Oracle Interview Preparation: A 2-month Study Plan

The Oracle interview process for software engineers is fundamentally structured to test one’s problem-solving and design abilities. Oracle interview questions asked at the tech interview are typically about coding and systems design.

Oracle is one of the most popular places for software engineers to work. It provides a stimulating work environment and a strong culture that values excellence, inclusion, and diversity. Given the high level of competition for software engineer positions, it is critical to develop a good preparation strategy to answer difficult Oracle interview questions in coding and systems design.

To make your interview prep easy and structured, we’ve come up with a 2-month Oracle interview preparation plan. We’ve also included some important Oracle interview questions that you should practice to prepare better.

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To learn how to prepare for an Oracle interview, let’s take a look at the 2-month Oracle interview prep plan. We’ll also look at some sample Oracle interview questions on coding, system design, and behavioral skills, as well as the Oracle interview process.

Here’s what we’ll discuss in this:

• The Oracle Interview Process for Software Engineers
• The Ultimate 2-month Oracle Interview Preparation Plan
• Oracle Interview Questions on Coding
• Oracle Interview Questions on Systems Design
• Oracle Behavioral Interview Questions
• Prep Tips to Crack the Oracle Interview
• FAQs on Oracle Interviews for Software Engineers

Oracle Interview Process for Software Engineers

The Oracle interview process for software engineers comprises three main rounds. These rounds essentially test your coding and design knowledge.

Here’s what the Oracle interview process looks like:

The Initial Recruiter Screen

The Initial Recruiter Screen is the first step in the Oracle interview process. Here, recruiters aim to understand your professional experience and skillsets and determine if your profile fits the role. The Initial Recruiter Screen takes place over a telephonic conversation and typically lasts 15-20 minutes.

The Technical Phone Screen

The Technical Phone Screen is essentially a coding round and happens remotely via an interviewing tool or a shared doc. In this round, you’re given a few coding problems to solve. The questions are around core data structures and algorithms and involve writing error-free code. To ace the Technical Phone Screen, make sure you put in the hours to hone your problem-solving skills. You can practice some Oracle Phone Interview Questions too.

The On-site Interview

The On-site interview is the final step in the Oracle interview process. In this round, Oracle interview questions that are asked fall into three main categories:

• Oracle interview questions on coding
• Oracle interview questions on systems design
• Oracle behavioral interview questions

The On-site interview can have anywhere between three to five rounds, depending on the seniority of the position.

The Ultimate 2-Month Oracle Interview Preparation Plan

A solid preparation plan is essential for acing Oracle’s technical interview. The Oracle interview process is demanding, difficult, and competitive. Having a foolproof preparation plan and following some noteworthy tips can undoubtedly help you stand out from the crowd.

Let’s look at the best 2-month Oracle interview preparation plan. We’ll go over what you should do in the weeks leading up to your interview.

Week 1 and 2

• Begin your prep by going over the important concepts in core data structures. Pace your prep to cover a few concepts every week.
• Practice at least 1-2 coding problems every day and begin the pattern-recognition exercise while solving problems. The best way to improve your problem-solving skills is to use analogous patterns to solve new problems.
• For weeks 1 and 2, you can brush up on Arrays, Linked Lists, Strings, and Sorting Algorithms.

Week 3 and 4

• Move onto the advanced concepts in core data structures and algorithms. Cover Recursion, Hash tables, Graphs, Trees, and Dynamic Programming.
• Continue to solve 1-2 coding problems every day. Aim to solve problems of varying difficulty. Solving medium to hard Leetcode problems is highly recommended.
• Start taking timed assignments and periodic tests (at least once or twice a week for the remaining weeks leading up to your interview).

Week 5 and 6

• Start preparing for your systems design interview. Spending at least two weeks preparing for your design interview is important, especially for the Oracle interview, where there’s increased focus on design interviews.
• Cover the critical topics in design, including Network Protocols, Database management, API modeling, Server maintenance, Sharding techniques, Caching, and Loading. Knowing these above concepts is crucial to building scalable systems with low latency.
• Check out this Ultimate Systems Design Checklist to get the full list of subtopics to prepare for your interview.
• Spend time practicing at least one problem a day, even while you go about preparing for your design interview.

Week 7 and 8

• Practice Mock Interview with FAANG hiring managers and hiring committee members of tier-1 companies. Wondering where you can do this?
• With Interview Kickstart, you can practice several mock interviews with current FAANG hiring managers, domain experts, and professionals with decades of experience who’re well-equipped to give you just the feedback you need to ace interviews.
• Start preparing for your behavioral interview. Practice answers to behavioral interview questions and structure your answers in the STAR format. Remember not to ignore behavioral interviews, as doing so can prove costly and negatively impact interview success.

Oracle Interview Questions on Coding

Let’s look at some sample Oracle interview questions on coding to get an idea about what to expect at your interview.

Before we see some sample Oracle interview questions, below are the important topics to prepare for the interview:

• Arrays, strings, and linked lists
• Trees and graphs
• Recursion
• Sorting algorithms — quicksort, merge sort, heap sort, etc.
• Dynamic programming
• Graph algorithms, including greedy algorithms

Here are some sample Oracle interview questions to practice for your coding interview:

1. Write a program to compute the height of a given Binary Tree T
2. Write a program to connect the notes of a given Binary Tree that are at the same level
3. Write a program to compute the number of leaves in a given Binary Search Tree
4. Write a code to implement a Queue using two stacks
5. Write a program to print a (2-Dimensional Array) matrix in the spiral form
6. Write a program that checks whether a given string S is a Palindrome or not
7. For a given array of integers, write a program to print the repeating integers in the array
8. For a given Binary Tree T, write a program to print the right view of the tree
9. Given a one-dimensional array, write a program to find the sum of the largest contiguous subarray
10. Write a program that deletes duplicate nodes in a sorted linked list.

You can practice some Oracle SQL Interview Questions too. If you want to access more problems along with solutions, check out our comprehensive Problems Page here.

Oracle Interview Questions on Systems Design

Systems design interviews are a crucial part of the Oracle interview process. In design interviews, your ability to build scalable systems with low latency is evaluated. In this section, we’ll look at some Oracle interview questions on systems design.

These are the essential concepts you can prepare for an Oracle systems design interview:

• • Network Protocols
  • Database management

• • Scalable systems
  • Concurrency
  • Caching
  • Sharding Techniques
  • Loading

• Systems Design Case Studies
• API Modeling

Here are some sample Oracle interview questions on distributed systems design:

1. What security aspects will you consider while designing a database?
2. Why is API modeling important while managing servers and databases?
3. What aspects will you consider while building a database for a scalable platform like Instagram?
4. How would you go about designing a Chatbot service that gives notifications?
5. How would you design a file-sharing system in the cloud?
6. What security and network aspects will you consider while building a massive e-commerce database?
7. How would you design a Proximity server?

Take a look at some of the Oracle DBA Interview Questions here.

Oracle Behavioral Interview Questions

Oracle interview questions in leadership and behavioral psychology are asked during the On-site interview. Although these interviews may appear straightforward, not preparing adequately for them can overturn your success at the interview. Spending at least a week preparing for the behavioral interview is highly recommended.

Below are some sample behavioral interview questions asked at the Oracle interview:

1. Tell us about the most challenging project you’ve worked on.
2. Tell us about a time when you had to work long hours to meet a project’s deadline.
3. Tell us about a time when you had a conflict with a coworker over a work-related issue.
4. How do you keep unnecessary distractions at bay during work?
5. How do you manage stressful situations in your personal and professional life?
6. What is your idea of a good work-life balance?
7. Tell us about a time when you missed an important project deadline.

Want to practice more behavioral interview questions? Check out these Behavioral Interview Questions for Software Engineers and Developers.

These Oracle interview questions will help you get a concrete idea about the type of questions asked across various concepts in the Oracle interview.

Prep Tips to Crack the Oracle Interview

These tried-and-true tips for acing the Oracle interview will help you beat the competition. Let’s take a look.

1. Begin your interview preparation at least eight weeks before your interview. This will allow you to comprehensively cover all topics that are important from an interview perspective.
2. While solving problems, classify problems with similar patterns and understand their approach. Use existing and analogous patterns to then solve new problems. This is a proven way to build your problem-solving skills.
3. Think out your solution aloud in the interview to give recruiters an idea of your solution path.
4. Practice Whiteboard coding, especially for the On-site interview.
5. Spend at least a week preparing for your behavioral interview. Structure your answers and responses in the STAR format.
6. Create a good project portfolio. List out all the important projects you’ve worked on in the STAR format.
7. Practice mock interviews with industry experts and FAANG hiring managers.
8. Use this Comprehensive Technical Interview Checklist to get interview-ready.

FAQs on Oracle Interview Preparation

Q1. How many stages are there in the Oracle interview process?

The Oracle tech interview typically takes place over three different stages – the initial recruiter screen, the technical phone screen, and the on-site interview.

Q2. Which coding concepts should I study to answer Oracle interview questions on coding?

To effectively answer Oracle interview questions on coding, you should prepare these concepts – Arrays, Strings, Linked Lists, Recursion, Sorting Algorithms, Hash Tables, Graphs, Trees, and Dynamic Programming.

Q3.  How long should you spend preparing for the Oracle systems design interview?

You should spend at least two weeks preparing for the Oracle systems design interview to comprehensively cover design concepts.

Q4. How many Oracle interview questions are asked in the technical phone screen interview?

In the Oracle technical phone screen interview, you’re generally asked one or two problems on core data structures and algorithms. The phone screen round is typically conducted via a remote interviewing tool.

Q5. What are the important concepts to answer Oracle interview questions on systems design?

The important systems design concepts to prepare for the Oracle interview include – Concurrency, Database management, Network protocols, Online processing systems, Sharding techniques, Caching, and API Modeling.

Gear Up for Your Next Oracle Interview

Are you getting ready for your upcoming Oracle interview? Register for our technical interview webinar.

At Interview Kickstart, we’ve trained over 9,000 engineers to land lucrative offers at the biggest tech companies. Our instructors, who are FAANG hiring managers, know what it takes to nail tough tech interviews at top technology companies.

Register for our FREE webinar to learn more.