“Hitesh Malhotra ” who was interned at “INDmoney” talks about his interview experience and some other tips to prepare for placement season. Check out what he says about the placement season.
His Interview was taken by Unsaid Talks Interviewer: “Shashwat Singh”
Profile offered: SDE role(Software Development Engineer)
Job Location: Not sure yet
Branch and Graduation Year: Computer Science and Business Systems- 2023
CGPA cutoff: 7
Interview Difficulty Level: The difficulty level of the interview was about 8.5 .
Here are the questions we asked Hitesh Malhotra to know about his interview experience.
Question 1: Introduce yourself to our readers.
Answer: Hello! I am Hitesh Malhotra, pursuing my bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Business Systems at Thapar University, Patiala. I find myself to be a quick learner and consider it my ability to grasp things quickly. I am a full stack developer and like problem-solving in my free time. In the past, I have been a part of a few organizations, which have helped me hone my communication as well as professional skills. Alongside, I keep a positive approach towards life, or at least I try to 🙂 .
Question 2: Was there any internal CGPA cutoff? If yes, then how much?
Answer: I am not really sure if there was an internal CG cut or not.
Question 3: What was the procedure of the placement that took place? (Shortlisting criteria/ coding or aptitude test/ number of interviews)
Answer: There was an internal resume shortlisting, so there was no coding test as such. They did have three interviews, however, out of which there were two rounds of technical interviews and one round of an HR interview.
Question 4: Tell us about the written/online test. (Aptitude, Coding, Test Platform, etc)
Answer: There was no coding test as such for this company.
Question 5: Tell us about Interview Round 1 including the questions that were asked.
Answer: My first round was with the Director of Engineering of the organization, and they basically asked me about my projects, what was the main purpose of making these projects, etc. Basically, they delved deep into my project. Then they moved on to Operating Systems, and asked me some basic questions related to that. The conversation then steered towards DS, where they asked two questions mainly, the first was the implementation of a queue using stack, and the second was on the vertical order traversal of a tree. Finally, they asked me about my various internships and ended the first round.
Question 6: Tell us about Interview Round 2.
Answer: My second round was with the CTO of the organization. They asked me about literally everything. Firstly, I was asked some questions related to SQL. Then the conversation steered towards Django, because I had informed them earlier that I had worked as a back-end developer and my main area of work was related to Django. After that, I was asked two DS questions, one of them was probably related to linked lists, and the second one was about printing a quite complex pattern. With this, the second round of interview ended.
Question 7: Tell us about the HR interviews(if any) specifying the number of rounds and questions asked.
Answer: I suggest that people should go through HR questions beforehand; just skim through the contents and find out which are the areas from where the maximum number of questions are asked. Having done that, they can mould the answers at the time of the interview according to their convenience.
Question 8: What were the key factors of your selection?
Answer: I believe that people should learn a little bit about the organization, the values it carries, etc., as it comes off as an edge while giving an interview. Also, one more tip I would like to give is that interviewees should have one question prepared beforehand because at the end of each round, you are asked whether you have any questions or not, and you should have something up your sleeve. Besides that, I had prior internship experience with a couple of organizations, which gave me an insight into the industry and find out how it actually works. I am also a six-star problem solver at HackerRank and have a rating of 1780 at CodeChef, which gives me an edge. My academic performance was also a key factor in being a part of both the organizations.
Question 9: What are the things students should focus on in order of priority?
Answer: Improving your DSA skills is essential to your placement. First of all, you need to clear the coding round, for which you need to hone your DS skills to a level that helps you steer through the round clearly. Next, you need to sharpen your knowledge related to OOPS, DBMS and OS, in that order. In a few organizations, which are network-oriented, questions related to networking are asked. Apart from that, you should also be a part of a few organizations either as an intern or in some other way, so that you get exposure and it helps you develop your personality in a more holistic manner, which gives you an advantage while giving an interview.
Question 10: According to you, what role do extracurricular activities as well as participation in societies play?
Answer: My personal opinion on this is that societies should be a part of your life, but they should not be the be-all and end-all of your life. Being the president or head of your society in college does give you an edge in some way, but at the end of the day, it is your knowledge of DS, OS, etc., which helps you crack interviews. Societies do help in other ways though, like network building, getting fruitful advice from your seniors, knowing your pitfalls in comparison to others, etc.
Question 11: What message would you like to give to your juniors regarding the stress they go through during placement season?
Answer: It’s quite likely that everyone has a different story, and they all have different mindsets. One must keep calm and keep striving to achieve their goals. Even if you don’t get placed in your dream company in college, that is not the end of the world, but just the start of your career. So, you should be focused on honing your skills and developing yourself holistically.
Question 12: How can we contact you? (LinkedIn Profile Link/Contact No./etc.)
Answer: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hitesh-malhotra-1967321b4/