Firstly, an online test was conducted on the Oracle platform, consisting of 4 sections – Communication Skills, Logical Aptitude, Programming Skills, and Computer Science Knowledge.
I found it challenging as the questions were of moderate level, time was limited for each section and some of the questions were related to the next ones in queue and you couldn’t go back to the previous ones.
Around 50 students were shortlisted out of 200.
Further there were 4 rounds of face to face interviews.
1. Technical Interview – 1 (30-40 minutes)
The interviewer went through my resume in detail and asked me about my projects. After a brief discussion about the projects he asked me about my favorite subjects to which I answered Data Structures and Algorithms. He then asked a few questions related:
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Given linked list, detect if there is a loop in it.
I gave the Floyd’s Detection Algorithm. I wrote the code for it. However he wanted a dry run of the code with a few test cases and also the mathematical proof for it. I did as he asked and he was satisfied. - Given a list of numbers. Sort it using your favorite sorting algorithm.I used Merge Sort. Wrote the code for it. He asked me why I used Merge Sort and not Quick Sort. I answered on the Basis of Complexities. He went further into the mechanism of Quick Sort and how the complexities change based on the selection of the pivot element.
2. Technical Interview – 2 (1.5 hours)
The interviewer went through my resume and this time he had an in depth discussion about one of my projects. My entire contribution to the project had to be explained to him and he asked me many questions regarding that. He also noticed my Web Development Internship and asked me basic questions from HTML, CSS. The questions he asked further:
- Tell me about Data Structures. Give a simple introduction about the topic. An overview about Data Structures was given by me. However he went further asking differences between each, advantages, disadvantages and practical use of each data structure.
- Given a deck of cards give me an algorithm to shuffle it. The algorithm should not result in the same set of shuffled cards each time.I gave many approaches. Generating a random number in a given range in a loop, a divide-conquer approach similar to merge sort but using a different merge technique. However he pointed out errors in all of my approaches. He gave a hint: Linked List. It then struck my mind and I answered it based on the Random Pointer Traversal in Linked List.
- Design certain functionalities of the game FIFA for the computer.He asked me to design Short Pass, Long Pass and Shooting. Code was not required but I had to write down the base conditions of each functionality and the algorithm on how they would work.
- The Puzzle of the 3 Hats.
3. Technical Interview – 3 (1 hour)
Interviewer went through my resume and started asking questions directly.
- Design Flipkart /Amazon Database. Like give an idea on how the database tables are organized.
I had to write on paper about the tables. How they are linked. Common Attributes. Primary Key. Foreign Key. He further asked me to talk about the table for The User Cart in Flipkart/Amazon. - Asked about Normalization forms related to the tables in the above question.
- What is De-Normalization? Why is it required?
- Tell me about the Software Development Cycle(SDLC)
- Give a detailed description of the Coding and Testing Phase.
4. Final Round HR
Interviewer asked me basic HR questions and this round was just a formality.
- Why Oracle?
- Do you want to do any higher studies?
- Something you like about yourself. Something you do not.
- A moment in your life where you felt you gave your best yet did not get the expected result.
- Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
- Location Preference.
- Any questions?
This round went on for 15 minutes.