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Snapchat·Software Engineer·Technical Phone Screen·Intermediate

Intermediate
Apr 2026

Summary

Snapchat SWE interview with a product co-purchase frequency problem. Pretty algorithmic but had a product data feel to it, like something you'd actually build for a recommendation system.

Questions Asked (1)

Q1

Given a list of orders where each order is a list of product IDs bought together, and a query product ID, return all products co-purchased with the query product at least once, sorted by co-purchase frequency descending and by product ID to break ties.

Algorithms & Data StructuresData Modeling
Author's notes

The co-occurrence map part was fine, just iterate through orders and for each order containing the query product, increment counts for the other items.

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AI HintsAI Generated

Suggested Approach

Use a hash map to count co-purchase frequencies for the query product across all orders, then sort the results by frequency descending and product ID ascending. Clarify assumptions about input format and edge cases before coding.

Pro tip: Proactively discuss trade-offs between sorting all co-purchased products versus using a heap for top-k, and mention how to handle large-scale data with distributed counting if needed.

1. Clarify requirements and edge cases

Ask about input format, whether orders can contain duplicate product IDs, and if the query product may not appear. Confirm output should be a list of product IDs.

2. Choose data structures

Use a hash map to store co-purchase counts for each product that appears with the query product. Iterate through each order and update counts for all other products if the query product is present.

3. Compute co-purchase frequencies

For each order containing the query product, iterate through the other products and increment their count in the hash map. Ensure each product is counted only once per order to avoid overcounting duplicates.

4. Sort results

Convert the hash map entries to a list and sort by frequency descending, then by product ID ascending. Use a custom comparator or sort key.

5. Analyze complexity and optimize

Discuss time and space complexity. Consider optimizations like early termination if only top-k results are needed, or using a min-heap for large datasets.

Key Points to Mention

  • Hash map for efficient frequency counting
  • Handling duplicate product IDs within an order
  • Sorting with multiple keys (frequency descending, product ID ascending)
  • Time and space complexity analysis
  • Edge cases: query product not present, empty orders, large datasets
  • Potential optimizations for scalability (e.g., distributed counting, top-k heap)

AI-generated suggestions, not part of the candidate's original notes. May be inaccurate — verify before relying on them.