Sandvine Interview Experience for FTE (Freshers) | Off-Campus 2021

Round 1(90 Mins): The test was conducted on HirePro platform.  

• The online test consisted of 3 sections. Each were to be done separately, and were even timed separately. We cannot navigate to another section before completing the current section.  
• The first section consisted of basic aptitude questions, 15 questions to be done in 20 minutes.
• The second section consisted of technical questions related to CS subjects like OS, DBMS, CO, CN and output questions from various languages like C, C++, Java, Python. 20 questions were to be done in 40 minutes. 

Third section had 3 coding questions for 30 mins and you were supposed to write the code in a text editor, we didn’t needed to run it.

1. Printing the Longest Palindromic Substring
2. An array of pairs of integer was given representing (c, p) as p is parent of c in a tree. You have to check whether it represents a Binary Tree or not.
3. Check for Valid IP Address

Tips:

• Try to answer MCQ correctly , Since we don’t need to run the code also we don’t have enough time so try to code one completely, and rest you may go with pseudo code. 
• Try to attempt all coding questions, in worst case at least write the logic or algo in words.

Round 2 (Technical Interview 1 – 60 Mins): It started with introduction, then he gone through my resume, then projects and I explained him. 

• Discussion went to languages I know, what are data structures, what data structures you know, explain stack, implement it using linked lists step by step including push ,pop, isempty, how heaps are implemented, Then he asked about how an Operating System works, what happens when you click an icon, How you create and manipulate tables in SQL, Machine Learning vs Deep Learning. 
• He asked almost every highlights of my resume but all as a brief overview. Finally he asked me if I have any questions although he was in hurry, its good if you ask questions at the end ,this shows how much you are interested in the company.

Tips: Questions will be specifically from what you have mentioned in resume. Do have a fair idea of what you have mentioned in the resume. Its okay to exclude things you don’t know. Having project on Github is a plus point to show your projects details.

Round 3(Technical Interview 2 – 60 Mins): This also started with introduction, then he gave me 3 coding questions, Luckily two were same as asked in coding round. 

• Printing Longest Palindromic Substring for which I told him brute force initially then I gave him optimized solution, explained the logic and my thinking and my observations and wrote a clean working code. He was totally impressed. While I was coding he added two more questions. 
• Is Binary tree possible( same as asked in coding round), again this time I explained possible logic, thinking approach, and how to implement. He was impressed again and said I like the way you approach the problems. Then I wrote the code but this time it didn’t worked. Since not much time was left also he was in a hurry so he moved on and also skipped the third problem.
• Spiral order traversal of 2D matrix (although this question I know but I didn’t get the chance). 
• At last, I asked him a Question. His last word were “see you soon”. Since I have gone through few end-time rejections so I was still energetic for next two rounds.

Tips: 

• Do take advantage if something comes in favor of you. If question is already known, don’t jump, go in detail explaining every possible ideas, thinking approach and solution. 
• It’s okay if the question is new, think on spot and discuss with the interviewer. Never panic, never be overconfident or underconfident, stay calm and use your brain.

Round 4(Techno-Managerial Interview – 20 mins): The interviewer was a very experienced guy, he started with an introduction, in between he talked me casually in Hindi about my personal life. 

• Then he asked for – While designing a system what things you should be taking care of? I asked for more clarity like what type of system? and Are you talking about internals or just overview? I was expecting managerial questions and puzzles but he was quite busy and also it seemed he was prepared 75% in favor of selecting me even before the interview.
• Finally I asked him a Question. This time last words were “See you in next week”.

Tips: 

• Be ready for unusual, unexpected and incomplete questions, Its okay to ask for clarity. 
• Try to be open minded and creative. 
• Don’t assume your selection before any formal confirmation, you never know when you slip off.

Round 5(HR Discussion – 30mins): I was prepared for general HR questions as I don’t want to be slipped off. 

• It stared with intro, and some QnA’s about my previous journey. Then she started explaining about the company, details about the offer and policies. It was basically a general discussion. 
• After explaining all that she finally asked will I be accepting the offer.

In my whole race for companies till now, after grinding 218 questions on GFG, 270 on InterviewBit, 420 on Leetcode and after 75+ applications, qualifying for 9 tests, I have got this as my second offer in my 6th Interview without practicing for past 3 months. This was first time when I have gone through all of these without any fear, stress or tensions. 

Bonus Tip:

• You should focus more on selective and effective study rather than grinding things like me. 
• Trust the process, go with the pace you are comfortable with. Don’t compare with others in terms of quantity of questions solved if you wanna enjoy the process without being frustrated. 
• Believe in yourself, Its good to take help from friends in tough times. This will also let you know who is your real friend.
• Don’t get upset on failures and rejections. 
• Use your mistakes as learning opportunities. 
• Today, for which you have extreme desire, the time will come when you have them at your tips on your wish that too at ease. Even I also have lost my hope in mid way but believe me in future you will be proud of what you have gained so far in the race. Great things don’t come at ease. Pain only makes you stronger. 

All the best.