# C++ Interview with a FAANG engineer

### Interview Summary

**Problem type**  
Buildings with an ocean view

**Interview question**  
There are n buildings in a line. You are given an integer array heights of size n that represents the heights of the buildings in the line.  
The ocean is to the right of the buildings. A building has an ocean view if the building can see the ocean without obstructions. Return a list of indices (0-indexed) of buildings that have an ocean view, sorted in increasing order.

**Example 1:**  
Input: heights = [4,2,3,1]  
Output: [0,2,3]  
Explanation: Building 1 does not have an ocean view because building 2 is taller.

**Example 2:**  
Input: heights = [4,4,1]  
Output: [1, 2]

### Interview Feedback

#### Feedback about Digital Fresh (the interviewee)

**Advance this person to the next round?**  
 Yes  
**How were their technical skills?**  
3/4  
**How was their problem solving ability?**  
3/4  
**What about their communication ability?**  
4/4

#### Strengths:
- Communication:  
  - Positive, affable; seems great to work with  
  - Attentive listener and open to hints while being proactive to find solutions (and persistent)
- Time management:  
  - Great job in general on asking clarifying questions, sharing thought process for solution space, and implementing code, especially on the first problem
- Technical:  
  - Very comfortable with arrays  
  - Time and space complexity spot on  
  - Overall looks solid on general c++

#### Potential areas of improvement
- Problem solving:  
  - For the second problem with skylines, had more components and nuances to it: recommend to walk through one or two complete examples
  - In the examples, articulate more on what your solution should track (e.g., running sum vs. current max score)  
- Technical:  
  - Using "&" in method signature  
  - Instead of reversing an array, you could use STL's "reverse"
  - Proactively write down Time and Space complexity at the end of the solution  
  - Practice iterating through hash maps/dictionaries in C++

### Interview Transcript

**Digital Fresh:** Yeah, I'm looking for like an E3 level. I have two years of experience, but yeah, I'm still looking for more of an entry level role.

**Stochastic Panda:** Excellent. So let's move on to the interview question. Here we go.

- For the first interview question, what would you say is the time and space complexity?

**Digital Fresh:** Time is O(N) and Space is also O(N).

**Stochastic Panda:** Okay, great. I think this is looking good. Let's move on to one more question and let's see if it's okay. I'll paste the question starting now. Here we go.

### Second Problem: The Skyline of Buildings
**Interview question**  
You are given an integer array heights of size n. Each element height[i] represents the height of the ith building. The skyline is valid if it meets the following conditions: The first and last building in the skyline have the same height. Return the maximum possible score of some valid skyline after demolishing buildings.

- **Example 1:** Input: [4,3,4] → Output: 4
  - Example reasoning: The valid skyline is simply the two 4s on either end.

### Expected Output

For both interviews, it is expected that a candidate should clarify the output they are seeking.

**Feedback about Stochastic Panda (the interviewer)**
- Would you want to work with this person?  
 Yes  
- Overall performance I would give…  
4/4

### Closing Remarks
- If you feel you could have done something better on the second question ask your mentor how you might solidify your code.

- Explore resources available on Leetcode for practice.