Siemens Interview Experience for GTE | On-Campus 2022

Interview Criteria:

Total Rounds: 4(1+3)

CGPA Cutoff: 7 CGPA

Round 1: Online Assessment Round

Time: 60 mins

This was an online assessment round consisting of 32 Multiple Choice Questions with no negative. The questions were mostly from:

• C/C++ outputs(Majority)
• Object-Oriented Principles: Concepts of virtual inheritance, Java-specific keywords
• Servlets: Factory methods for instantiation
• Data Interpretation from Graphs
• Blood Relation
• Time and Work
• Profit Loss
• Sets/Maps based MCQ
• Pointers based element extraction in 2D Arrays

Tips: The questions were from diverse topics with a variety of marks weightage. I solved all the questions that carry 6 marks first, followed by the ones carrying 4 marks, followed by 2 marks questions. I solved the entire paper in 3 rounds. 

Outcome:

There were a total of 250+ students who appeared for the test and 30 were shortlisted for the interview discussion.

Round 2: Technical Interview 1

Time: 45 mins

The interview started with a warm gesture of introducing myself. After reaching I got to know that their internal team had a delay of 10 mins. for sharing my resume. After 10 mins. my Interview started in full fedge. I started with my basic introductions. I mentioned the projects and internships that I’ve done during my undergraduate journey. There were 2 interviewers in the panel.

I was asked to write an algorithm for:

• Sort an array of 0s and 1s: My approach: Initially I solved this question in 2 passes using the counting sort algorithm, where I counted the number of 0s and 1s in the first pass and placed it accordingly in the array in the second pass.
• Expected approach: Later he asked me for optimizations. I incorporated the variation of the Dutch Flag algorithm and made the problem work in 1 iteration. The approach written is mentioned here.
• I was asked a famous Pay an employee using a gold rod of 7 units. The correct minimum answer is 2 cuts. However, I have managed to bring it down at 3 cuts as I haven’t revised this puzzle before my interview. I urge everyone to go through all the puzzles before your interview.

Resources for Puzzles:

• Do this at priority (http://www.crazyforcode.com/top-10-interview-puzzles/): Top 10 Interview Puzzles
• Follow this after 1st point

After this, the second interviewer asked me questions.

• Currency Denomination Question: I gave an approach where all the currency is stored in the array in a sorted fashion. This approach worked. But he wanted me to test if the currency is too large(Like let’s assume if we have denominations like 3,00,000 – 3,50,000 and we have to find minimum notes for 350/-. If we start traversing array from last, it will take up a large amount of time. ) So, suggested a Binary Search approach for optimization and wrote the code for that. This needs to be written on Notepad. The approach is written was this.
• Since, I mentioned that I had worked in teams during my Internship at IIT Kharagpur, Tata-Communications, and working individually at NVIDIA. He started asking me what I prefer the most.
• After an hour I got a mail that my Interview for the 2nd Round of Technical discussion is scheduled after 15 mins.

Round 3: Technical Interview 2

Time: 55 mins

• Well, this was the deciding round for me. This was the round that made me witness excitement, curiosity, fear, guilt, pressure, and confidence.
• This round started with a general introduction of mine. He started asking questions about my family, and my father’s occupation. He later asked me what do I mean by the term ‘Data Structures’. I explained it with an Analogy that, these days ‘Data is even costlier than Gold’. Then explained its structures of Linear and Non-Linear. He then asked me what are Heaps? I explained MinHeaps and MaxHeaps, and what they’re used for.
• Followed by this, he asked me questions on LinkedList. He asked me to write a code to check if the Linked List is Palindrome or not.
• I solved the question using a stack and explicitly writing out conditions for an even and the odd numbers of nodes in the Linked List. This approach was fine, but he wanted an approach by reversing the Linked List. So, he told me to write the code for the same. Now here starts a journey full of mixed emotions during my interview. This was a very standard question. I started writing out in the Notepad.
• Unknowingly, I have created a bug in the code, due to changing the order of link arrangement in the iterative version. He figured it out, but I was so sure that this approach is correct. So he made me execute it in the compiler. I started from scratch, created a node, and a Linked List with 4 nodes, printed those nodes. Followed by this, I executed my logic. It gave me a Segmentation Fault and I knew at this point that I’m going in the wrong direction. I tried multiple kinds of stuff, but I saw nothing worked. I started thinking that I lost the chance here in this interview now, at least just spot the bug. Later, I spotted the bug and have conveyed this to my interviewer. He was impressed that I found the bug. But even after sorting it out, it didn’t work. Maybe I can say it as an Interview pressure, so I changed my approach. (After the Interview: I spotted it was just a pointer issue)
• I started with the recursive approach. At the end of 54 mins. when he was about to leave, I made this recursive version ran with the correct set of outputs as he was expecting. He changed the content of the Linked List node with 1->2->3->4. The output was reversed like 4->3->2->1.
• He realized that the code worked, and asked me if I had any questions. I asked regarding the work culture at Siemens.
• After this round, I had no hopes as I made some really silly mistakes in the standard problems. I was a bit emotional, that I couldn’t make it run on the first try. But I recollected at the end, that I was able to deliver what he asked me for. I even spotted a bug, that I had created and resolved, and discussed multiple approaches within a limited time frame. I thought this led me to clear this 2nd Technical Round of interviews.

I received a mail that I have an HR Discussion I was on cloud nine. I was so happy that I made it into the final round. I believed whatever would be the final result, I will be grateful that I reached the final round.

Round 4: Technical Interview 3 

Time: 30 mins

This round began with a basic introduction. He asked me:

• How was my day today? He asked which round of interviews was the best. I described that without any doubt, Technical Interview II. I explained, how I resolved a bug, and tried multiple approaches, and made the code run at the end. He was impressed.
• He asked me that what all projects I’ve done. I started elaborating on him with all my internship project experiences at IIT Kharagpur, Tata Communications, and my ongoing internship at Nvidia. He asked me what I prefer Team Work or Individual? I answered both as Teamwork helps in brainstorming, and Individual helps me to improve self-searching and initiation abilities.
• Then he asked me a basic probability question as I mentioned I’m good in logical building, and explored competitive programming.
• He later asked me how you’re different from the rest 77 students of your class? I appreciated that those 77 are also good. But I have additional experience of putting my theory to practice by doing certain internships, industry projects. \
• He then asked how I find bottlenecks in my projects and how do I structure them?
• Later he asked me if I had any questions? I asked them regarding CAD software as mentioned on their website. He explained this and asked why you asked questions regarding this software only?
• Also some discussion on my strengths, weaknesses, and hobbies. Asked me the number of lines of code I wrote during my entire internship lifecycle of projects.
• He asked me a question regarding companies to which I answer that at present I’m looking forward to sticking to a company for a very long time that has good opportunities for learning, and growth.

Result

After one hour, my friends started calling me stating the results were out. I had a look at them and guess what, I made it into the Siemens as a Graduate Trainee Engineer for the batch 2022. They have selected a total of 4 students from 250+ and I was luckily one of them. I immediately shared it with my Mummy, and Papa and tears of happiness rolled out.

Tips:

• Always hold onto positives in your HR interview. Never mention or defame any individual, or company in particular. Always answer by praising others wherever needed.
• One thing that I will always encourage is that no matter how many times you fail, quitting is never an option. Doesn’t matter if you didn’t get a good start, your ending can still be wonderful. After scoring an SGPA of 6.54 in my Sem-II, if someone would have asked me that I will make it into Siemens, I wouldn’t have believed you. But yeah keep hustling, gain internships to set your profile different and unique, use LinkedIn wisely for opportunities, and possess a decent CGPA. At the time of placements, I managed to maintain my CGPA at 8.46. At least, it helps you to achieve shortlisting for interviews. I wish you a GoodLuck and I know you will be able to crack it!! All the best moving ahead!!