Barclays visited our Campus for placements in the 2nd Week of August 2021 to hire graduates for the 2022 Business Analyst role- BA3.
Eligible Branches: B.Tech. Comp/IT
Eligibility Criteria: with ≥ 60% score across class X, XII, and engineering semesters.
144 students cleared the criteria.
The complete process consists of 2 Rounds.
Round 1(Online Test – Platform HackerEarth): Time Limit: 90 mins(1.5hrs)
There were two sections:
- Multiple Choice Questions
- Programming Questions
Multiple Choice Questions: 30 Questions were from a wide range including
- Java
- JavaScript
- C++
- DBMS
- Data Structure
- Python
- Servlets
- OS
MCQs had either +6 or +4 marks associated with them.
There was NO NEGATIVE MARKING
Programming Questions: Two programming questions.
- Maximum Prime: The problem was similar to Largest Prime number Possible. (50 marks)
- https://www.hackerearth.com/problem/algorithm/measuring-weights-54c2dc75-b4ccf064/
I attempted all the MCQs and Solved Problem 1 completely and passed 6 test cases out of 14 for problem 2.
The next day we received the shortlist for interviews.
A total of 34 Students was shortlisted
There was only one combined interview (Technical + HR). I was prepared for all types of questions. Interviews were conducted on the Cisco WebEx platform. There were different panels of Interviewers.
In Barclays, the interviews are generally conducted by VPs and AVPs.
Round 2: I joined the meet on time and the interviewer had my resume. The interviewer started with the legacy question “Introduce yourself briefly”(Do prepare a good introduction to try to cover all important points). He asked me about my role in the IEEE Chapter in our college(as I was Head and a CORE committee member at the IEEE Student Chapter of my college and have mentioned that in my resume).
Technical Questions:
- What courses did you study in your college and what did you learn from them?
- What are Database, Database Management System, Relational Database Management System, and Object-Oriented Database Management System?
- What is Denormalization?
- What is Foreign Key? Why do we use it?
- How foreign Key is different from Denormalization?
- Given a business use case and Dataset describes all the steps till training, in brief, to build a Machine Learning model from scratch.
- Do you know DevOps?
- Why Companies are shifting to cloud infrastructure nowadays?
- What literature or books do you read to stay updated about new technologies?
- What are various Cloud Service providers you are aware of?
- What are ACID properties in Databases?
HR Questions:
A Tip: Do read and understand Barclays Values “RISES” before going to interviews.
- Have you ever been put in a situation where you have to go against your Manager or Professor?
- Are you aware of all the skills and qualities you need to develop in yourself or that you need to work on?
Then he asked me if I had any questions for him. Please Do ask a good question. It shows you have researched about the company and you are interested as well.
Result: The next day in the evening we received the result out of 34 students 6 were selected and I was one of the selects
After 2 days another list was sent which consists of 6 more students.
TIPS:
Preparation:
- Do study all concepts of Object-Oriented Programming, Database Management System, Operating Systems, Computer Network(Do have an idea of all the layers and how they function, various devices in those layers). Data structures are a must. Keep solving problems on various competitive platforms to have a stronghold of data structures.
- If you know Java then do revise all the concepts well before interviews and if you don’t know Java I would suggest you understand the important 4 concepts of Object-Oriented Programming (Data Abstraction, Encapsulation, Polymorphism, and Inheritance) thoroughly that would do.
- Make a good resume. Do take time and put relevant things in your resume. Include GitHub repository link of your project, LinkedIn profile in your Resume. If you have done competitive coding and have nice ratings on competitive coding platforms do include the link to your profile. Also if you have won some hackathons do include the link to your prototype. Be thorough with your resume. Don’t lie in your resume, that might cost you an interview. Know your projects very well, your contribution, and your teammate’s contribution as well.
- Criticize your projects to find out what questions could be asked on this, ask your seniors to review them, In short, be ready to answer questions asked on your resume.
Interview:
- Do proper research of the company you are applying for, that helps while asking questions to the interviewer.
- Give a short, crispy and to-the-point answer to the question asked in the interview. If you don’t know anything tells the interviewer you are not aware of that concept or don’t have a stronghold over it. In short, don’t take unnecessary guesses.
- Always be calm and have positive energy in yourself, which gives good vibes to you and your interviewer both.
Motivation:
- I have cracked the first company that came to campus with a very good offer for internship and preplacement and was Waitlisted. Didn’t receive any confirmation from them and was disheartened.
- Failed to get into shortlists of various companies, after performing well in the test.
- In my experience I would say, it’s good to be hopeful but it’s better to be prepared for tomorrow.
- So as hard as it may seem, just believe that the right thing is still out there for you, and one company you didn’t crack won’t make your skills and your hard work meaningless. Everything will fit in place soon. Learn everything you can from your experience and utilize that knowledge to crack your dream.
- Don’t let any failure stop you from achieving what you deserve.
- I kept on practicing, revising all the concepts and finally cracked Barclays.
Just be patient, confident, keep practicing, learning, and have faith.
All the best guys!