VMware came to our college for placements in August 2021. The hiring process was completely virtual. It started with an online test, then we had a case study round. After that, four rounds of interviews were conducted.
Online Test: The online test was conducted on the Hirepro platform. The test consisted of three sections and lasted for 1.5 hours.
Aptitude Test (15 min): The aptitude questions consisted of Quantitative aptitude, Logical and Verbal reasoning and Data interpretation.
Tips:
- Practice aptitude questions on each of the above-mentioned topics as most of the questions are based on these topics.
- Time is of the essence, so if you are stuck on one particular question, then skip that question and move on to the next.
- Study different approaches used to solve quantitative aptitude questions as these questions take maximum time.
- Learning a few tricks will surely help you solve these questions quickly. You can practice aptitude questions on IndiaBix.
Technical MCQ (29 min): This section consisted of MCQs based on Networking, Object-Oriented Programming, Operating Systems and DBMS.
Tips:
- Make sure that you are thorough with the above subjects.
- The questions are not easy but if you are clear on all the basic concepts then this section should not be a problem. You can use IndiaBix to practice these questions.
Coding (30 min): This section had one medium level coding question which we were supposed to solve in 30 min. Here is a link to the question. As the time was very limited, I used the brute force approach which was able to solve a majority of the test cases.
Tips:
- Always go with the brute force approach first and then try to optimize it.
- Brute force can solve a lot of test cases which gives you a decent chance of making it through the coding round.
Programming Language-based MCQ (16 min): This section had two parts. In both parts, we had to choose the language of our choice (Java, C, C++, Python). We were given 8mins for each part. Selecting the same language twice was not allowed.
Tips:
- Make sure you are comfortable with at least two of the above languages.
- Study the most commonly asked interview questions on the languages.
I was among the 12 people that got shortlisted for the interviews.
Case Study Round: This round was a system design round. We were given a problem statement for which we had to draw a class diagram. We were also asked to write pseudocode of a major functionality of the system. This was not an interview. The problem statements were mailed to us and we were supposed to submit the solutions within 3 hours. Hence, there was no elimination in this round. Our solutions were discussed in the interviews later.
Tips:
- Read the given problem statement carefully and understand what problem you are going to solve.
- Do not start implementing your design right away. Think of the approach first. Remember, the way you approach the problem is important. The interviewer will judge your approach to the solution.
- There is no hard and fast rule on how to design a solution. Depending on the scenario, they might ask you to draw an ER diagram or class diagram or a use case diagram with pseudocode if necessary.
Technical Interview 1 (1hr): The interviewer first asked me to introduce myself. Then she went through my resume and asked me various questions based on what I had mentioned on it. She then asked the following questions on OOP:
- What is OOP?
- What are the main concepts of OOP? Explain each concept?
- How to implement these concepts in Java?
- What are some real-world examples of OOP concepts?
She then asked me to rate my Java skills on a scale of 1 to 5.
- After that, she tested my Java skills by asking me about garbage collection, multithreading, serialization, and the difference between final, static, and abstract keywords. I was then asked to open codepair and write a program for finding common elements in two sorted linked lists.
- After that, she asked me to explain my case study solution. She then asked if I had any questions and that was the end of the interview.
I was among the 9 people that got shortlisted for the next round.
Technical Interview 2 (1hr): This round was of a higher difficulty than the previous round.
- I was first asked to introduce myself and then the interviewer asked me to open codepair and write a program for finding the count of negative integers in a diagonally sorted matrix. The interviewer was not satisfied with any of my initial approaches. My final approach was very close to what he wanted and then he told me the solution.
- He asked which subjects I had in my 4th and 6th semester and then he proceeded to ask questions from those subjects. I was then asked to explain my case study solution. In the end, he asked if I had any questions for him.
I was among the 6 people that got shortlisted for the next round.
Tips:
- It is very important to keep your composure during the interview. If you are stuck somewhere, the interviewer will help you out. There are times when the interviewer will not be satisfied with your approach (which happened with me).
- In these situations, always stay calm and try to think of a better approach. As mentioned before, the interviewer will help you, so think out loud and keep articulating your thoughts to the interviewer. If you don’t know something or you are not confident about a subject or topic, then say you don’t know. The interviewers are often very experienced and they are able to catch a lie.
Managerial Round (30min): This was a tricky round.
- The interviewer first asked me to introduce myself and then asked about my strengths and weaknesses.
- He then asked me about my projects, one of which was an E-commerce website. He asked me to explain the features I had implemented and the features I was planning to add. He asked how I would scale my website to millions of requests and what I would do if customers were unhappy with their experience on the website.
- He then presented another scenario in which he and I were working on a project and we were the only two members.
Based on this scenario, he asked me the following questions:
- How would I start the development process?
- Which technologies will I use in the project and why?
- Say our application was supposed to go live in 2 weeks and we found a mistake in the development of a very important component of the application. What would I do?
He then presented a few team-related scenarios:
- A few members of my team are struggling with the technologies used in the project. What would I do in my capacity as a team member?
- What if a fellow team member approached me for help? What if another member told me not to help that person?
- What if I was put on a project which uses technologies that I am not familiar with?
- He then asked me a very strange question, “Do you lie to your parents?”. After I answered, he explained why he had asked that question and the importance of being honest. He then asked if I had any questions for him.
3 people were selected in this round. I was one of them.
Tips:
- If you make it to this round, it’s a great achievement as you now have the technical skills necessary to work at companies like VMware.
- The managerial round is conducted to check if you are culturally fit for the company. Just be yourself and answer these questions honestly and maturely.
- The way you speak and conduct yourself is also observed in this round.
- Remember, in most team-related scenarios, proper communication is necessary.
- Giving honest answers is important as the person who conducts this round will most likely be your manager or team lead.
HR Round (15 min): This round was just a formality.
- The interview started with my introduction and family background.
- The interviewer then asked some basic HR questions and whether I was okay with relocation. She then explained the CTC breakdown along with additional benefits which were also explained in the pre-placement talk.
- She asked if I had any questions for her and the interview ended.
Results were announced shortly and I received an internship + placement offer along with 2 others.
Here are a few more general tips:
- Data structures and algorithms are very important. If you want to crack this or any technical interview, you must be thorough with all the concepts. If you are just starting out, solve these(https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1FMdN_OCfOI0iAeDlqswCiC2DZzD4nPsb) problems to get comfortable with DSA.
- Think out loud. Arriving at a solution is important, but the interviewer should be able to understand your approach.
- The interviewer might try to confuse you by twisting your approach so make sure you are confident in your approach. Run a few test cases to solidify your approach.
- Always ask questions, it shows that you are interested in the company. But ask good questions and not just for the sake of it.
- Study previous year’s interview experiences, there are good chances that the same questions might be asked again. You can go through previous years experiences here.
- Make sure you know everything that is written on your resume. Be thorough with all your projects and the technologies used in them. If it is a group project, you should be able to explain your role in it.
- Don’t be dejected if you do not make it through the managerial round as it’s up to them to decide whether they see you as part of the company’s culture. You already have the technical skills necessary.
- Provide a proper justification for your approach to various scenarios asked in the managerial round but don’t stray too far from the topic.
- Do not lose hope if you are rejected, analyse what went wrong and try to improve on it the next time. Remember, the luck factor also comes into play.