Adobe MTS C++ Interview Experience | 3.4 YOE | Rejected

I applied for an MTS C++ role at Adobe after spotting the opening on LinkedIn. I submitted my application through the careers page without a referral and received a call from the recruiter within a week. The interview process consisted of two technical rounds covering DSA, C++ fundamentals, puzzles, and low-level design.

Round 1: DSA, C++ Fundamentals and Puzzles

Duration: 60 minutes

The interview started with a DSA problem: Check for Symmetrical Binary Trees.

I hadn't solved this problem before, but I managed to work through it in around 30 minutes. With the remaining time, the interviewer moved on to C++ concepts and debugging.

The discussion included:

• Multiple Inheritance in C++: What happens when a class inherits from two base classes that have a method with the same name? How would you resolve the ambiguity?

• Virtual Functions and Destructors: Why should a base class have a virtual destructor when objects of derived classes are deleted through a base-class pointer?

• Memory Management and Debugging: How would you identify and fix a memory leak or dangling pointer in a C++ program?

I was able to answer these questions.

The round also included two puzzles:

1. Poisoned Bottle Puzzle: Find one poisoned bottle among 1,000 identical bottles using the minimum number of prisoners or rats within a specified time limit.

2. Defective Ball Puzzle: Given eight balls, with one weighing less than the others, identify the defective ball in exactly two weighings.

I couldn't solve either puzzle within the given constraints.

Round 2: C++ and Low-Level Design

Duration: 60 minutes

The second round focused entirely on C++ concepts and implementation. The interviewer asked questions about smart pointers, RAII, the Singleton pattern, constructors, and related topics.

Two major coding tasks were discussed:

• Implement the Singleton Pattern in C++: This took approximately 15 minutes.

• Implement Smart Pointers using LLD in C++: This took around 30 minutes.

I found this round more challenging because I didn't have much hands-on experience with C++. I had spent only the preceding couple of days revising C++ concepts, so implementing the low-level design of smart pointers was particularly difficult.

Rejected

The interview covered a broad range of topics, from DSA and debugging to C++ fundamentals, puzzles, and low-level design. My main challenge was the depth of C++ implementation expected, especially in the second round.

For anyone preparing for a similar MTS C++ role, revising core language concepts is useful, but practising implementation-heavy questions such as smart pointers and design patterns is equally important.