Round 1: Online Coding Round
This round is divided into 5 sections.
- 2 easy-medium category coding problems: In my case, it was one simple implementation-based question(the language was not that clear, but after reading the test cases, it became clear). The other was based on strings. It was something like “given a string, remove all equal neighboring characters from the string.”
- Aptitude coding questions: Medium-Hard level questions. (total 8 MCQs)
- Core CS knowledge questions: Medium category questions which include OOPs, DBMS, OS, a programming language-based MCQs(total 8 MCQs).
- hard coding question. -> In my case, it was the snake ladder problem BFS question.
- 2 behavioral, subjective questions ->You really need to think and type very fast. It was 2 easy situation-based(if this happens, what to do) HR questions. Let me give you a “How will you handle the situation if you and your best friend get an internship offer and you both are trying hard to get a PPO offer, but unfortunately your friend is good at impressing and presentation skills than you and thus more chances for her to get an Offer.” Credits: Saloni didi.
Verdict: Shortlisted for Interview Round
Round 2: Interview Round 1
It was about 40-45 minutes long. I expected it to be lengthier.
- I started with an introduction of myself. He asked me to pick a project and enunciate on the same. I asked some questions regarding the same (like DBMS-based questions). One special feature of your projects, Advantages of NoSQL databases over SQL databases, etc.
- Right view of Binary tree. How can you optimize the space complexity in the above approach?
Round 3:Interview Round 2
Shortlisted for Interview Round-2.
- I started with an introduction of myself.
- Here comes the first puzzle. Asked me to think about my general problem-solving strategy. Given 3×3 matrix. There are two black knights in positions (1,1) and (1,3) respectively. Also, there are two white knights in positions (3,1) and (3,3), respectively.
- Find minimum moves to make positions of black knights as (3,1), and (3,3) respectively, and positions of white knights as (1,1), and (1,3) respectively. You can assume knights of the same color are not distinct. Answer – 16.
- Given an array, You have to divide the array into two sets such that the sum of these two sets is equal. There should be at least 1 element in each set, and each element should be in one of the 2 sets. The first approach is based on Recursion (putting each element in either of the sets and checking all possibilities). The optimised approach is using DP: Find the sum of all elements of the array. Now check if we can make a subset of the given array whose sum is equal to sum/2. Subset-sum-problem.
- Then he asked if I had any questions. Please attend the ppt of the company(if on campus, else you can read about the company in advance); you can really come across questions that can impress interviewers.
Round 4: Interview Round 3
- I started with an introduction of myself. Then 4 back to back HR-based questions.
- Being a mechanical engineering undergraduate, how have you managed time so well.
- About the motivation behind the projects which I have done.
- How my projects are having an impact on society. etc. (i don’t remember).
- A fascinating puzzle based on the Counterfeit theorem( Decision Trees – Fake (Counterfeit) Coin Puzzle (12 Coin Puzzle) ) .
- DSA problem: Based on the heap data structure: Connect n ropes with minimum cost.
- At last, he asked if I had any questions. We had a very nice, friendly discussion about my institute.
Verdict: Got Summer Analyst Offer from Goldman Sachs