Interview Experience at RTCamp (Associate Developer)

Overview

RTCamp usually hires around mid-August to September for the Associate Developer position.

I had the opportunity to interview twice:

• First attempt during my second year
• Second attempt during my fourth year

The fourth-year attempt was the defining one — and it turned out to be a proud milestone in my journey.

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Fourth Year – Interview Process

There were two rounds.

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Round 1: Technical Deep Dive (50 Minutes)

All shortlisted candidates were placed in a common Zoom call and assigned individual interviewers.

This round lasted about 50 minutes and covered:

• Security fundamentals
• Deep Git understanding
• Cryptography basics
• Web security concepts
• Load balancing
• Caching
• Vertical vs Horizontal scaling
• Production system optimization

It was entirely conceptual and system-focused — no coding.

The interviewer jumped across topics quickly to evaluate breadth and depth.

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Round 2: High-Level Design (HLD) + Web Systems (40–45 Minutes)

This round was taken by the Founder of RTCamp, which made it even more intense.

It was a pure High-Level Design + Web Architecture discussion.

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1. Elevator System Design

He asked:

How would you implement an elevator system?

I discussed:

• Using scheduling algorithms like SCAN / LOOK
• Handling multiple requests efficiently
• Minimizing waiting time
• Direction-based optimization
• Edge cases like peak-time traffic

The discussion revolved around algorithmic thinking and system optimization.

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2. How Does Hotstar Serve Millions of Users?

He asked:

How does Hotstar handle so many users simultaneously?

I discussed:

• CDN (Content Delivery Network)
• Global partitioning
• Edge servers
• Caching strategies
• Load balancing
• Geographic distribution

This became a deep conversation about distributed systems.

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3. CAPTCHA System Design

He asked:

How does CAPTCHA work and how would you design one?

I discussed:

• Bot detection logic
• Token validation
• Backend verification
• Rate limiting
• Preventing replay attacks
• Security considerations

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4. YouTube-like Adaptive Bitrate System

He asked:

How would you design a YouTube-like system where users can change video quality dynamically?

I explained:

• Multiple bitrate encoding
• Segment-based streaming
• Adaptive bitrate streaming
• Client-side bandwidth detection
• CDN caching
• Smooth switching between qualities

This required understanding both backend systems and frontend behavior.

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5. Web & Security Questions

He also asked:

• CSS fundamentals
• JavaScript behavior
• Security-related edge cases
• General web optimization questions

The round was highly open-ended and tested:

• Architectural thinking
• Real-world system understanding
• Practical web engineering knowledge
• Confidence under pressure

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Result

The round concluded in around 40–45 minutes.

And this time —

I was selected.

I was the first hire across India on that particular day, which was a very proud moment for me.

I was selected for a 6-month internship at RTCamp.

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Reflection

This interview was different from DSA-heavy interviews.

It tested:

• System thinking
• Web architecture knowledge
• Real-world scalability awareness
• Confidence in open-ended discussions

It showed how much I had grown from my second-year attempt.

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Final Thoughts

From clearing only the first round in second year
to getting selected in fourth year —

This journey showed the importance of persistence, growth, and depth.

Sometimes, growth is silent until the right opportunity reveals it.

And this was one of those moments 🚀