“Soumya Srivastava” who was interned at “Expedia” 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: “Arshya Garg”
Profile offered: SDE Intern
Job Location: Gurugram
Branch and Graduation Year: CSE- 2024
CGPA cutoff: No CGPA criteria
Interview Difficulty Level: The difficulty level was about to 7.5 to 8.
Here are the questions we asked Soumya Srivastava to know about his interview experience.
Question 1: Introduce yourself to our readers.
Answer: Hi everyone! My name is Soumya Srivastava. I am a 3rd year Engineering grad studying at TIET. My branch is CSE, and I am pursuing DSA and like problem-solving.
Question 2: Was there any internal CGPA cutoff? If yes, then how much?
Answer: No CGPA cutoff as such
Question 3: What was the procedure of the placement that took place? (Shortlisting criteria/ coding or aptitude test/ number of interviews)
Answer: There were 4 rounds: a psychometric test, then Technical test and 2 interview rounds which were in offline mode.
Question 4: Tell us about the written/online test. (Aptitude, Coding, Test Platform, etc)
Answer: First was a test designed to show someone’s personality, mental ability, opinions, etc., often used by companies when deciding whether to employ someone where we were supposed to order certain things and answer them accordingly. It was an elimination round.
After that, they were asked to give a technical test on Hackerrank. The test is composed of 6 MCQs and two programming questions. MCQs were of medium level, and programming was between medium to hard. Around 20 were shortlisted for the interview. MCQ was mostly on DSA, primarily output based. Programming was based on an array which was a bit difficult. The second was based on heaps which were standard questions. A boilerplate for the code was given, and we were asked to complete the function, and I guess it was about 80 to 90 in duration.
Question 5: Tell us about Interview Round 1 including the questions that were asked.
Answer: The interview round was not an elimination round so basically, if anyone had qualified for the interview round, then they had to give both interview rounds, and results will be declared accordingly. Each round was of 1 hour each, and in the first round, the interviewer asked me to introduce myself and then asked a bit about my interest and my projects. He then dived into programming questions where he asked standard questions on DSA. The first question was based on a linked list, and the second was based on maps. He also asked about the implementation of maps and which datasets are used to implement them. Additionally, he asked about OOPs and some situation-based questions as well. Both rounds were back-to-back and in offline mode.
Question 5: Tell us about Interview Round 2.
Answer: In the second round, again, the interviewer asked me to introduce myself and asked some situational and behavioral questions and then 4 to 5 questions from DSA. She didn’t ask me to write the code for a few of those problems and just wanted me to explain the solutions. The topics were recursion, linked list, graphs, and a bit of DP as well. After that, the results were declared in the evening.
Question 6: What were the key factors of your selection?
Answer: Practicing DSA from starting plays a significant role till the end of the whole procedure. Starting early also matters a lot. I started coding in my first year and tried to stay consistent. I feel DSA and staying consistent were my key factors.
Question 6: According to you, what role do extracurricular activities, as well as participation in societies, play?
Answer: Initially, I was in 3 technical societies, but then I felt challenging to manage them. I left all of them one by one so I guess societies do not impact the interview procedure directly but often help in developing an individual’s personality so we should be a part of 1 or 2 societies that helps in building a resume also along with our personality.
Question 6: Were there any companies you got rejected from after appearing for their interview? If yes, then tell us about your rejection story and what do you think were the reasons for your rejection?
Answer: I was rejected from one company before Expedia.
Question 6: What message would you like to give to your juniors regarding the stress they go through during placement season?
Answer: They should not take the burden and start early. If they start early, they will not feel burdened and stressed. Also, they should keep in touch with their friends and family. One should do some activities which keep them in shape and refreshes them.
Question 8: Any other advice you would like to give to your juniors?
Answer: The procedure for the interview and selection is simple. One is to be through with the DSA portion and core subjects comprising OOPS, DBMS, and CN. These are basic necessities one needs to be prepared with to ace the interview. I urge all the readers to start their preparation as early as possible and not think of an exam and instead think of a journey that runs parallel to your college curriculum. I would ask them to enjoy their college journey, make friends, and spend time with them.
Question 9: How can we contact you? (LinkedIn Profile Link/Contact No./etc.)
Answer: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/soumya-srivastava-a872341b6