ZipHQ Software Engineer Interview Experience — A Graph Pursuit Problem in the First Round

The author reports being rejected after a first-round Zip interview focused on a pursuit game in a finite undirected graph. Two players know each other’s locations and can move to an adjacent room or stay still, with the evading player acting first. The question concerned how long capture could take.

After the applicant struggled, the interviewer suggested comparing travel distances from the two starting positions to reason about reachable rooms and escape time. The source presents this as the interviewer’s hint rather than a completed candidate solution. Despite the unsuccessful result, the author described the overall interview experience positively. No later rounds or separate rejection feedback are reported.