Online-screening test: It was of around 90 minutes and was divided in 3 individual tests as follows:
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1st test: Non-technical mcq(40 minutes: 40 questions)
Quantitative aptitude mcq including questions on percentages, ratios, speed/distance, ages, pie charts, probability etc. Questions on vocabulary, coding/decoding, round table arrangements, sentence correction, Statements and conclusion etc. were also present. Questions were easy but lengthy. I solved around 70% of them. -
2nd test: Technical mcq (30 minutes: 30 questions)
Questions were from dbms, c, data structures (mainly binary trees), OS and Networking. Questions like whether relational calculus is procedural or non-procedural language, tell no of leaves if no of internal nodes is given in binary tree etc. Practice them from GeeksQuiz. -
3rd test: Essay writing test (20 minutes: one essay 250-300 words)
Need to write essay on the topic : ‘Is social media a right platform to discuss political issues’ Topic was not same for all. Others got topic like: “Cricket is declining other sports”, “Internet is everything” etc.
After this online test, they shortlisted 36 out of more than 100 students.
Then there were 3 rounds of interviews; every round was elimination round.
Round 1: Technical interview (70 -80 min)
Interviewer asked favorite subjects apart from data structures and algorithms. I told him dbms and oops.
- Define joins in SQL and explain them. I explained him inner, left, right and outer join. Then he asked me about axis join.
- Define keys. Surrogate keys, primary keys, foreign keys, candidate keys and super keys. Then he named around 4 more keys which I didn’t know.
- What is encapsulation? Explain with example. How is it useful?
- If one class B is inheriting a class A which has a private function, what keyword will you append in function definition to use that in class B? I said by making that function friend. Some more follow up questions on it.
- Convert binary tree to doubly linked list (https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/in-place-convert-a-given-binary-tree-to-doubly-linked-list/)
- Longest incremental subsequence (https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/dynamic-programming-set-3-longest-increasing-subsequence/
- Swap two numbers without using temp variable: Asked 3 approaches (https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/swap-two-numbers-without-using-temporary-variable/amp/ )
- Check linked list is palindrome or not(https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/function-to-check-if-a-singly-linked-list-is-palindrome/amp/)
- In-place rotate n*n matrix to 90 degrees ( https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/inplace-rotate-square-matrix-by-90-degrees/amp/)
- Find two rectangles overlap (https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/find-two-rectangles-overlap/amp/ )
- Print 1 to 100 without using recursion and loops. Give generic solution
- Test cases for water bottle. And some more questions on strings and software testing which I am not able to recall.
2nd round Tech + HR: (50- 60 min)
Basic HR questions. Where do you see yourself in 5 yrs, why do u want to join Microsoft etc. Print all prime nos from 1 to 100. Design elevator algorithm which responds in least possible time. SQL query to find nth highest salary of an employee. Explain IOT in layman terms, cryptography, software testing methods, how do you handle stress, strategy to study the tough subject, what if we do not select you etc. Discussion on my projects.
3rd round: HR (60 – 65 min)
Tell me about yourself, discussion on my projects, why I used a particular technology in project, what other technology I could choose, asked almost everything from the resume, priorities in life, why Microsoft, what people say about you: positives, negatives and how you are working on it, what if we don’t select you etc. Interviewer was awesome and it was fun talking to him.
My whole experience was amazing. Study DBMS, SQL and data structures thoroughly. Also do give a look at puzzles. If you do not know anything, say no simply. Be confident.
I would like to thanks GeeksforGeeks.org and GeeksQuiz a lot for wonderful collection.