LinkedIn - interview guide

LinkedIn interview questions - a complete guide

LinkedIn's online assessment has been reported to include MCQs on DBMS, OS, networking and Unix alongside coding. Here is how to prepare for all of it - with social graph questions too.

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About LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the professional networking platform (part of Microsoft), with a large engineering centre in Bengaluru - working on the feed, search, jobs and features such as 'people you may know'.

This guide covers 13 LinkedIn interview questions with answers - what each question checks and how to answer it - plus the LinkedIn interview process, round by round, a 7-day preparation plan for freshers, tips and the mistakes to avoid.

LinkedIn hiring process

  1. Online assessment

    3-4 coding questions on HackerRank and MCQs on DBMS, OS, OOP, networking and Unix - reported as about 2 hours.

  2. Recruiter screen

    A short call.

  3. Interviews

    DSA (topics such as BSTs and priority queues) and behavioural with the hiring manager.

LinkedIn does not publish its India fresher interview process in detail (as of our check). This is based on candidate reports - many of them for experienced roles, so the fresher process can differ. Confirm with the recruiter.

Sources (checked 16 October 2026): LinkedIn Careers. Hiring processes change - read the official notice before you apply.

LinkedIn interview questions and answers

DSA

  1. 1.Check whether a BST is valid.

    What they're checking
    BST questions in reports.
    How to answer
    Pass down the allowed range (min, max) for each node; or check that the inorder is strictly increasing.

  2. 2.Merge k sorted lists.

    What they're checking
    A priority queue - reported in interviews.
    How to answer
    Put each list's first node in a min-heap; take the smallest and push its next.

  3. 3.The connection degree between two users (1st, 2nd, 3rd).

    What they're checking
    The social graph - LinkedIn's core.
    How to answer
    BFS level by level; BFS from both sides (bidirectional) is faster.

  4. 4.The weighted sum of a nested list (by depth).

    What they're checking
    Recursion.
    How to answer
    Multiply each element by its depth; recurse with depth+1 when you find a list.

OA MCQ topics

  1. 5.What Unix command finds text in a file and counts it?

    What they're checking
    Unix MCQs have been reported.
    How to answer
    grep 'text' file - find; grep -c - count matches; wc -l - count lines.

  2. 6.What is TCP congestion control?

    What they're checking
    Networking.
    How to answer
    Adjusting the sender's speed so the network doesn't overload - slow start, then a gradual increase, cutting back on loss.

  3. 7.What are the isolation levels in a DBMS?

    What they're checking
    Transactions.
    How to answer
    Read uncommitted, read committed, repeatable read, serializable - safer but slower as you go up.

  4. 8.When would you use composition and when inheritance in OOP?

    What they're checking
    Design.
    How to answer
    Inheritance for an 'is-a' relationship; composition for 'has-a' - composition is usually more flexible.

Design and behavioural

  1. 9.A simple design for 'People you may know'.

    What they're checking
    Graph + ranking.
    How to answer
    Friends of friends (2nd degree) as candidates, then score by common connections, the same company/college, and show the top ones.

  2. 10.How would you think about job recommendations?

    What they're checking
    Product thinking.
    How to answer
    The user's skills, location and past clicks; match against the job's needs; and learn from feedback.

  3. 11.Tell me about yourself and why LinkedIn.

    What they're checking
    Asked in reports.
    How to answer
    A short introduction and your genuine connection to what LinkedIn does (connecting professionals).

  4. 12.Tell me about a project where you learned something new and delivered.

    What they're checking
    Growth.
    How to answer
    What you learned, how, and what you delivered - with numbers.

  5. 13.When did you have to ask for help - how did you ask?

    What they're checking
    Collaboration.
    How to answer
    When you decided you needed help, how you asked (prepared), and what you learned.

7-day preparation plan for the LinkedIn interview

  1. Day 1: Trees and BSTs.
  2. Day 2: Heaps and merging.
  3. Day 3: Graphs - BFS, bidirectional BFS.
  4. Day 4: MCQs - DBMS, OS, networking, Unix.
  5. Day 5: A 2-hour mock OA.
  6. Day 6: Graph-based design and behavioural stories.
  7. Day 7: Revision.

Preparation tips

  • The OA is long - study the MCQs (DBMS, OS, networking, Unix) as well as coding.
  • Special attention to graph and heap problems.
  • A genuine answer to 'why LinkedIn' in the behavioural round.

Mistakes to avoid

  • Ignoring the OA's MCQs.
  • Forgetting the visited set in graph questions.
  • Not preparing for the behavioural round.

Frequently asked questions

What is in the LinkedIn OA?

Commonly 3-4 coding questions on HackerRank and MCQs on DBMS, OS, OOP, networking and Unix.

Which DSA topics come up in the LinkedIn interview?

Reports mention topics such as BSTs and priority queues.

Is there a behavioural round at LinkedIn?

Yes, a behavioural round with the hiring manager is commonly reported.

Which company owns LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is part of Microsoft.

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