Three weeks ago I finished the FedEx coding interview process for a mid-level SWE role. Writing this up because the prep advice I found online was mostly generic and I was flying a little blind.
Online Assessment (OA): HackerRank platform, 90 minutes, 2 problems. No proctoring in my case.
Problem 1: String manipulation. Given a series of package label strings with some malformed entries, parse and clean them. More of an implementation problem than a classic algorithm. I'd call it easy.
Problem 2: Graph traversal. Basically find the shortest path in a facility routing network modeled as a weighted directed graph. BFS/Dijkstra, medium difficulty. If you've done LeetCode mediums in the graph category you've seen this shape before.
I finished with about 20 minutes to spare. I wouldn't panic-prep hard for this round.
Onsite Coding Round: Two problems in 45 minutes, one interviewer watching. Slightly more pressure.
Problem 1: Array/sliding window. Finding optimal time windows for package delivery scheduling. Classic medium.
Problem 2: This one was more applied. Given a list of delivery stops with dependencies (this stop must happen before that stop), return a valid delivery order or detect a cycle. Topological sort. Medium-hard depending on how rusty you are on it.
Interviewer was engaged, not stiff. He gave hints when I got stuck on the cycle detection part without making me feel bad about it. Good sign for the team's interview culture.
What to prep: Graph problems: BFS, DFS, shortest path, topological sort Sliding window / two pointer (shows up a lot in scheduling-adjacent problems)
I wouldn't grind LeetCode hard problems for FedEx. Their bar feels like solid medium. Readable code and the ability to talk through your approach mattered as much as getting the optimal solution.