FORESIGHT(2023): Summer Internship at Salesforce| Atulya Sharma|
1) Brief Introduction
Hi, I am Atulya Sharma, a 3rd Year student from the department of Computer Science and Engineering, enrolled in its BTech program.
2) How did you get into Salesforce? What was the selection procedure?
Online Coding Round:
3 Questions
- 2 easy, 1 easy-medium (< Codeforces div 2C level)
- Did all 3 to get shortlisted for interviews
Round 1: Coding Interview
I was asked a few easy string manipulation questions to solve on an online IDE. Did all of them. Round 2: HR
A lot of questions were asked from my CV, especially from a course term project (Software Engineering Lab). I was also asked why I wanted to join Salesforce, what I knew about Salesforce, etc.
Overall I wasn’t asked anything hard. The standard of questions drop a lot after day 1 in my experience. Compared to day 1 companies I was shortlisted in, (NK Securities, Sprinklr, Nutanix), these rounds were way simpler.
3) How to prepare for them?
For SDE profiles, one must be somewhat experienced with CP. I’d say at least reach specialist on codeforces / 4 stars on codechef. Have few projects. Won’t help with any coding rounds/ tech interviews, but could help in HR rounds if the interviewer finds them intriguing. Most of the time during the HR interview, I was just answering questions related to my project.
4) What difficulties did you face while preparing for this Company/Profile? How did you overcome this problem?
I wasn’t actually preparing specifically for Salesforce. I was targeting systems roles in quant firms. But yes, SDE roles for product companies were on my cards. I faced a lot of difficulty in raising my rating on codeforces, since I started CP after 4th semester (2.5 months before coding rounds). I did have some knowledge of algorithms thanks to the 3rd semester’s algorithms course. Could not really escape this problem. It just takes time. Do NOT expect to be an expert right away at CP or at anything. It takes time.
I was also really short on time to cover all topics. The only solution I had was to trim advanced topics. I completely skipped segment trees, advanced dp, tries, etc, since those are rarely asked in intern tests. These topics are asked in some companies though. (Ex: Google, sometimes in Quant firms, etc). Instead of learning new things in the nick of time, it’s better to become proficient at things one has already studied about.
I was quite slow in problem solving. As the tests are timed, this is a huge problem. I usually practiced the whole day and gave whatever contests were held at night. Doing timed contests is a sure way to develop speed.
5) According to you, who should ideally apply for this job?
Anyone targeting SDE roles in product companies. Also if you want to chill in your final year; Salesforce usually offers PPO at a higher rate than most other product companies, although it selects less interns from a single place (7 from KGP).
6) Any specific advice you want to give to the junta sitting for internships this year.
There is no vacation for you peeps :)
KGP has a lot of students sitting for internships, which means a lot of competition. Study thoroughly instead of trying to do everything, but I’m sure you are painfully aware of this after the recent end
instead of trying to do everything, but I’m sure you are painfully aware of this after the recent end semester.
Give contests regularly as mentioned before. Do interviewbit / leetcode properly to get practice. Also keep in mind that only doing CP won’t help you, since you need to have proper practice in all topics. If you don’t have any projects, it’s fine. Your first priority should be to get good enough to first clear those coding rounds.
7) Kindly attach your resume. What are some of the major points you think would be valid to mention in your CV while targeting this profile?(any specific suggestions you would like to make?
Make profile specific CVs if targeting multiple profiles. Do not try to cram everything like many do (even I did).
For ex: if you have an SDE profile, there is no use trying to write every POR you have ever got, which is not even remotely related to software, although being a member of kdag/koss/cgs etc is different, those are very worth writing in the CV imho.
Do NOT have anything on the CV which you are not sure about / not well acquainted with. In case you are asked the same thing from the CV and you are unable to answer, it is safe to assume that you will most probably be rejected. Not being able to answer something from your CV is a HUGE problem, just don’t write it in the first place.
