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Peregrine·Software Engineer·Technical Phone Screen·Intermediate

IntermediatePrefer not to say
May 2026

Summary

Peregrine SWE interview had a meaty coding question that kept evolving with follow-ups. Started straightforward then got progressively more involved, which I wasn't totally prepared for.

Questions Asked (1)

Q1

Given a paginated API that returns a total count and a list of activities for a requested page, write code that fetches all pages and prints every activity. Then group the activities into clumps where each clump shares the same type and name, implementing a Clump class with an activities list, type, and name. Finally, update the output so each activity displays the user's name fetched from a separate getUserName API instead of the raw user ID.

API & IntegrationsAlgorithms & Data StructuresSystem Design
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AI HintsAI Generated

Suggested Approach

Start by clarifying the API contract and edge cases, then outline a pagination loop that fetches all pages, groups activities into clumps, and enriches with user names. Write clean, modular code with error handling and discuss trade-offs like caching and concurrency.

Pro tip: Mention that you would cache getUserName results to avoid redundant API calls, and handle pagination termination robustly by checking if the returned list is empty or if the total count is reached.

1. Clarify requirements and API details

Ask about pagination parameters (page size, page number), response format, error handling, and rate limits. Confirm that clumps are contiguous groups of activities with the same type and name.

2. Implement pagination to fetch all activities

Write a loop that requests pages until all activities are retrieved, using the total count or an empty response as the termination condition. Collect activities into a single list.

3. Group activities into clumps

Iterate through the activities list and create Clump objects whenever the type or name changes from the previous activity. Each Clump should contain the consecutive activities with the same type and name.

4. Enrich activities with user names

For each activity, fetch the user's name via getUserName, using a cache to avoid duplicate calls. Replace the raw user ID with the name in the output.

5. Print the final output

Format and print each clump with its type, name, and activities, where each activity shows the user's name instead of the ID.

Key Points to Mention

  • Pagination termination condition (e.g., empty page or total count reached)
  • Error handling and retries for API calls
  • Caching getUserName results to reduce API calls
  • Concurrency for fetching user names (e.g., Promise.all or async/await)
  • Clump grouping logic: contiguous grouping based on type and name
  • Time and space complexity of the solution

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