In Conversation with Anagha Sivadas and Annu Jolly
Google and Twitter, two among the dream companies for engineering students (especially CS) to intern and work in. It’s not only the name of the company that matters to us. It is the exposure, the experience, learning new things and obviously the pay (duh!). When we think about getting into these companies, it’s always struggles and hard work and waking up early in the morning or staying up late at night (background music from Bhaag Milkha Bhaag) that comes to our mind. It is not that these aren’t required (maybe not the music) but what’s most important is knowing the race that you are going to start. This is where most of us lack, we do not know what we are going to face. Then how are we going to strategise and exploit our potential to its maximum? Don’t worry, I’m here at your aid. I am in conversation with third-year engineering students from Model Engineering College, Anagha Sivadas T who has been selected for interning at Google and Annu Jolly who has been selected for interning at Twitter. Let’s see what their success mantra is and try and implement some of it in our lives!
Let us begin with a small background of your education before MEC came into your lives.
Anagha: I did my schooling from Kendriya Vidyalaya Kanjikode, Palakkad. I was always a fan of Mathematics and would race with my classmates to solve problems first in class. At the beginning of my 11th, I took Bio stream due to pressure from some relatives but switched to CS within a week when my parents felt guilty (and I’m truly grateful). That’s when I developed an interest in making the computer solve problems.
Annu: I opted for the Computer Science stream during my 11th and 12th in Campion School, Edapally. To be honest, I wouldn’t have liked Commerce or Biology. So the only okayish option seemed to be CSE. That’s why I initially opted for it. But once I started programming, I kinda felt that this is my thing!
How did you get to know of such an opportunity?
Anagha: I knew about it from friends. This role was open on the Google Careers page and all my friends were applying.
Annu: I don’t remember the exact source. It could’ve been LinkedIn, a telegram group, or maybe through a friend.
Did you aim for landing internships at such companies and prepare for it in advance? Or did it happen organically when you put in your effort?
Anagha: In my second year, a senior from MEC told me about how a friend landed an internship at Microsoft and got a return offer too, which got me curious. When I dug deeper, I found out that Internships also have a plethora of benefits like gaining industry experience before landing an actual job plus the interview process is generally easier compared to the process for full-time roles. After the lockdown happened, we initially had a lot of time to spare and that’s also when a lot of internship drives like AmazeWOW started, for which all of my friends were planning to take part. That was when I started a LeetCode account and started doing problems. I found it fun and also made sure I applied to every opportunity that came my way. Initially, it was all rejections and it took me a while to receive the first positive response after a coding test.
Annu: I personally never felt I could get into such a prestigious company. I thought they were out of my reach. (laughs) So I have never prepared in anticipation of getting into such a company. Once I received the invite for the first round of interviews, I started my preparation. I went through a lot of LeetCode and HackerRank problems.
Could you brief the whole application and selection process?
Anagha: Sure! I applied on the Google Careers page when this role opened. I had to upload my resume, academic transcripts, and fill in other details. After more than a month, a recruiter contacted me asking me for interview dates, and informed me that my profile is being reviewed simultaneously. She also briefed me about the interview process and sent a few resources for my preparation. Two weeks later I got the information that I’ve been shortlisted and got the interview date. There was also a compulsory webinar for everyone who got shortlisted, where a Googler walked us through the interview process and did a sample application design question since system design/application design is not generally asked for internships. For the interview, I had an application design round and a coding round. The application design round was taken by an AE at Google and he also asked me about myself, my tech experience/ skills, what I did for my previous internship etc. apart from the application design question. The coding round was taken by a Google SWE and I got a medium-hard question. Both the interviews were challenging yet fun and the interviewers were very chill and supportive. There was also a hiring committee review after the interviews. It was a long wait of two weeks after which my recruiter called me to share the good news!
Annu: I was selected for an event called DevelopHER by Twitter. I had to turn in my application and resume for the event and the selection was based on that. I think only around 30 students were selected on a national scale and luckily I was one of them! Since I had been selected for the DevelopHER event, I went straight to the first round of interviews. Otherwise one would have to go through HackerRank tests and if you pass that, you get into the first interview round. The first round was purely technical. Questions were based on Data Structures and Algorithms. The second round had both technical and HR aspects. For technical, both theoretical and application-based questions were asked and for the HR round the usual HR-ish questions were asked.
If you could suggest some good sources for preparation what would they be?
Anagha: For system design, the Grokking the System Design Interview course on Educative is the best resource. Videos by Gaurav Sen are great too. For Data Structures and Algorithms, LeetCode, GeeksforGeeks, and InterviewBit are the ones I’ve used. But there are plenty of resources out there and choose whatever works best for you!
Annu: YouTube channels like TECH DOSE, Back to Back SWE, Rachit Jain, Anish Malla, and Aditya Verma have been really helpful. Websites like LeetCode, InterviewBit have also helped a lot. Cracking the Coding Interview Book by Gayle Laakmann McDowell is great too. Several GitHub Repos like Coding Interviews, SDE Interview Questions, Interview Prep Resources, Python Algorithms, Interview Room, Interview DS Algo have also contributed to my preparation.
What do you think is that X-factor in you that landed you this internship?
Anagha: Haha, I’m honestly not sure. I think I was able to remain calm throughout the interviews, think clearly, ask questions and communicate my thought process well while solving the problems given to me. I particularly enjoyed the coding round while unraveling the tricky parts of the question (one that I’ve never seen before) bit by bit and finally getting the ‘aha’ moment where I cracked the solution. I think it’s important to let the interviewer understand whatever is going on in your mind, your enthusiasm and your passion for solving problems. That really matters!
Annu: Hahaha, the X-factor is something that I’m still trying to figure out! I still don’t know why they chose me. I think attending Hackathons has helped me build my confidence. Apart from that I have attended some other events and done other internships. I think all these might have been factors and helped me bag such an opportunity.
Is there an opportunity to get full-time employment at these companies after your internship?
Anagha: I’m not sure about this since it’s a new role and they’re offering an Application Engineering internship for the first time in India. But I do hope there’s an FTE opportunity.
Annu: Yes.
What would be some advice or some suggestions based on your experience, for your juniors?
Anagha: My advice would be to let no one tell you that you’re aiming too high! Go for hackathons, build projects, solve problems and most importantly have fun. The rest will definitely fall in place, provided you apply and give your best!
Annu: I don’t think I’m qualified to give advice but my suggestion would be to utilise your time in college to explore. In my case, I was completely clueless when I joined college. But I explored different things during the time. So this would be my suggestion: explore and experiment during your college. Some things would work out, some things won’t. Sometimes you might even find your passion in something new! Try to find that passion and follow it.
What are your future plans?
Anagha: Currently my only future plan is to give my best for the internship and make the most out of this opportunity.
Annu: Nothing specific as of now.
That brings us to the end of this conversation. Dear Reader, I hope you have found the answers to the questions that popped in your head. It was really great to have a look into what it takes to scale these heights. Saying that I must also add that it isn’t fair to say that getting into such a company is the only successful thing. Your success is defined by you! So go find your success and remember “When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it”.
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