Prelims: 1 hr online test (held in all IITs at the same time). 25 questions of which 22 MCQs (puzzles, P&C, coding..basically all those genres you expect from any standard Software Developer profile test) and 3 coding questions (typical geeksforgeeks questions). You might think time is less, but if you’re very thorough with geeksforgeeks, the coding questions shouldn’t take more than 15 mins.
Interview :
It was a three rounds affair. Two technical followed by an HR (good thing is they let you know who all are there for the next round, so that you don’t waste your time much around there).
Round 1: It’ll range from the very very basics of programming to the toughest of DPs. In between questions were being popped up on your projects. If you’ve some worth-discussing development projects in your resume (like I’ve my BTP and an Android game), substantial amount of time goes in discussing that. The questions I was asked were :
- fibonacci series (both recursion and memoisation and why memoisation solution is better than recursion).
- Tree traversals and write the codes for inorder and postorder WITHOUT RECURSION (prepare very well for this without recursion solution as many companies ask).
- simple 0,1 – knapsack DP
- Largest Rectangular Area in a Histogram(I managed a O(n2) solution there)
- Propose a datastructure which you’ll use to implement the swipe feature in today’s keyboards (came with a decent enough solution though the complexity was bad)
The last two questions were almost unanswerable from my side, but the key thing is DON’T GIVE UP. They’re looking for people who don’t give up a fight. And at the end, if interview went decent enought, ASK for the solutions of the unsolved questions.
Round 2: Director (search) had come along with the recruitment team this time. So, he was only taking the rounds for all the candidates in this round. Summary, two questions, one I managed somehow other one way beyond my comprehension.
- You’ve a universe of infinite pointsm seperated by finite measurable distances. Give me the most efficient solution to find a pair of points that have the minimum distance in the entire universe. (I proposed Flloyd Warshell, but these are inifinte points, not finite)
- I’ve to find a point in a 2D matrix which is sorted row-wise left to right and column-wise top-bottom. This has to be done in O(n + n) complexity. This is a standard question, but I just couldn’t remember the procedure. And since he was sitting in front of me all the time, pressurized, I came up with some solution using Binary search.
After these two, he asked me if I’d any questions for him. I asked about the work culture and what kind of people he was looking for. It’ll give you an idea whether you’re selected or not. Be eager to hear the answer he gives and feel attracted to the prospects he puts forward about the company! AGAIN IMPORTANT, DON’T GIVE UP ANY QUESTION. UNTIL HE DECIDES TO MOVE ON TO THE NEXT. If you’re not able to come up with a solution. Don’t panic. Show your fighting spirit.
Round 3: HR. Be well prepared with your strengths and weaknesses. Be prepared with questions like:
- if your colleague is slow in catching up and deadline is fast approaching, what will you do?
- your manager from the beginning has set high expectations on you and you’ve proved your worth to him. But one time, he assigned you something which no matter how much you try you just can’t understand and you’ve gone blank! What will you do in this case then?
MOST IMPORTANT here is DO NOT FAKE your personality here. They’re HR guys, they’re trained to catch the FAKE ones. So, be genuine and APNI DIL KI BAAT BOLNA!
BEST OF LUCK!