Lessons Learned from My Karat Interview for Atlassian
Regarding Interview Questions
I can't paste the questions here, because Karat in known to ask people to take it down and initiate some form of action. But, largey the questions are available on different platforms where users can paste it anonymously.
1. Understanding the Karat Interview Format
The interview format is different for different Karat interviews are structured technical interviews often focused on:
- Coding problems (data structures, algorithms)
- Communication & reasoning while solving
- Edge case handling
- Code correctness and testing
- Sometimes system design (for senior roles)
💡 Key takeaway: It’s not just about solving — it’s about how I think aloud, reason about trade-offs, and verify my solution.
🧠 2. Things to Keep in Mind During the Interview
✅ Coding Habits
- Start with clarifying questions — restate the problem in my own words.
- Plan my approach verbally before coding (show reasoning, complexity awareness).
- Write clean, readable code — consistent naming, minimal nesting.
- Handle edge cases explicitly — empty inputs, 1-element arrays, nulls, etc.
- Add quick test runs to demonstrate correctness.
🗣️ Communication
- Keep a running narration: “Here’s what I’m thinking…” or “Let me test this scenario…”
- If I’m unsure, verbalize my options — it shows structured problem-solving.
- Avoid long silences; describe debugging steps as I work.
⚙️ Technical Breadth
I should brush up on common algorithm families:
- Arrays & HashMaps (two-pointer, sliding window)
- Graphs (BFS/DFS, topological sort)
- Dynamic Programming (1D/2D)
- String algorithms (Trie, substring, KMP)
- Sorting & searching tricks
🧮 Complexity awareness is key — mention time and space even if the interviewer doesn’t ask.
💡 3. Specific Mistakes / Lessons (To Fill In)
| # | What Happened | Lesson Learned |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Froze on an optimization question | Practice calm breathing & narrate thought process even if stuck |
| 2 | Missed an edge case in custom input | Always test with smallest and largest possible cases |
| 3 | Didn’t explain trade-offs for data structures | Explicitly mention “I chose X because it gives O(1) for lookup” |
| 4 | Focused on correctness, ignored clarity | Refactor variable names, structure logic cleanly before final run |
(I’ll expand this section as I recall more details from the interview.)
🧾 4. Preparation Tips for Next Time
- ⏱ Simulate 45-minute mock interviews with a timer.
- 📚 Revisit LeetCode Top 100, especially Medium level graph/array/string problems.
- 🧮 Practice writing code in one go — reduce syntax hesitations.
- 🧑💻 Try mock interviews with peers (Pramp, Interviewing.io).
- 🗂 Maintain a personal “pattern log” (e.g., sliding window → problems list, graph traversal → examples).
🚀 5. The Atlassian Angle
Atlassian values:
- Collaboration & clarity
- Maintainable, readable code
- Customer empathy
💬 So even in a coding interview, they observe how well I explain, refactor, and reason.
If I can communicate in a “team-first” way (like saying “In a real code review, I’d…”), it goes a long way.
✍️ 6. Final Reflection
Every rejection is feedback disguised as a delay.
The goal isn’t to chase a perfect interview — it’s to raise my lowest points each time.
Next round, fewer pauses, cleaner structure, tighter examples.
Progress compounds. 🚀
🧱 7. Future Additions
(To fill as I recall more details)
- [ ] The exact problem(s) asked
- [ ] Where I hesitated or got stuck
- [ ] Follow-up or feedback notes from interviewer
- [ ] What I’ll do differently in the next 2 weeks
Last updated: October 2025
Tags: #interview-prep #karat #atlassian #career-notes