ADOBE · SDE 2
Adobe SDE 2 interview
The SDE 2 (mid-level software engineer) level at Adobe is MTS-2, Computer Scientist / SDE 3, for engineers with about 2 to 5 years of experience. The rounds at this level, how each one is scored, and the questions to practise first.
The SDE 2 rounds, in order
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Phone / recruiter screen · 30 min
A recruiter or HR call on your current role and next steps.
At SDE 2: One or two problems, a little faster. Some companies mix in a design question.
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Coding (DSA) × 2 · 60 min
DSA rounds with one or two medium-to-hard problems, plus DBMS, OS and sometimes SQL questions.
At SDE 2: Two or three rounds at medium to hard level. You are expected to reach the optimal approach with fewer hints and to test without being asked.
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Low-level design / machine coding · 60 min
Schema design and modular code for a booking-style system, with queries against your schema.
At SDE 2: The core round at many product companies: working, modular, extensible code with validation, error handling and tests, finished on time.
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Hiring manager · 70 min
A managerial round mixing a project deep dive, concurrency and API questions, a design question, and usually one DSA problem.
At SDE 2: Ownership of features, handling production issues, working with product and other teams.
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Hiring manager · 60 min
A director round: why you are moving, plus one or two classic algorithms coded fully.
At SDE 2: Ownership of features, handling production issues, working with product and other teams.
What Adobe interviewers look for
- An optimal approach in a single pass when asked
- Complete, runnable code, including the classes you need
- Solid CS fundamentals: DBMS, OS, networking
- Clean schema and modular design
- Deep knowledge of your current project
- Adapting quickly when the rules change
Behavioral rounds are based on the Company values: Create the future, Own the outcome, Raise the bar, Be genuine. Questions for each one.
Coding questions to practise for Adobe SDE 2
Two or three rounds at medium to hard level. You are expected to reach the optimal approach with fewer hints and to test without being asked.
- Longest Repeating Character Replacement Medium Arrays & Hashing also Uber
- Odd Even Linked List Medium Linked List also Apple
- Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters Medium Arrays & Hashing also Amazon, Netflix, Flipkart
- Diameter of Binary Tree Easy Trees & BST also Meta
- Next Greater Element I Easy Monotonic Stack also Oracle, Walmart Global Tech
- Kadane's Algorithm - Simple Medium Arrays & Hashing also LinkedIn
- Spiral Matrix Medium Arrays & Hashing also Microsoft
- House Robber Medium Dynamic Programming also Flipkart
- Binary Tree Maximum Path Sum Hard Trees & BST also Google, Amazon
- Median of Two Sorted Arrays Hard Binary Search also Microsoft
- Continuous Subarray Sum Medium Arrays & Hashing also Oracle
No questions match.
System design at SDE 2
MTS-1 loops mostly test DSA and fundamentals. MTS-2 and Computer Scientist loops add an LLD round on schema and modular code. Senior Computer Scientist and above alternate DSA with HLD rounds, often on media or cloud services.
Questions people ask
How many rounds are in the Adobe SDE 2 interview?
About 5 interviews after the screening: phone / recruiter screen, coding (dsa), low-level design / machine coding, hiring manager.
Is there a system design round for Adobe SDE 2?
Yes. MTS-1 loops mostly test DSA and fundamentals. MTS-2 and Computer Scientist loops add an LLD round on schema and modular code. Senior Computer Scientist and above alternate DSA with HLD rounds, often on media or cloud services.
What coding questions does Adobe ask at SDE 2?
The same question pool is used across levels; the bar rises with level. Most reported: Longest Repeating Character Replacement, Odd Even Linked List, Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters, Diameter of Binary Tree, Next Greater Element I.
What does Adobe expect in coding rounds at SDE 2?
Two or three rounds at medium to hard level. You are expected to reach the optimal approach with fewer hints and to test without being asked.
SDE 2 interviews at other companies
- Google SDE 2
- Amazon SDE 2
- Microsoft SDE 2
- Meta SDE 2
- Apple SDE 2
- Netflix SDE 2
- Uber SDE 2
- LinkedIn SDE 2
- Airbnb SDE 2
- Stripe SDE 2
- Atlassian SDE 2
- Goldman Sachs SDE 2
- Salesforce SDE 2
- Oracle SDE 2
- Flipkart SDE 2
- Walmart Global Tech SDE 2
- PhonePe SDE 2
- Swiggy SDE 2
- Razorpay SDE 2
SDE 2 interview questions across all companies · Behavioral questions