Airbnb·Software Engineer·Technical Phone Screen·Intermediate

Intermediate

May 2026

Summary

Airbnb software engineer interview with a string formatting problem. Pretty much a pure implementation exercise, nothing algorithmic, but the edge cases are where they actually pay attention.

Questions Asked (1)

Write a function that takes a list of sentences and a fixed width, and formats them into a bordered table with horizontal dividers between every row.

Algorithms & Data StructuresTechnical Trade-offs

Author's notes

The core part is easy enough, padding strings and slapping pipes on the sides.

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AI HintsAI Generated

Suggested Approach

Start by clarifying the requirements: how to handle sentences longer than the fixed width, whether padding is needed, and the exact border style. Then outline a function that splits sentences into words, wraps them into lines of at most the given width, and constructs the table with borders and dividers. Finally, discuss edge cases and potential optimizations.

Pro tip: Demonstrate attention to detail by asking about edge cases like empty sentences, multiple spaces, and very long words before coding. This shows you think about robustness and user experience, which is crucial at Airbnb.

1. Clarify Requirements

Ask questions to understand the expected behavior for edge cases: What if a word is longer than the width? Should the table have padding? What characters are used for borders and dividers?

2. Design the Algorithm

Outline a plan: For each sentence, split into words, then greedily build lines by adding words until the width is exceeded. Compute the maximum line width across all sentences to determine column width.

3. Implement the Function

Write code that constructs the top border, then for each sentence, adds the wrapped lines with side borders, and inserts a horizontal divider after each row (except possibly the last).

4. Test and Validate

Test with various inputs: normal sentences, sentences with long words, empty list, and sentences that exactly fit the width. Verify the output matches the expected format.

5. Discuss Trade-offs

Talk about time and space complexity, and consider alternative approaches like using a library for text wrapping versus manual implementation.

Key Points to Mention

Handling of words longer than the fixed width (e.g., splitting the word or allowing overflow).
Padding and alignment: whether to pad shorter lines to the maximum width for a neat table.
Efficiency: O(N) time where N is total number of characters, and O(N) space for the output.
Edge cases: empty list, empty sentences, multiple consecutive spaces, and trailing spaces.
Choice of border characters and whether to include a divider after the last row.
Potential use of built-in text wrapping functions (e.g., textwrap in Python) and when to implement manually.

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