NortonLifeLock Interview Experience | On-Campus 2021

I am a final year  CS student and the company came to our campus in October’21. There were a total of 4 Rounds with a series of in-depth DSA as well as Core-CS-related questions.  A shortlisting was done based on the grades received during the course.

Round 1(Coding): There were 3 coding questions based on Graph, Dynamic Programming, and Strings with easy and medium levels of difficulty. 

• I don’t remember the questions but they were easy to understand and hence were easy to solve if you’ve practiced the concepts previously. 
• I was able to solve all of them and hence was shortlisted for the next round. 

Round 2(Technical interview): Most of the students were eliminated during the first round and selected students received mail from HR for the next round a few days before the round. This was an hour-long interview. The interviewer asked me many questions. Like-

• To solve one of the coding questions that were asked in round 1. 
• Find palindrome in a linked list, I knew the answer to it and I told him my solution. But my solution wasn’t that conventional as my space complexity was O(n) and he asked me to reduce it to O(1). I wasn’t aware of that solution so I was just constantly sharing my thought process as to how I can solve it with O(1). as a process he was providing me some hints to come to a solution. Tbh, I believe this was the main segment that made him believe in my potential and took me to my next round.
• Then He asked me a few q. based on SQL joins. 
• Then a  few questions related to Operating System.
• The interviewer was very considerate as he gave me hints to a few q. when I wasn’t able to come to a solution. I was not able to answer a few q. related to OS but the interview ended on a positive note. 

Round 3(Technical interview): I was very optimistic about the result. After a week I received a mail from HR regarding the next round. This round was more than an hour long.   

• The Interviewer started by asking me a very basic DS q. Tbh, these were very basic q. which is very rare to be asked and I was not able to recall a few of those answers, so I told him that I don’t know the answer. He then asked me my favorite data structure and I told him that it was Linked list and Trees. So he asked me for q. based on the linked list.
• He asked me to write a complete code to insert a node in a linked list and delete a given node where I’m given access only to the node, and execute it on my Compiler.  The question was easy to solve but he introduced a few constraints in between and hence it took an entire hour to solve it. 
• After that, we had a general conversation based on the technology used and asked about the feedback of my interview and areas I should improve. and ended the call on a positive note. 
• In the HR mail for this round, they told me that they would announce the result within that week, and hence I was expecting to receive a mail for the next round in the same week,  but as the week ended they announced their first set of results and I did not receive any further mail from them till then. So I thought I might not have passed the round. 

Round 4(Technical + HR interview): But, Surprisingly I received a mail a day before regarding my Final interview after 2 weeks of my previous interview. So, I just revised a few concepts before this interview as I was not aware of the type of interview I should expect. One of my peers had a behavioral round in this final round. But for me, this was technical + behavioral., which went for 1 hr 30 mins. 

• One of the interviewers asked me to code a question based on String and a question on the Linked list. It went for an hour. After it, the other interviewer asked me a few basic Hr q. like where do I see myself after 5 years and a few questions regarding my resume. 
• After the interview ended, within a few hours I received a mail from HR stating that I’ve been shortlisted for the internship program at the company.  
• For a few days, I did not realize that I was finally placed, because the entire placement session was a roller coaster ride both emotionally and mentally and the ride ended when I was finally placed and that moment of realization was so surreal and peaceful. 
• The company has selected a total of 4 students including me for the internship program. 

Pro Tips-

1. Share your thought process throughout the interview, when solving any questions.
2. Even if you are not aware of the solution be honest with the interviewer and don’t waste time by providing irrelevant answers.
3. Be through with the DSA concepts as this was the main key point that kept me going throughout the process. 
4. Be confident and always end the call on a positive and honest note. The interviewer must visualize the potential quality within you which can convince him that you are a suitable candidate for the company.
5. DO NOT GIVE UP.  The entire process of placement is very tiring and is emotionally and mentally draining. So IT’S OKAY if you don’t get through this process, there are many other good options out there. Just Don’t give up and your hard work will certainly pay off if you remain consistent on your coding skills as well as thorough on your Core-CS concepts. 

ALL THE BEST!!