Adobe SDE 3 Interview Experience

I recently went through the interview process for Adobe SDE 3 and I thought it might be helpful to share my experience in detail. Hopefully, it’ll give you guys some clarity on what to expect and how to prepare for Adobe.

DSA Round 1

• Level: Medium
• Duration: 60 mins
• Mode: Remote

This round was purely focused on problem-solving and coding efficiency.

I had to solve two medium-level coding problems. The ones I got were quite similar to:

• Nested List Weight Sum
• Valid Palindrome III

Both were manageable if you've practiced enough on recursion, dynamic programming and string manipulation.

The key here wasn't just solving but writing clean, optimized and bug-free code within the time. The interviewer kept an eye on my approach and how I handled edge cases. The interviewer also interested in time complexity and space complexity. You should be well aware of time and space complexity.

Low-Level Design (LLD) Round

• Level: Medium
• Duration: 60 mins
• Mode: Remote

Here, I was asked to design a Chess game.

We discussed important classes like Board, Piece , Player and GameManager along with their data members and methods.

I explained how I'd structure data members and methods.
I kept the design extensible, for example:

• Different piece movements
• Validating moves
• Handling turns
• Managing the game state

The interviewer was more interested in how I thought about scalability and reusability rather than just writing code.

Tip: Don't jump straight into class diagrams. Instead, explain your thought process and justify your design choices.

I found this article very helpful for my interview preparation. System Design Interview – BIGGEST Mistakes to Avoid

Hiring Manager (HM) Round

• Level: Medium
• Duration: 90 mins
• Mode: Remote

This round started with a discussion about my most critical project.

• The HM asked why I made certain technical decisions and what challenges I faced.
• Be ready to explain the impact of your work, not just the features you built.

Then came some C++ fundamentals in rapid-fire style:

• Null pointers
• Smart pointers
• Dangling pointers
• Void pointers
• Memory management
• OOPs concept

After that, I got a few code snippets where I had to predict outputs and debug issues.

Finally, I was asked to solve two coding problems:

• Better Compression of String
• Compare Version Numbers

This round was a mix of theory + hands-on problem-solving. If your C++ basics are strong, you'll be fine here.

Director Round

• Level: Medium
• Duration: 60 mins
• Mode: Remote

This round was quite interesting.

• It started with behavioral questions around my past projects and decisions.
• Then we moved into a problem-solving scenario.

Instead of directly asking me to implement LRU Cache, the director framed it as a real-world memory-constrained scenario.
I had to propose a design and naturally, I leaned towards the LRU caching technique.

We discussed:

• Different approaches
• Trade-offs
• Why LRU makes sense here

So, it was less about coding and more about problem analysis and structured thinking.

Overall Experience

The whole process tested me on:

• Problem-solving
• Design skills (LLD & HLD)
• C++ fundamentals
• Communication skills

It wasn’t just about cracking the code but also about how clearly I explained my approach and justified design choices.

What stood out most was that the interviewers weren’t just checking whether I could solve problems. They were evaluating how I handle situations when constraints change, how I explain my reasoning and how I approach challenges calmly.

For me, this process reinforced an important lesson:

At senior levels, your clarity of thought, design skills and ability to communicate impact matter just as much as your coding ability.

Overall, it was a great learning experience for me. The way the rounds were structured gave me a lot of insight into where I stand and what areas I need to improve.

Preparation Tips

• Don’t stop after solving a DSA problem. Ask yourself:

  • What if latency became critical?
  • What if memory was very limited?
    This habit will help in higher-level interviews.

• Stay calm during interviews. Sometimes the interviewer is testing your patience more than your coding.

• For behavioral rounds:

  • Don’t just list what you built.
  • Instead, talk about what changed because you built it – faster performance, better user retention, fewer outages, etc.

Overall, Adobe’s interview process felt fair and well-balanced.
If you prepare in the right direction (DSA + LLD + system design + solid fundamentals), you should be in a strong position.