Staff Machine Learning Engineer - Maps

Uber

Let's dive into recursion. 1. Explain the concept of recursion. What are the base case and recursive step, and why are they essential? 2. Write a recursive function in your language of choice to calculate the factorial of a non-negative integer. For example, factorial(5) should return 120 (5 * 4 * 3 * 2 * 1). 3. Explain how recursion works under the hood using the call stack. Illustrate with the factorial example how function calls are added and removed from the stack. 4. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using recursion compared to iteration. When might recursion be a better choice, and when should it be avoided? 5. What is tail recursion, and why is it important? Explain how tail call optimization can improve performance in some languages. 6. Write a recursive function to solve the Tower of Hanoi puzzle. This classic problem involves moving disks from one peg to another with specific constraints. 7. How does memoization improve the performance of recursive functions? Give an example of a problem where memoization can significantly reduce computation time (e.g., Fibonacci sequence). 8. Describe a scenario where recursion might lead to a stack overflow error. How can you prevent or mitigate this issue? 9. Implement a recursive function to perform a depth-first search (DFS) on a binary tree. Show how to traverse the tree and print the values of the nodes. 10. Explain the concept of mutual recursion and provide an example. Mutual recursion is when two functions call each other.

Uber

Let's design a room reservation system. Consider the following requirements: Users: The system should allow users to search for available rooms and make reservations. Rooms: Each room has a capacity, a list of available equipment (e.g., projector, whiteboard), and a location. Reservations: Reservations have a start time, an end time, a room, and a user. Conflicts: The system must prevent double-booking of rooms. If someone tries to book a room that is already booked during that timeframe, they should receive an error message. Searching: Users should be able to search for rooms based on criteria such as capacity, available equipment, location, and time slot. Admin: Admins should be able to add new rooms, modify room details, and view all reservations. Consider the data models, APIs, and system architecture. Provide a high-level overview of your design, including the key components and their interactions. What data structures would you use to efficiently store and retrieve room and reservation information? How would you handle concurrency and prevent race conditions when multiple users try to book the same room simultaneously? What are the trade-offs between different architectural choices (e.g., monolithic vs. microservices)? What API endpoints would you expose for common operations like searching for rooms, creating reservations, and canceling reservations? How would you handle edge cases such as overlapping reservations or invalid user input? What database technology would you use and why?

Uber

Tell me about yourself and describe your past experiences in detail, focusing on specific accomplishments and challenges you faced.