Samsung R&D Interview Experience for SDE-1

Years of Experience Required: 0-1
Drive: Offcampus (Took Referral)
Preparation Topics: Problem-solving, Data structures, and Algorithms, CS Fundamentals, Projects, internship
Source of Preparation: Neetcode.io, GeeksforGeeks, take forward, Pepcoding, Adithya Verma, Karthik Arora, code, Fraz, Leetcode, interview bit

Hiring Process

Round 1: Online Coding Test (90 minutes): In this round, I am given with 3 coding questions primarily on problem-solving using DS Algo. The duration given is of 90 minutes. This round happened in the CoCubes platform. Coming to the difficulty of the problems, the first two questions are of “leetcode medium” difficulty, but the 3rd problem is of “leetcode hard” difficulty (Easier ones of “leetcode hard”). I managed to solve 2 questions completely and in the 3rd question, some test cases ended up with the time limit exceeded.
The topics are on:

• Dynamic programming
• LinkedList
• Graph

I qualified for 2 nd round.

Round 2: Online Coding Test (3 hours): In this round, am given 1 coding question. The duration given is of 3 hours. For this round, the candidate needs to join in one meeting through our mobile where one person from the Samsung internal hiring committee will view for the entire duration of the exam. We should not carry books with us, rather we should take one or two A4 sheets to do rough work in case needed. Before starting the exam itself, the person who joined in the meeting asked to show me my entire room and my table. After he confirmed that no one is present in the room then we proceeded further. This coding test is named as “Samsung Advanced test”. The topic on which the problem was given is “Binary search”. The difficulty can be categorized as “leetcode hard” (easier ones of leetcode hard).

I qualified for 3rd round.

Round 3: Online Coding Test (4 hours): In this round, am given 1 coding question. The duration given is of 4 hours. For this round as well the setup is the same as the previous round, where I need to join in a meeting via mobile. This coding test is named as “Samsung Professional coding test”. The topic on which the problem was given is “Recursion and Backtracking”. The difficulty can be categorized as “Leetcode Hard”(harder ones of leetcode hard)

I qualified for 4th round.

Round 4: Online Technical interview (50 minutes – 55 minutes): 

• The interview started with an introduction from the interviewer followed by mine, later he asked about my projects (Not too deep, just the details about it, what algos were used, and my role in the project).
•  Then he shifted to the main part i.e DS algo part, where he asked about one Algorithmic problem, for which I came up with one approach within 2 minutes (As it’s not too hard). Then I explained that approach to him, to which he agreed but he asked to further optimize. After about 3 minutes I gave him the final optimized approach for which he was satisfied to the fullest and asked me to code it (We are given the freedom to choose whichever language we like). I coded it in C++. 
• After that, he asked the 2nd question. This question is based on the trie. The question is of “leetcode medium” difficulty. After about 4 minutes, I told them my approach to him for which he is quite satisfied. But he didn’t ask me to code as it’s going to be lengthy. Rather he asked one follow-up question, which can be categorized as “leetcode hard”. After struggling for about 3 minutes, I came up with another approach to which he agreed. Actually, he is quite impressed with my DSA skills and said “I am satisfied with your DSA skills, very good”.
• Then he moved on to CS fundamentals, where he asked questions from Operating systems, DBMS, CN, and OOPS. For I answered most of the questions except some from CN. I replied, “I don’t have much idea about it, I’ll read about it later”. Then he said, “no issues, it’s totally fine”. 
• Then he asked whether I know anything about system design, to which obviously I said I don’t have any idea about that. 
• Finally, the interviewer said he is done from his side and asked whether I had any queries regarding anything. I asked a couple of questions about the work culture, the kind of work we get, and all. Finally, the interview ended on a positive note.

Round 5: HR/Managerial Round (30 minutes): The interview started with an introduction. 

• Then she asked some common HR questions like “why do you want to join Samsung”, 
• and “tell me one such situation where you feel like you’ve struggled a lot and achieved it”. 
• Then she asked about my internship experience and about my projects. 
• Then she asked about my availability (Notice period), and how soon can I join. 
• Then she asked about my current compensation and expected compensation and noted it down.
•  After some of my questions, she said that they’ll get back to me after some days.

After around a week, I got a congratulatory mail from SRIB.

Verdict: Selected

Message to Aspiring Students:

• Not only for Samsung but talking in general about the hiring process in top product-based companies, One needs to have a good grip on Data structures and algorithms and good problem-solving skills to pass through the initial coding rounds, as the questions are going to be of that level. 
• Participating in live coding contests that are regularly held on leetcode will prepare you to get adjusted to the live timer that will be running during the exam. 
• There are so many DSA sheets that are available online. But some of the recommended ones are Striver’s SDE sheet and Neetcode.io. Simultaneously participate in the leetcode contests and upsolve those questions which you couldn’t solve during the contest. 
• Apart from DSA, go through the CS fundamentals like OS, DBMS, CN, and OOPS. And go through your previous projects and internships.
• During your preparation journey, at times you’ll feel demotivated when you face rejections. Sometimes, despite solving all coding questions, still, you’ll be rejected, despite having a good resume, you still, will not get shortlisted, and despite your internship performance, still you will not get PPO. 
• But the thing is we should never give up, we need to try various other companies. Maybe we might fail for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, ….., nth time. But surely you’ll get an (n + 1) chance where you’re gonna definitely smash it. But the thing is whether you’ve waited and kept on trying for that one (n + 1) the chance or not will gonna decide.
•  If life becomes tougher, show it how tough you to are. For Tier-3 students, the chances are very limited, so your preparation should be up to such a level that instead of trying for six boundaries, be prepared to smash the ball out of the stadium.

“Remember everyone will hit a peak point of just giving up and quitting everything, but it’s what you do at that point in time that will gonna define and differ you from the rest of the crowd.”