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Oracle new grad / entry level interview, how to prep and what I actually got asked

bootcamp_bri · 5 replies

I just went through the Oracle new grad SWE interview in 2026 and wanted to write this up because when I was prepping I basically found nothing specific. Here's the actual process.

Applied through the Oracle campus portal in February. Got a recruiter email about 3 weeks later. The whole process took maybe 7 weeks to an offer.

OA (online assessment). Two Hackerrank coding problems, 90 minutes. One was medium difficulty array manipulation, one was a tree traversal variant. Felt like standard LC medium. I did not see anything LC hard. Time was fine if you don't get stuck.

Phone screen with an engineer (45 min). One coding question on a shared coding pad. Mine was a string manipulation problem, sliding window approach. They also asked a few CS fundamentals: what happens when you call a virtual function, difference between stack and heap. I had 10 minutes of behavioral at the end.

Virtual onsite (3 rounds, spread over one day). This was the heavy part. Round 1: coding. Two problems, 45 min total. Both LC medium range. One graph BFS/DFS question, one dynamic programming problem that I got partway through. I didn't fully solve the DP one and still got an offer, so partial progress seems to count. Round 2: system design (lite version for new grad). They asked me to design a URL shortener. I covered API design, basic database schema, caching layer. They weren't expecting a distributed systems deep dive but they did ask about what happens if the database goes down. Round 3: behavioral. Classic STAR stuff. Tell me about a time you had a conflict with a teammate. Tell me about a project you're most proud of. Tell me about a time you missed a deadline.

Offer I got: $115k base, Austin, entry-level SWE. Stock grant was around $30k over 4 years, so not huge. Benefits seemed decent.

Prep advice for new grads: Leetcode mediums are the target, BFS/DFS and sliding window keep coming up. Don't skip the behavioral prep, they take it seriously at Oracle. Practice the URL shortener and rate limiter designs even at entry level, those questions are common. Good luck.

5 replies

jp_newgrad

this is exactly what i needed. did they give you any feedback on the DP problem you didn't finish? i always worry partial solutions tank you completely

ae_andre

no explicit feedback from them but i think talking through your approach out loud really matters. i explained my dp state transition even when i ran out of time to code it fully. recruiter told me afterward that the interviewers look at how you problem-solve not just whether you finish

backend_bekah

The system design lite for new grads is pretty standard across big enterprise tech. URL shortener is the canonical starter. Make sure you can also talk through a simple key-value store design. They sometimes pivot to that if they want to probe more on storage.

bootcamp_bri

Do they filter out non-CS degrees before the OA? Asking for my bootcamp folks. Did you see any weird background screening questions?

sdr_sky

honestly not sure, i have a CS degree so i can't speak to that directly. the application itself didn't ask much beyond major and GPA. might be worth just applying and seeing what happens