Note: As I didn’t want to miss any detail so it is going to be a long read so please be patient.
So, I came in my Pre-Final Year, and in the starting of the session i.e. in August itself, companies start visiting our campus for hiring students for Summer Internship opportunities. Our college has a reputation of good placements/internships and I had to bag an internship in a good company in campus drive itself because (personal opinion) it is much easier to bag an opportunity on-campus as compared to off-campus drives.
So, starting on with the experience and how all the process started, I would like to describe the situation I was in. I belong to Electronics and Communication(ECE) discipline, it is not bad though but since I was applying for openings related to software profile it didn’t help either cause some of the companies allowed only Computer branch(CSE) students to apply. Since, I have little or should I say, no interest in Electronics I was carrying an average GPA i.e. 7.6. Some of the companies, allowed students to apply with 7+ GPA but that was for CSE students; for ECE students it was 8+. Dream companies like JPMC, Microsoft had no such criteria they had only 7+ GPA criteria for all branches where I had to try my luck but then since they were dream companies the competition had to be tough. So you can deduce from the above situation, that I had very few companies left with me to apply and I was cornered down to do or die situation.
J.P.Morgan Chase (JPMC) was the company which visited our campus first. I clearly remember the day and date when the first time we got notification of the company’s exact details of test/interview which was 6th August afternoon and to be honest, I was lying on my bed just praying to God that please get me interned in the very first company I apply. The test was scheduled on 9th of August and the interview of the shortlisted students was scheduled on 21st in the same month. I had 2.5 days to prepare for the online test. Now,
Note: While preparing for a company always try to read about it’s interview experiences online on websites like GeeksForGeeks, Google cause generally they follow the same pattern and even sometimes the questions also get repeated so you get a clear idea as to how to prepare and you are able to devise a strategy for the upcoming challenge.
As mentioned above, I went through the interview experiences and then I got to know, that the test would be of one hour and JPMC asked two coding questions. One question is on Implementation i.e. Arrays/Strings and another on Tough Greedy Algorithm/ Easy DP (Dynamic Programming).
I prepared accordingly, on the 9th of August, I had my online test and as I read online and the pattern which came was as I expected. I solved 1.6/2 questions in the given one hour. One was a Simple String Manipulation Question and another one was Weighted Job Scheduling Question (classic DP problem). At first, I wondered that whether I would be selected or not; but as I discussed it with others, the average was around 0.5/2 something. Very few students approximately 10-15/700 had achieved a score above 1.5. So I was sure that I would be selected for the interview round so I didn’t wait for the results and started my preparation for interviews.
Again I resorted to same sites I mentioned above, and read what they generally ask in interviews. I came to know that they are more interested in theoretical subjects like OOPS, OS, DBMS and majorly YOUR RESUME!!!!!
Since I belonged to Electronics discipline, I had no idea about OS, theory behind DBMS and was lost in touch with my theoretical OOPS concepts but I had to get my best shot, so in the span of 9 days I prepared each topic so that I have something to converse upon in the interview if these topics arouse.
Note: I said converse. Yes, you read it right!! Always remember, your interview is just like a conversation so treat it like a conversation. Don’t mistake it to be Q/A session where you give answers and the interviewer asks questions. If you do not know the answer, at least try to project and give him/her a clear idea as to what is going in your head. He/She will definitely bail you out if not, at least its better than simply saying NO and losing the game there.
As far as the resume is concerned, always mention those things which you are damn confident upon. They can ask anything, literally anything out of your resume. Some sample questions:-
- Explain one of your projects mentioned. (He/She can also ask about a specific project as well)
- If any experiences before, they’ll love to learn about your experience there, what you learnt, what were the problems you faced, EVERYTHING!!!!
- Questions related to stuff on your skillset.
- If there is any team project on your resume then be prepared for this question that why it couldn’t be a solo project or as to why you considered a team for this challenge etc.
Be Prepared for HR Round Questions as well, such as Why JPMC? Tell me about yourself? etc.
Note: “Tell me about yourself?” this is a very important question. Actually its the question “Why should we hire you?” in disguise. So instead of talking about your random hobbies and personal life, talk about those skills which will benefit the company because that’s what they are concerned about. I was asked this question in every round and you won’t believe it that they asked me questions related to the skills only which I mentioned in my answer. Always remember, your interview goes where you want to take it so you have to be very concise with your answers and you have to measure your words carefully.
The results for the online round came on 19th August Night around @7pm and 50 out of 700 students were shortlisted with cutoff score 0.8/2.
Now, lets come to the D-Day i.e. 21st August. the interviews were scheduled to be at 9 am and so we were there outside the placement cell by then. Due to interviews of Final year students for full-time openings at JPMC our interviews was postponed till 5pm. So we have to wait until then. This waiting period!!!! Uggghhh! 😦
There was a total of 3 rounds of interviews. 2 Technical, Last Round being HR.
9 am – 6 pm: Wait!!!!
6 pm: First Technical Interview Round: In my first technical interview round, I was asked “Tell me About Yourself?” and I explained about my achievements and projects, and then the interviewer started grinding me on those. Then he asked me about 4-5 questions on OOPS, OS and DBMS and 1-2 on networking. I was also asked, “Which kind of projects I am expecting to work upon if I get selected as an intern?” I answered gathering points from what they explained in the presentation before interviews.
8:30 pm: Out of 50, 25 students moved to the second round.
8:30 pm – 9:30 pm – Dinner Break
10 pm: Second Technical Interview Round: In second technical interview round, I was asked again about my Resume, my experience in Google Code-In, my projects which I completed in college for the aid of college authorities. The interviewer also explained a project which is there at present in JPMC and asked me to explain how it might have developed which was basically a System Design question. I explained the project accordingly which I comprehended and he said it was 90% close to what’s actually there.
11:15 pm: Out of 25, 13 students moved to the final HR round.
12 am: In the HR Round, I was asked questions like Why JPMC? How was my experience in the first two rounds? and since the interview rounds took place after so much wait. He also asked How frustrating it was to wait for so long? Tip for the last two, JUST BE YOURSELF! Don’t fake it. And for the first one, I read about JPMC from Wikipedia as well as one of my seniors, Aaditya Sharma told me that JPMC funded Nikola Tesla for the Tesla Tower Project. So I revolved my answer around that and listening to this the HR was mighty impressed as he understood I had done my homework.
The next morning, at 7 am Results arrived. I WAS SELECTED!!!!!!!!!!! I was on Cloud 9.
Total 10 students were selected out of 13 after the final round from our campus for Summer Internship 2020.
P.S. Just be Yourself, Be clear about your strategy for what you are preparing. Because every preparation needs a strategy. Be thorough of what is written on your resume and at the end of the day remember that it is just another interview just like your Viva in Internals. And when you feel nervous remember the dialogue from SpiderMan Spiderverse, IT’S A LEAP OF FAITH!!!!
Canvas of Thoughts 