The Infection Spread
A hard Python mock interview question on DataDriven, with an AI interviewer who asks follow-up questions and a hire or no-hire decision at the end.
- Domain
- Python
- Difficulty
- hard
- Seniority
- L5
Interview Prompt
You're modeling spoilage in a produce crate held as a 2D grid, where each cell is empty (`0`), holds a fresh item (`1`), or holds an already-spoiled one (`2`). Every minute, spoilage spreads from the spoiled cells to neighboring fresh items, and you need to return how many minutes pass until nothing fresh is left.
Summary
It starts with one, and then it spreads.
How This Interview Works
- Read the vague prompt (just like a real interview)
- Ask clarifying questions to the AI interviewer
- Write and run your Python against test cases
- Answer the interviewer's follow-up questions, then get a hire or no-hire decision