Arista Networks visited our campus in August 2021 for an internship.
Round 1- Online Coding Round (Duration: 75 mins): Online test on HackerRank platform consisted of 3 coding questions.
- Given an array representing positions of n cars in a parking lot. Find the minimum length of the roof to cover k cars.
- Given a pile of stones, smash the largest two stones together in each step. If the stones are of equal weight, they both disintegrate entirely. If one is larger, the smaller one is disintegrated and the larger one is reduced by the weight of the smaller one. Determine the weight of the last stone remaining or return 0 if there is none.
- A planned state consists of cities connected by bidirectional roads of different types. For example, one road may be an expressway and another a boulevard. Each road can be described by three integers that represent the two connected cities and the road type. To reduce maintenance, some roads may be demolished. All others will be upgraded. If each city is to remain connected to all currently connected cities by the same type of road, determine the minimum number of roads of each type that will be upgraded.
I could solve Q1 and Q2 completely. Q1 could be solved by sorting the array & considering a window of size k. Q2 could be solved by placing the elements in a priority queue and performing the operations.
Round 2 – Technical Interview (Duration: 60 mins): This was a Technical Interview round where I was first asked if I would like to discuss the mistakes that I’ve made in the coding round and then we had a discussion on the 3rd question which I was unable to solve. I was asked to share my screen.
- The first question was to write code to check if the maximum number of consecutive 1s in a binary string is greater than the number of consecutive 0s. I was given 2 small snippets of code which were related to pointers, and we had a discussion on them.
- The next question was to implement a HashMap using pseudo code which took a while to build step by step.
- Then, there was a question on trees, to traverse the corners of a tree in a clockwise direction.
- Finally, I was asked if I had any questions for her.
Round 3 – Technical + HR Interview (Duration: 60 mins): This was a Technical + HR Interview where I was first asked about my work location preference and how college was going on. Then, I was asked what I know about Arista and then the interviewer explained a few more points about what they do.
- Firstly, I was shown a snippet of code where array size is small, and the input is large. I was asked about the consequences of such a situation.
- Then, I was asked to write code for adding two numbers where each digit is stored in a node of a linked list.
- I was given a situation where there are copies of a file in a folder, and we have to delete the copies. We had a discussion on how efficiently we can delete them in the file system.
- I was asked to explain a project in my CV, which was related to Simulation of Heap Memory Allocation.
- We had a discussion on my academics and my roles as TNP Coordinator & Secretary of ACM Club in college.
- Finally, I was asked if I had any questions for him.
There were 2 selects from our college and I was lucky enough to be one of them.
Tips:
- Keep communication clear, make sure the interviewer understands your thinking process.
- Be prepared with everything you mention on your CV and do not mention things on your CV if you are not confident with it, especially projects and skills.
- Keep calm, remain confident, and be honest. Don’t get tense if you cannot answer any question. The interviewer always helps you by giving hints. Keep working hard with a positive attitude.