Job Experience Chronicle: Software Engineer Position at UKG

In a recent interview for a Software Engineer position at UKG, Abhikalpsri showcased his strong project knowledge, practical machine learning (ML) and system thinking, and a short demo of his n8n Interview Prep Assistant. The interview process, conducted via LinkedIn without a referral, consisted of four elimination rounds between July 11 and 17.

The interview began with a first Technical round, where the principal Software Engineer (SE) delved deep into Abhikalpsri's internships, AI/ML fundamentals, and a coding exercise. This exercise involved implementing merge sort and quick sort, discussing their time and space complexity, stability, and solving the 3-Sum problem. The project questions covered data pipelines, model choices, evaluation metrics, deployment decisions, and edge cases, with numerous cross-questions about implementation details.

The second Technical round was conducted by a Senior Principal SE, but no specific details about this round were provided. In the third technical round, the focus shifted to project ownership, product thinking, and behavioral fit. Abhikalpsri demonstrated his n8n Interview Prep Assistant during this round, which qualifies candidates against a job description and generates personalized technical and behavioral questions.

The interview also included a Tech + Behavioral round, where Abhikalpsri was asked behavioral questions about his motivation for AI/ML, handling ambiguous requirements, and dealing with failing models. He was also posed tough HR questions about other offers, retention intentions, and reasons for choosing UKG.

The fourth and final round was an HR round with a focus on fit, offers, relocation, and company/product knowledge. Abhikalpsri recommended researching UKG products and use cases before the HR call. He chose Pune as his location preference, reasoning about learning opportunities and closer access to senior engineers.

Throughout the interview, Abhikalpsri provided a short introduction highlighting his education, internships at NXP and MyParticipants, relevant projects like CropStop and an AI Self-Driving Car, emphasizing his hands-on ML/AI work and backend experience. The interview concluded with a note highlighting the impact of Abhikalpsri's strong project knowledge, practical ML/system thinking, and the short demo of his n8n Interview Prep Assistant.