

The interview was of 1 hour, divided into two halves. I was quite nervous by the fact that my interview will be taken by very senior engineers, but they both made me very comfortable, and I was able to perform my best as per my knowledge at that time. First half of this interview was conducted by a Senior Data Scientist at Reelo. I was majorly tested on things mentioned in my resume intersecting with the role i had applied for. Many JavaScript ,Node.js and Database concepts where asked, my previous internship experiences and projects were discussed. Additionally, 3 DSA Problems were also asked. I was asked to code the solutions of DSA Problems in JavaScript. For the last problem, I only had to write pseudo-code. I explained the brute-force to optimal approach for the problem where ever it was necessary. If someone has a good hold on DSA, these problems can be solved with ease.

The second half of the interview was conducted by the Front-End Lead at Reelo. Firstly, he introduced himself and asked for my short introduction, followed by a short discussion about my last project. This round tested my JavaScript and React.js concepts in depth. The focus was on optimizing a React app, and I was asked concepts such as debouncing, lazy loading and lot other javascript and react concepts. Akshay Saini’s Namaste JavaScript and Namaste React notes were a lifesaver for me. I went through these notes, which I found on LinkedIn in the last two days, through which revised all my concepts. I was satisfied with my performance in the first half; however, my performance in the second half could have been much better. I was a little bit nervous because of that, but at last, the results came in my favor, and I was forwarded to the Techno-managerial round.

Techno-Managerial Round

I was again nervous about the position of the interviewer. But calmed down after the first 5 minutes, and was quite relaxed. This round was conducted by the CTO at Reelo. He asked for my introduction, my previous internships and project experiences, and a short discussion on how I would implement a certain feature in my last project. This round lasted around 20-25 minutes. I got the result of this round in the next morning itself. I was selected for this position and was offered a Software Development Engineer role.

Resources I used while preparing for Interviews

• JavaScript: Namaste JavaScript Notes

• React.js: Namaste React Notes

• Data Structures and Algorithms: Striver A2Z Sheet

• Database Systems: CodeHelp DBMS