HCL Tech Software Engineer interview: five-round systems focus

The process felt like a marathon: I completed five rounds. It relied heavily on LeetCode-style problem solving but also went beyond surface system design. I had to discuss time-related concepts and how time-series data is handled in a production environment.

The difficulty felt average to demanding. What stood out was the expectation to link algorithmic thinking to real operational concerns around time series. I did not receive an offer, and I left feeling they were assessing both coding ability and whether I could reason clearly end to end in a systems setting.

Location: New York, NY. Overall feedback: positive. Offer status: no offer.