PlaceKode with Divya Singh placed at Dell
Another article in PlaceKode by Uthaan, the Official Journalism and Recreational Club of ABV-Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management Gwalior. Learn that PUBG can be used to de-stress and many more tips for a good start to what we hope would be great career from Divya Singh selected for a internship based placement at Dell.
To start things off, Congratulations on securing such a job, a fancy dream of millions. How does it feel, considering that Dell is one of the world’s biggest multinational companies with such a great work space? What is your Job Profile?
Simply put, it feels really good. Achievements bring along a sense of peace and relief so yeah, it certainly feels great to be part of such a big company.
They organized an orientation at the start to motivate us, the presentations were intriguing, and I wanted to be a part of this organization even more. All in all, it brings you a sense of peace so yeah, it feels good.
Currently, I have got a internship based placement which will be converted to a full time position after 6 months on a performance basis.
My job profile would be of SDE-II and I would be working on the projects for the company. It is hard to tell the job I would be doing because I will be joining as a fresher and they will mold us for whatever project they feel is right and we are good to go.
What was your state of mind on the day of the interview?
Simply put, I wanted to do my best. I was conscious and confident of the effort I had put in, I knew my strengths and weaknesses, and I knew I won’t let the later direct my fate. See, it wasn’t a day’s effort to grab such an opportunity. Significant efforts were made and nobody would want to let it all slip away.
What was the week leading up to the interview like? How did you prepare yourself for the days to come and the challenges that came along?
If you are preparing for a job interview, you aim for two things. The academic part, in order to prepare yourself for the technical know-hows and the aptitude part, so as to effectively communicate and get past the HR rounds.
I was pretty confident about the latter so I chose to put in my time and effort to prepare all the core subjects namely, Data Structures and Algorithms, Computer Networks, Operating System, DBMS and maybe Computer Organization and Architecture. The efforts I had put in for GATE really paid off because I only needed to brush past the basics of the aforementioned subjects.
It was already placement season so the vibe in general was tense all around, I hadn’t had much luck so it was certainly difficult for me.
See, you need the perfect symphony of hard work and luck to get through such interviews. The latter has a massive 40% part in my view, and we can’t really work on it, so I tried to keep myself calm be it with PUBG or with music and focused on putting forward my best foot ahead on the day of the interview rather than killing myself in anxiety.
Can you please walk us through your experience about the interview process in brief?
To bag this one, I had to go through three different rounds. The first being the online round.
Round 1. Online Test (22 Aug 2019)
1. Comprised of 65 MCQs based on Data Structures, Operating Systems, Computer Networks, DBMS, Computer Organization and Architecture and Aptitude.
2. Coding questions out of which you had to solve two (arrays, strings, basic implementation).
Round 2. Technical Round (23 Aug 2019 || 45 min-1 hour)
1. Draw a Venn diagram representing female, mothers and doctors.
2. Write pseudo code to swap two stacks (should be optimized). https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/stack-swap-in-c-stl/
3. Given a number series, find the missing number.
4. Discussion on how clouds work and load balancing.
5. Difference between Windows 8 and Windows 10.
6. Questions on core subjects (DBMS, COA, DS, CN).
7. Discussion on projects and internship mentioned in the resume.
I was also asked a few non-tech questions in this round.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Situation based question- An emergency situation has arisen and you have to board a train to reach your destination. However, you could not buy a ticket but you have enough money to buy it from a fellow passenger. If you do buy the ticket, the other passenger would not be allowed to travel. What would you do?
Round 3. HR Round (23 Aug 2019 || 15-20 min)
1. Started with a short introduction.
2. What are your hobbies? (The interviewer specifically mentioned hobbies apart from coding)
3. Do you think that Indians abuse technological development?
Next up we had the HR round. It was really interesting though, a lot more indulging than the other interviews I’ve been through. The questions asked were straightforward, intelligent and different. They asked about my views on day to day events related to tech and people’s perception on the ongoing drift in the society, to judge me on moral grounds perhaps.
They also inquired about my interests outside the professional facade and so it was really nice all in all.
And what did you answer?
“ I’ll let you imagine that.
No, but seriously, I don’t think I’m allowed to answer that. ”
What was the vibe of the interview place like?
It was tensed, as it should’ve been. Around 40 of my mates had qualified so I knew what I was up against, and it just so happened that I was the first one to be called for the technical round. The whole process started at around 11 in the morning, and went on till 9 in the evening. With time we all got accustomed to it and so the second half was easier to go through.
What were the interviewers like? Considering the fact that they were representing such a tech conglomerate, did you have any expectations from them? And were they fulfilled?
My interviewer was really perceptive, he made conscious efforts to get to know me beyond the professional facade as we went on to talk about my recent Europe trip. He was also very supportive and helped me whenever I got stuck in some problems while solving.
Did you take part in extra curricular activities in your time here, and how did that help you grow to your present form?
Actively Participated in hIQs, GDs, public speaking opportunities, extempore.
All in all every opportunity to communicate with others, to speak or to listen.
Be an active member in fests, interact with your seniors and break out of your comfort zone.
How’d you compare to yourself 5 years ago?
I had no idea whatsoever about coding or tech in general when I first stepped in this college all those years back, but I was very keen to learn which hasn’t changed since. With the opportunities I got to express and to explore, I managed to carve out the best in me.
Did your internship experience and your projects give you an edge your interview?
See, any work experience mentioned on your resume counts. Your work speaks for you. It provides insight into what you are as a professional. Corporate value your self-interests and work experiences, so the more you learn from your internships, the better. Finding a nice internship offer can take time but you should surely work hard to get it.
Personally, I’ve had two internships in my college time. One being from-home, and the other being in-office. You need to work hard there, harder than others, the more you strive for, the more you shall gain.
Considering what you just told us, it’s easy to assume that self-exploration and efforts are a must. Can you please tell us about what online resources you used and how, so as to gain maximum leverage out of them?
Efficient use of LinkedIn can be a real game-changer. Stay in touch with your alumni, ping them regularly, inquire about openings. I assure you most of them would be willing to help. Some won’t but that’s fine. Just know that finding a nice internship offer is not easy at all. You need to go through a plethora of profiles, put in your precious time and most importantly, have the patience to wait for the good things to happen.
Stay in touch with your seniors and alumni as much as possible because your contacts matter in the corporate world. In fact, I owe one of my internships to my senior who recommended me to an alumni of our college.
Other than that, GeeksforGeeks is a must for all the aspirants. Not only do you gain leverage by exposing yourself to the cults of the corporate, you get to stay in touch with this ever-evolving world of tech. There isn’t much left to prepare for if you’ve gone through GeeksforGeeks thoroughly.
I would also advise the 4th year students to prepare for GATE. Focus on the more prominent subjects namely, Operating Systems, Data Structures and Algorithms, DBMS and Computer Networks. Not only would this help you in your academics, but it’d make technical rounds and preparation for interviews a hell lot easier.
One short piece of advice for the forthcoming aspirants, know the basics of all the subjects. You’ll never know what they’re about to ask you.
In my case they tested my knowledge on cloud computing and OS, they tend to form questions out of whatever you say in order to test how deeply you know about the said subject.
Interviewed by: Utkarsh Meena and Shivam Yadav
Photographed by: Saurabh Prakash Giri and Himanshu Ruhela
@geeksforgeeks, Some rights reserved
