Citi Bank (Citi CSC) came to our campus to hire Technology Analyst Interns.
All pre-final year students from any branch could apply.
ROUNDS
- Online Test – 12th September 2021
- Technical Interview – 15th September 2021
- HR interview – 15 September 2021
ONLINE TEST: Criteria: CPI 6+ and no active backlogs
Test consisted of 5 sections. There were sectional timers. You cannot switch between sections. Also you cannot navigate through the questions within a section. There was no negative marking. It was video proctored.
General tip: Be real quick while solving questions!
1. CS subjects’ based MCQs (25 Questions in 35 minutes)
- MCQs based on stacks, queues, trees, searching, sorting techniques, output prediction, basic programming questions, OOPS etc
Your basics should be really clear and you will be through this section.
2. Aptitude (16 Questions in 16 minutes)
- MCQs on topics like work and time, probability, permutations and combinations, percentages, ages, profit and loss, etc. I don’t remember exactly what the questions were, but they were doable.
- The only thing is you need to be fast.
3. Logical Reasoning (14 Questions in 14 minutes)
- I don’t clearly remember the questions of this section.
- But the questions were of easy to moderate level.
4. Verbal Reasoning (22 Questions in 18 minutes)
- Antonyms, synonyms, prepositions and passages etc. The questions were easy.
- Tip: There were two passages. Each passage had around 3-4 questions.
- So reading the passage carefully once helps a lot.
5. Coding section (2 Questions in 60 minutes)
- a. Trapezium Pattern Printing. Passed 11/11 test cases
- b. Rat in a maze
I followed a backtracking approach and I managed to pass 25/32 test cases
40 students were shortlisted for the interviews
ROUND 2(TECHNICAL INTERVIEW): Duration: 20 minutes (on zoom)
- The interviewer was really friendly and he began the interview by introducing himself. Then he asked “Tell me about yourself”. He looked quite impressed with my introduction and he spent around 1-2 minutes describing what he liked about my introduction. This made me feel quite comfortable.
- He had my resume and asked me how much would I rate myself in Java on the scale of 10 (as I had java on my resume) to which I replied 6/10
Then he asked me the following questions
- Abstraction can be achieved by both interfaces and abstract classes. What is the difference between interfaces and abstract classes? Which one is preferable?
- Can static members be inherited?
- When a protected member of the base class is inherited what will be the access modifier of that member in the derived class?
- Volatile keyword in java (This I could not answer and I clearly stated that I was not aware of this. He said no problem)
After this he asked me about HTML (mentioned on my resume), He asked me what HTML is and what all I have learnt in HTML.
- Next he asked what happens when you enter something in a text field on a website.
- Then he moved on to my project and asked me to describe my project. I used the STAR approach to explain my project. He was happy with my explanation.
- Next, he asked me about the data structures that I am proficient in. I replied to arrays, strings, trees, linked list, stacks, queues.
- Then he asked me a coding question : nth node from end of a linked list
- I gave him two approaches(better and optimal) and he was satisfied. He did not ask me to code.
- At the end he asked whether I had any questions for him (Always ask questions! It shows your interest in the company)
- I asked him two questions and his replies were full of advice and his experiences.
26 students were shortlisted for the next Round
ROUND 2(HR ROUND): Duration: 30 minutes (on zoom)
Tip: Be confident and be yourself!
The HR gave her introduction and then asked the following questions
- Tell me about yourself and your family
- What are your weaknesses?
- Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
- Do you like to work in a team or individually?
- Have you worked on a group project? How was your experience and what did you learn?
- Why do you want to intern with Citi?
Finally, 10 students were shortlisted for the internship and I was one of them!
PREPARATION RESOURCES
DSA:
- Course: GFG DSA
- Resources: Love Babbar’s 450 questions, InterviewBit, Striver’s SDE sheet,
- Youtube channels that I like: Anuj Bhaiya, Apna College, Take u Forward
- Must Do coding questions: Before the coding round as revision
OS:
- Love Babbar’s Cheatsheet: This sheet covers all the important topics
- OS playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxCzCOWd7aiGz9donHRrE9I3Mwn6XdP8p (this playlist is the best according to me)
- Before your interview going through these links would be really beneficial
- last minute notes of OS, Most commonly asked interview questions: https://www.interviewbit.com/operating-system-interview-questions/
OOPS:
- Love Babbar’s Cheatsheet: Covers all the important topics that you must know
- For OOPS, be very clear with the 4 pillars, their analogies and real life examples. These are the most frequently asked questions.
DBMS:
- Love Babbar Cheatsheet(https://whimsical.com/dbms-roadmap-by-love-babbar-FmUi8ffVop33t3MmpVxPCo) Again! This covers all the important topics.
- Before your interview just go through the following links
- Last-minute notes of DBMS, Most commonly asked interview questions 1, Most commonly asked questions 2, SQL important interview questions and answers
CN: As far as internships are concerned they don’t ask CN questions generally, but you can be prepared with the basics
SYSTEM DESIGN: Resources that you can follow (https://crack-oop-system-design.herokuapp.com/)
APTITUDE: IndiaBix: kaafi hai
FOR EVERYTHING: Pre placement checklist(https://docs.google.com/document/d/18ziMv1X11WsX_mTBD1d_XIdfJeeHP-JKLIl-DdMriCA/edit), Interview prep resources(https://github.com/yash0530/InterviewPrepResources)
ADVICE
- Always read company archives on GFG(and practice questions company wise as well)
- Give mock interviews as well (on interviewbit)
- Be well versed with your projects. I used the STAR(Situation, Task, Action, Result) approach to explain my projects.
- Prepare for the HR interview as well. It is always better to be prepared with the most commonly asked HR questions.
- Internship sab kuch nahi hota hai! (don’t be harsh on yourself, but work hard)
- It’s never too late to begin, never! Just chaalu kardo
- It is never about knowing everything and answering each question in an interview, it’s always about how confidently you handle situations where the question is unknown
- Always explain your logic and make very sure that you have completely understood what the interviewer is asking, speak out loud, tell the interviewer your approach and then code.
- Don’t get confused: there are tons of resources available online, stick to a few only
I know all of this is too much, but trust me, I have been there, have faith in yourself. You will be writing your interview experience for sure, very soon!
All the very best!
Thank you GfG, this was possible only because of you!