02:23
jobsindia
Dedicated to
Those candidates whoprepare sincerely and
Yet don’t succeed
CONTENTS
1. SKILLS -------------------------------- 1
2. ONE DAY PRIOR -------------------------------- 9
3. WRITTEN TACTICS -------------------------------- 10
4. GROUP DISCUSSION -------------------------------- 13
5. INTERVIEW – TECHNICAL -------------------------------- 14
6. HR INTERVIEW -------------------------------- 19
7. RESULTS -------------------------------- 23
8. ATTITUDE -------------------------------- 25
9. JUICY EVENTS -------------------------------- 27
INTRODUCTION
" Given with all the facilities would you like to work in a team oras an individual?"
"Sir... as.... an individual"
This was my answer when Infosys HR manager had asked me in my firstinterview. It's not unlikely that you don't do such mistakes in your initialinterviews and loose the golden chances. Initially I didn't have even a roughidea about how the campus interviews are conducted, what they require, what toprepare, how to face etc. Those were my series of debacles, which taught me thefiner tunes of the interviews. It took me around 10 interviews to finally crossthe hurdle. I tell you 10 is a very big number.
I only want that a capable candidate should not suffer because of hisignorance. I don’t want others to follow the series of failures as I underwent.Keeping this point in mind, I have tried to show the inner views of the campusinterviews, which are also generalized for walk in interviews. I have tried toportray my experiences, my approaches and the steps that I think are apt for oneto succeed.
Here my aim is not just restricted for the people to know only aboutinterviews, but also to aim at improving ones overall personality.
My special thanks to Mr. Syed Salahudddin who encouraged me consistentlyto take up the project and worked parallely with me to finish this. I owe agreat deal to the officer.
I thank all my classmates and hostel mates esp. Mushtaq, Majid, Sawoodand Nishant who stood by me and gave their full support and help.
I request you to take these things seriously and read every time beforeyou go for any interview. I also want this material to be forwarded to thepeople who could get benefited. These are just the views of one person, which might be wronglyinterpreted also. So I want you to meet experienced people and try togeneralize the things. I wish all the best for your endeavours. Thank you.
Sajid Ali Kalmani
1.SKILLS
There are basically three skills, which are necessarily required tosucceed in the interviews.
They are:
1.Aptitude
2.Communication skills
3.Technical skills
4.Attitude/Personality-this is transparent to candidates.
(Candidates canlack one or more skills if they want the job by some shortcut means, but thosewho want the job fair and square, must possess all the above skills. You knowwhat I mean). Let me consider myself a common man and tell you how I improvedmy skills. Then you can generalize them better.
1.1 APTITUDE
This is the first and most important step in climbing the successladder. What’s aptitude? It’s ones ability to…, to…, leave it, I am not gettingthe definition. But let me tell you, aptitude is nothing but the combination ofyour basics, brain power, knowledge, commonsense, speed, accuracy, intelligentguessing, anticipation, decision-making and above all the positive approach.Aptitude test is like a 100 metre sprint with the lane width of just 6 inches.Overall, aptitude is your logic. Sometimes it is difficult and sometimes easy (KabhiKashi Kabhie Rome).
Some have aptitude by birth (they are natural puzzle solvers). Theycan easily catch up how to solve numericals and analytical problems. They needto identify themselves and polish their approach. Others have to work likedogs.
It took interest in puzzles when I was in 8th standard.That made me learn maths basics well. Maths Olympiad training and exam made mego for puzzles with mathematical approach. My craze for puzzles continued to PUand till B.E. In 1st semester I became the member of mathemagicmagazine, which publishes varieties of puzzles from literature to numericals tochess puzzles etc. I seriously involved in solving them and sending answers tothe editor. It was only in the second year that I heard that there is a companyInfosys that asks only puzzles to recruit its employees. My happiness knew nobounds [patient keliddu mosaru anna, doctor heliddoo mosaru anna].
I wrote the aptitude test for over 15 companies and I don’t know thedisappointment of not getting short-listed after the written test. Franklyspeaking I never prepared for aptitude tests. That’s why I was seen playingcricket throughout my engineering. So I request you, not to look at me anddecide that written tests are nothing. I had a friend who had 78% of aggregateand was good at everything but couldn’t clear written test for 15 companies. Atlast he cleared somehow and further path was easy for him to sail through. Letme tell you how you could improve your aptitude.
First & second year students cango for puzzles. Buy puzzle books like Shakuntala Devi, George Summers, Narulaetc. and try to solve them. If you don’t get the answer, then see carefully theway the puzzle has been solved in the book. If you solve some 200 and oddpuzzles then you imbibe the approach to solve any puzzle. This improves youranalytical ability. Then you can switch over to numerals. Many companies askverbal questions, for that you need not mug up the dictionary or thesaurus. Youcan read different books, novels, and magazines and learn words steadily.
For final year studentgoing for puzzles is optional. It’s better to go for quantitative aptitudebook. Agarwal is the best one. Read the solved problems and once you understandthem, solve the unsolved ones. For verbal, comprehension and analyticalquestions you can go for Barron’s GRE or any other good book.
This preparation foraptitude is must for any engineer appearing the written test for almost anycompany.
The two things that makeyou succeed in the interview are preparation and confidence.
Preparation +Confidence = Success ---------------------- (1)
After goodpreparation confidence comes automatically which makes you perform well. Soconfidence ~ Preparation
So from--- (1)
Preparation +Preparation = Success
è Preparation = Success
2
This impliesthat if you prepare well, you are already half succeeded.
This was the mistakethat I repeated several times. I didn’t prepare well for the interview,( esp.technical skills ) and thought thatsomehow by luck I might get into but by the time I realized that there isnothing called luck, I had carried my file nearly a deca-times.
Afterpreparation how to smash written test will be dealt later.
Those who intend to copyin the written test should be careful, as some companies ask you to explain howyou arrived at the answer, especially puzzles.
1.2 COMMUNICATION SKILLS
In campus interviews, there aremany people who don’t know much of technical stuff, but by clearing thewritten, somehow they get into the company by campus interview. It is because they speak great English. I don’t think it’s much different in walk–ininterviews. Having good communicationskills is an art, which can be mastered by any one. The efficient and flexible person learns itfaster. The English you speak should beerror free, fluent and clear. It neednot be fast. You should be able toconvey yourself well before the interviewer.
I know speaking good Englishis a problem for many engineering guys; it’s a myth that only English mediumguys speak good English. It’s also amyth that they don’t rise above a certain level. But I deny that. I studied my primary level in Kannadamedium. But I don’t think I was rejectedin the interviews because of my communication skills. My flexibility helped me.
What did I do toimprove these skills?
I made couple of Englishspeaking friends at the college and used to talk to them for long hours. English movies did help too. Apart from story and action I concentrated onthe accent and the way the actors used to deliver the dialogues. Giving pause and timing were veryimportant. I used to stare atnewsreaders and imagine myself reading it. I tried to read newspapers in the way they did. Sunit Tandon was really good.
In home I used to tune todiscussions, interviews of stars, sportsmen and follow them. Wasim Akram, Srikanth, Shahrukh Khan reallyinspired me. One can take a leaf out ofHarsha’s commentary.
These are some of theways by which you can improve your English. You can even try other methods.
Before doing any thing you can sit back andthink what you have and what you lack. If your grammar is weak get a grammar book and study it from thescratch. If you can’t spell it properlygo for dictionary or scripts and work on it, instead of cribbing about it foryears. One should always aim atimproving oneself. Always tell toyourself “Next year I will be a better person in knowledge, experience,attitude and everything.”
For 8thsemester guys it is better late than never, you can start now while others canlearn steadily. One should enjoylearning things and not take it as a burden.
Communication skills arevery important for engineers and also for management students. So try to overcome your weaknesses. How do you improve is entirely left toyou. It’s beyond just reading thebooks. It’s better start speakingEnglish with your friends.
Jamat people acquirecommunicating skills well, so I request them to preach in English.
First and second yearguys have enough time if they realize. 8thsemester guys should be efficient and fast enough, learn faster and enjoy yourlearning.
With preparation, Ibelieve even some one like Sadiq* pasha can make it. And without preparation some one likeNayeemuddin** may not make it. Gettingthrough the interview can be very easy if you wish.
* - Till 6 semhe had passed only four subjects viz., M1, M2, M3 and M4. Then he literallywent mad.
** - Topper toMMC College, presently doing his PG course in London.
1.2 TECHNICAL SKILLS
In the early years ofengineering, students think that in interviews, hi-fi technology is asked whichis very complex and difficult. So theydon’t think of learning or refreshing the technical concepts keeping interviewin mind. I was also one among them. But the truth is that the companies ask thosetechnical questions which we have learnt like, what is amplifier, counter, XORGATE, what is microprocessor, what is signal, what are pointers, data structures,what is linking, what are motors, gears etc., depending on your branch.
If they ask somethingelse you can happily say “Sir that was not there in our syllabus”. They switch over.
Theonly difference between engineers and others is; we learn technical skills andothers don’t. So if you want to call yourself an engineer see whether you havebasic technical skills.
So right from 3rd semester youstart looking back at all the subjects you have steadied and recall theirbasics now and then.
When you apply, you lookat the pattern of interview, the area of work of the company. You can get to know on what subjects theywould ask questions in interview. Youcan study those two, three subjects in depth, I mean in detail. You also have to just touch all the subjectssuperficially, esp. electives.
As I said, the questions asked by companiesvary based on their type (software or hardware) and your branch.
For example, E&Cstudents have to prepare technical in depth for hardware companies like Delphi,L&T, etc. But software companiesdon’t know much of electronics, So E&C students can relax a bit but youshould know at least ‘C’ and puzzles.
Computer guys must prepare technically well. Usually students take their favouritesubjects as DSC, Operating System, C++, etc.
For Mechanical boys technical skills are must. If they don’t know technical, they knownothing.
Mechanical – Technical = IP(Ignorant People)
So,most of your preparation time goes for studying technical aspects. Technical aspects means not advancedtechnology, but only the basics of subjects you studied as I said. The study should be thorough. I will list some of the technical questionsasked often later.
All most all the companiesask about your project work in detail. Sostudy everything about all your projects. It’s better if you go through advanced technology in technical magazinesand business aspects of the companies.
‘C’
Thosewho appear for software companies must at least know one computerlanguage. If it’s C, it’s well. So I recommend all most all students to learn‘C’ in depth by buying different ‘C’ books; Kanitkar is good writer.
1.4 ATTITUDE/ PERSONALITY
Everyone has his own; in-built personalityand attitude towards life. It cannot bechanged so easily. If some one wants tochange them or develop good personality with positive attitude, they requiresomething that many lack. But it’s notimpossible. At this stage not to makeyou boring, let me skip this part. Itwill be dealt after the interview part is revealed.
1.5 APPLY
Thecompanies that you apply are totally left to you. So before you apply you should have the roughidea about the type of company, its location, salary, bond, probable number ofcandidates the company requires, etc.
Once you get to know thedate, timing and location of the company, the first thing you should do is goto “Google” and then to the company site. Go through their recruitment section; watch out what skills they seekamong you, the area in which they work etc.
Then contact somebody whohas been earlier interviewed by the same company, or who works in the companyor who knows the test pattern of the company. Fetch out sufficient information.
Then sit and decide thesubjects you are to prepare; like you may have to study verbal or puzzles,etc. Decide on which technical subjectsyou are going to prepare and start preparation thoroughly. This should be done minimum of 8 days priorto the interview.
In these days studywell. It’s like as if you are preparingfor a war. So you should be as seriousas hell. Don’t say ‘let me try myluck’. Say always ‘I can do anything andI will do it’.
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2.ONE DAY PRIOR TO INTERVIEW
This day you should keepeverything ready. Your clothes, (shirtpreferably plain and light, should be washed and pressed.), a pair of darkshoes, the file containing all your certificates, project reports, pen, tieetc.
These all things shouldbe kept ready even though if you are doubtful of clearing written test becausemany a times, I have run around like a dog in search of clothes, files, etc andbecause of this thing I even was late to Infosys interview.
2.1 IMAGING
Imaging is the most important philosophicalaspect for any success. Let me explainimaging with an example.
Do you think wheneverSachin scores a century it is only due to his game on the field? No! There is something which is responsiblefor it which is off the field.
One day prior to thematch Sachin imagines, sitting alone. Heimagines: “Tomorrow I get up at 6 ‘O Clock. I will warm myself up for anhour, have break fast, take out my kit and go to the ground at 9 ‘O Clock. At 9:30 Saurav will go for toss, he wins itand selects fielding. I will stand atcovers and field every ball that comes to me. Zaheer and Srinalth ball tidy spells. I will take a flying catch, etc. In spite of that, Ponting scores 140 runs, and the team score 359 runs.
“Iwill open our batting. Initially I willtake singles. Then I will chargeMcGrath. I score 50 in 15 overs. I will never go for paddle sweep, as therewill be bounce for spinners. I will playaggressively. We will win and I will getman of the match award”
Then next day Sachin willjust repeat his images. This is calledimaging techniques. Every successfulperson uses this. If you use thistechnique your confidence grows exponentially.
So before you go to bed,lie down and start imaging in your mind. You go to the place, write test well, get short listed, give interviewwell, results announced, you are selected.
More the depth youimagine more the success rate grows.
I also recommend you topray and ask the God to make you successful. Please sleep for at least 6 hours.
2.2 THE D-DAY
Get up early & scanthe news headlines, which may be asked in the interview. Don’t take tension, becalm and move around a bit quicker than usual. Wish everybody, talk louder andlaugh heartily. It should seem to others that you have taken the interview soeasily & lightly. But inside you should be composed, confident, fresh,alert and raring to go. Just keep saying to yourself “yes I gonna call it a daytoday”.
Reachthe centre for written test half an hour earlier.
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3.WRITTEN TEST----TACTICS
My first written test was for Talisma. I was not shot listed.Afterwards I regret it because in interview they asked only puzzles (myfavourite area) and the salary was 37k. Do you know why I did not clear thetest? Because I had not carried my watch. Yes, you require a watch to managethe time. Sometimes you need to be as fast as a humming bird.
Based on my experience I havewritten some tactics to crack the written test. You can follow your own methodsalso.
If you have sufficient enough time,then you can start from the 1st question and go till last. Theproblem arises only when the questions are more & time is less. It’s likeproviding voice, data & multimedia through a narrow band.
1) After getting the paper it’sbetter to attend that section which looks easy to you. Many go for quantitativeaptitude (numerical) questions. You can go for verbal at any time, but don’tspend much time on verbal because here you may have to guess a lot.
2) If there is –ve marking don’tguess the answers. You can guess when there is 50% chance. But I suggest don’tguess. If no –ve marks are there, tick all the questions. But beware, “somecompanies look at number of wrong answers too.
3.1 QUANTITATIVE
i) Here leavethe tougher questions and move further.
ii) Manage yourtime. Often look at the watch.
In PHOENIX written test, 100 questions were to be answered in 30minutes. So each question was to be answered in 20 seconds. It so happened thatthe first 10 questions were lengthy (4-5 lines long) and hence took more timefor reading them. I realized it sooner and skipped the lengthy questions. Imoved further where there were single line easy questions. I finished them all& then came back to the lengthy ones at the end, so I ended up answering90-95 questions, but many people who started with initial lengthy questions, tookmuch time and ended up answering just 70-80 questions.
Hence plane yourtime properly.
iii) Representationwith figures
As you read a problem or puzzle, you represent it with figures sothat your brain can easily retain the problem for long time which makes yousolve the problem quicker with faster analysis, for ex: let the question startlike this, ‘A&B are couples. C is their son, D is C’s son and E is D’swife. You can draw like
Or if the questionis, A is older than E, E is older than C, D is of same age as A and so on. Thenyou can draw
A = D > E > C
Thisrepresentation makes you to compare or analyse the questions asked and answerfastly.
If they say atrain of length ‘l’ and tunnel of length ‘L’, then immediately draw arectangular tunnel and a rectangular train with horizontal intercepts asbogies; indicate the length as ‘L’.
iv) Afterreading the question and after drawing their figure representations (not forall) subsequently, write down the related formula even if it is as simple as
Speed = d / time
v) If there isspeed-distance problem, I suggest solving it at the end. Most of the time suchquestions eat up your precious time.
vi) No companyallows usage of calculators in the written test. Then how do you operate withfractions, say how do you calculate 29.11 x 41.24?
If you startdoing it digit by digit, you will never dream of finishing the paper.
Here you can use some mental techniques, like instead of multiplyingthe fractions, it is better to approximate them to nearest integers. 29.11 canbe increased to 30 and 41.24 can be reduced to 40. You should see that theamount that is increased in one number should be proportional to the value thatis reduced in the other number. Then you get 30 x 40 = 120, as 29.11 x 41.24 =120.04964
So you almostgot the answer! If the options are 115, 120, 125, 135, you can tick for 120,while approximating even if you get around 118.5, you can tick 120.
If there is something like 41/7.2 then you can approximate 7.2 to 7& correspondingly reduce the numerator to, say 40.
Then you get 40/7 = 5.71 as 41/7.2 =5.694: the approximation became almostaccurate.
You can master this technique when youpractice this extensively. This saves your time like anything.
vii) Use yourcommon sense. If in a problem the height of a mountain is to be calculated andyou get the answer as 15 km, you can straight away reject the answer becausethe highest peak in the world is only 9 km high. Then you can recalculate theproblem.
When I was writing for Ivega ina question about averages, they gave the ages of children, their average ageetc and asked the age of the father. I calculated fast and got it as 7 years,which was ridiculous. I laughed at myself and solved it again. I got 35 years.
viii) You shouldalways have an eye on the options. If there are ridiculous answers, you canreject them and easily near the right answers.
ix) Manystudents start solving a problem. They struggle, struggle and don’t get theanswer, then decide to leave the question and go for the next one. Thus theylose 5 to 10 minutes easily. To avoid this one should anticipate the time aproblem may consume. If you think some problem may consume more time, you skipit. It can always be answered at the end. Again this anticipation comes bypractice.
3.2 VERBAL
In verbal, you should always have a look at the options. If they askthe antonym of ‘beautiful’ and say you don’t know the meaning of it. You canlook at the options that may read
1. Ugly
2. Smart
3. Handsome
4. Good looking
In the given options, if youknow that choices 2, 3 and 4 mean same thing, then you can blindly go for thefirst one.
3.3 PUZZLES
Solving puzzles doesn’t come naturally to all. There is noparticular rule to solve the puzzles, but there is an approach which can bemastered only by solving numerous puzzles. For the inexperienced ones, Isuggest just three things to do while solving a puzzle i.e., just concentrate,concentrate and concentrate. If you don’t understand, read the puzzle three tofour times and focus on it. Here you may lose your time in the trade off.
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5. GROUP DISCUSSION
Group discussion is once again a filtering process. Here thecommunication ability and the ideas of a candidate are evaluated.
A topic is given and 8 to 10 of youare allowed to speak on the subject for around 10 minutes. The topic of the GDis generic (simple). It may range from cricket to software industry, to Indianculture, to the future of humanity to anything, but it will be simpler. So oneneeds to have some kind of general awareness and needs to update with currentaffairs.
Now how do you face it?
* Usually the topic is debatable, so one needsto quickly decide whether you are far or against the given topic. I suggest,try to be different in your choice the group. You are given some 2 minutes timeto make points about the subject.
* If you initiate, you will get theadvantage, but don’t initiate without ideas. It’s better to speak after two tothree have spoken.
* Be cool and look fresh.
* Don’t look at the judges
* Speak clearly and loudly facing all. Tryto anchor the group, not dominate it.
* Clearly explain your ideas with fewweighted words. Don’t speak too much of nonsense.
* Don’t murmur or stammer.
* Don’t criticise others.
* Always look at the person who is speakingand nod your head so that judges will see that you are listening.
* If somebody is speaking more, you can say‘you have spoken enough, let’s give chance to this person’ or ‘I agree withhim’ or ‘you are going out of topic, let’s stick to the topic’
* Speak around 2-3 times. I mean don’t speakjust once for 2 long minutes and keep quite for rest of the time, so try tospeak in bursts. If somebody is listening to the discussion from outside, heshould see that you are alive inside.
* Try to conclude yourself (if they ask to)
One can practicemock GD with his friends to become familiarise with it. Actually Mandira Bedi’sgroup, ‘Extra Innings’ on Sony max on world cup 2003, had inspired me.
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6. INTERVIEW- TECHNICAL
Usually there are two interviews, one technical and a HR(human resources) . At this stage you are totally prepared and are confident.Let’s see how to fare in the interview.
Dress neatly forthe interview, preferably a light shirt with dark pants and dark shoes. You canwear a matching tie. Shave yourself cleanly, take a bath, comb your hair neatlyand use a mild deodorant. Keep allyour certificates, marks cards and resume in a file and carry your projectreports to the interview.
At the interviewcentre meet the guys who have finished their interview, and ask them what theywere asked in the interview. Around 50% of the technical questions that wereasked to them will be asked to you. So get to know the answers of thosequestions.
Enter the interviewroom with a smile saying ‘may I come in sir?’ go near the chair and shake handswith the interviewer firmly. Generally oldies don’t shake hand and younginterviewers prefer doing it. Sit only after they ask you to sit. Sit straightleaning backwards with legs open (don’t cross them). Give a fresh, eager, alertsmiling look. Technical interviewers may not ask HR questions, but to startwith, they may ask ‘ tell about yourself’, you can tell about yourself in brief(not literally). This will be dealt in HR section. Then they may ask ‘what areyour favourite subjects?’ Name at least2 to3 subjects which you have studied in depth. The questions asked will onlybe on basics of these subjects. They will surely ask questions about theprojects you have done and electives you have mentioned in your bio-data.
The generally asked technical questions are:
Electronicsand Communication
Analog circuits
- What is semiconductor diode?
- How does zener diode work as a voltage regulator?
- Explain transfer characteristics of transistor.
- How does a rectifier (usually bridged), RC coupled amplifier, oscillator work.
Digital fundamentals
- How to realize XOR gate using NAND gates
- Half adder, full adder, combinational logic.
- Sequential logic, flip flops, RS flip flop, synchronous and asynchronous counters.
Signals – op -amps
- what is signal?, convolution, Fourier series etc
- opamp, applications, filters, timers etc
Microprocessors
- architecture of 8085, 8086 and microcontrollers
- functions of pins, interrupts, instructions, interfacing
- programming simple programs
Communication
- What is AM, FM, multiplexing, TDM, FDM, receivers,
- What is PCM, sampling theorem, digital modulation techniques, vocoders, mobile communication (CDMA & GSM).
Computer Science & Engineering
( Example FAQ in interviews)
C,Data structures, C++ & OOPS:
1) What is dequeue, priorityqueue, Dangling pointer etc.
2) Differentiate between Calloc& Malloc, structures & unions, *p++ & ++*p etc
3) What are: Polymorphism, virtualfunctions, encapsulation, data hiding etc
4) Do virtual constructors &destructors exist?
5) What is the memory used by aninteger pointer, float pointer etc.
6) What are: binary tree, strictlybinary tree, completely binary tree, almost complete binary tree, threadedbinary tree, etc.
7) Conversion of expression frominfix to postfix & to prefix
8) Evaluation of postfix andprefix expressions
9) Given inorder & preordertraversal or inorder & postorder traversal of a tree, build a tree.
10) Why prototypes are used?
11) What are inline functions and scope resolution
12) What are pre-processors? What is their use?
13) Which is efficient sorting algorithm? Why?
||Note||: In mostof the cases small program code is given & output is asked or to identifythe error in it.
OperatingSystems:
1) What is virtual memory?Differentiate between logical & physical memory
2) What are: demand paging, puredemand paging, page fault, page replacement, page replacement algorithms (LRU,Opt. FCFS etc), thrashing, paging, segmentation, external & internalfragmentation etc
3) Which technique does DOS (&UNIX) use? (Paging or Segmentation or both….)
4) What are scheduling algorithms?(FCFS, SJF, RR,…) [IBM]
5) Why you prefer SJF? Does ithave any limitation?(ans: Starvation of longer processes) How do you over comeit?( one solution is: by using priority queue with SJF)
6) What are semaphores andmonitors?
7) What is critical section problem?
8) What is a process, BCP (ProgramControl Block)?
9) What is turnaround time,Throughput [IBM]?
10) What do you optimize usingscheduling algorithms SJF, RR etc?
11) What is real time operatingsystem, time sharing system, batch processing multiprogramming?
12) Differentiate Between multitasking and time-sharing system?
13) What is dead lock? Necessarycondition
14) File accessing technique(direct, sequential)
15) File allocating techniques(contiguous, linked, indexed)
16) Free space management (rarelyasked)
17) Head movement algorithms(FCFS, SHORTEST DISTANCE FIRST, SCAN,
C-SCAN, LOOK, C-LOOK etc)
Note: These questions on OS are asked only ifyou tell OS as your favourite subject.
DBMS:
1) What is normalization? Why isit needed?
2) What are insertion, deletion,& modification anomalies?
3) What is first, second, or thirdnormal forms?
4) Do you implement it in your project, howexplain with example?
5) What is super key, a key,candidate key, primary key or minimal super key etc?
6) What is entity integrity,referential integrity etc?
nn
SYETEM SOFTWARE: (rarely asked)
1) What is an interpreter,differentiate between compiler and interpreter? (MIND TREE)
2) What are assembler, linker,loader, and dynamic linker?
3) What are Yacc, Parsingtechniques, LR, LL, LALR grammars?
UNIX: (rarely asked)
1) Expand UNIX, who developed it,when & where?
2) What is file structure used inUNIX? [IBM]
3) Differentiate between UNIX& LINUX?
Some commandsmay be asked.
JAVA & NETWORKING: (Rarely asked)
1) What is the significant featureof JAVA? (ANS: JVM JAVA virtual machine)
2) Difference between package,interface, classes etc?
3) Difference between interfaces& abstract classes?
4) What is class A, class B, classC, class D addresses? (CIP)
5) OSI & TCP (IP layer andtheir function may be asked)
6) What is routing?
7) Difference between routes,bridges, & gateways?
8) What is firewall?
9) Difference between UDP & TCP?
10) What is subnet?
Note: question on SS, UNIX, JAVA, NETWORKS,OOPS, C++ are asked only in the pure software companies or big MNC’s or dreamcompanies or if you say it as your favourite subject.
Mechanicalrelated Questions
1) Orthographic views
2) Difference between I and III projection.
3) Difference between Otto cycles and Diesel cycles.
4) What are principal stress and compound stress?
5) State 0th, 1st, 2nd law of thermodynamics.
6) Explain Alumino thermite process.
7) Different types of welding and machining
8) Explain the importance of laser in modern mechanical field.
9) Applications of mechatronics.
[ I feel sorry; I couldn’t add questions from electrical, IT, civil,environmental etc. branches as minorities are always sidelined.
These questionsjust look simple. They may grill you if your answers don’t look confident or ifyou try to bluff. If you don’t know, you can say ‘sir we don’t have that in oursyllabus’ or ‘sir I am not remembering it’ or ‘I don’t know sir’.
Maintain eyecontact with the one you are speaking. While you are speaking give intermediatelooks to the other interviewer. When they ask about projects you can spent moretime on them, as you will be more comfortable with the projects you have done.
Non-CS students whoapply for software companies, should say, they at least know one programminglanguage, generally C; and should be prepared to face questions like what arestrings, pointers, header files or simple ‘for loop’ usage programs.
Some softwarecompanies ask puzzles in their interview. This is the most challenging job tomany people. There are chances that if they solve one or two asked puzzles theymay get selected, other wise may get rejected. I have seen many good studentsstruggling with puzzles, with tense and frightened look at the interviewers.Usually the puzzles asked will be simple. So be cool, take the paper and writedown the figure representation of the puzzle and analyse it by fully focussingon it. Just forget that in front of you two (or more) enemies are sitting. Manystudents falter at this stage. One JC student who answered every question firedat him at Satyam interview was finally asked a puzzle.
How do you divide this figure into 7 equal parts?
The boy got tensed, struggled and gave up. He was rejected for notusing common sense. By the way the answer was:
So don’t panic, be cool and feel confident. Yes, here a bit of luckis counted.
Speak clearlyand convince your answers to them. Don’t rush at your answers and end upstammering, getting confused. Speak slowly and steadily; such are the guys whoimpress more. Smile in between (if you don’t know the answer) and don’t maketoo many hand movements. Don’t use complex terminology, which you don’t know.(Practicing mock interviews really helps a lot).
The technicalinterview may last for 15 to 45 minutes. With good preparation many people findtechnical interview easy.
If you do technicalbadly, then there is 90% chance of your rejection, if it was average, then onecan do well in HR and get selected.
6. HR INTERVIEW
Going into HRinterview, you can be relaxed and feel free. But for few candidates HR sectionseems difficult. Usually HR interviewer will be a lady, so don’t getdistracted. Just concentrate on her questions and your answers. This is verycrucial stage of your life; if you stay focussed and perform well you willenjoy your future. There are many questions that HR managers from differentcompanies ask. Let me list some of the questions and answers in a format, whichI think, can be better ones. There can be hundreds of good answers, which canbe given, based on your views, thoughts, personality, goals, expectations andfinally the mood.
1) How was the written test?
à Sir, it was easy. I think I did well.
2) Tell me about yourself?
à Well, I was born in Dehradun. My father is Canara Bank Manager andmother is a housewife. I did my primary education in Royal Convent. My fatherwas transferred to Banglore, when I was 14. I joined Kendriya Vidyalaya. Iscored well in 10th with 95% aggregate for which I got CBSEscholarship. I did my 12th in the same school with 90% aggregate.When I was in 12th, I had participated in national level scienceexhibition held at Hydrabad. I wrote CET and secured 729 rank, even though Ihad got medical seat I took B.E. (Mechanical) in NIE …………. .
[In between they may ask questions about the scholarship you got andthe exhibition you participated.]
3) Why did you leave medical seat?
à Right from my 10th standard I was interested in mathsand I really didn’t enjoy biology labs. I wanted to learn the technology and dosomething in the technical field. So I opted engineering.
4) O.K. After scoring good marksat PU why did you score less in engineering?
à Sir, in PU we had 5-6 subjects to be studied in 14 months. But inengineering we have four-month semester and we need to study 8 subjects persemester. Moreover the labs are like lottery. If no output, then fail. So thereis luck factor playing its part in engineering. Yes, I think I could havestudied still well and could have performed still better.
5) Why do you want to work in asoftware company?
à When I took the seat in mechanical I didn’t know about software.But afterwards I thought, I better could have taken computer science branchbecause software is the fastest growing industry where one can build his careerfaster. Moreover I am flexible and efficient which make me suitable forlearning the changing technologies faster and give my best.
[For mechanical or electronics companies]
à Sir, I wanted to study some core, solid field of engineering, so Ichose the evergreen branch, Mechanical. After studying the technical conceptsfor 4 years, now I want to see how these subjects are applied in the industry.So I want to work in the field that I have studied and give my best to thecompany I am working in.
6) Why do you want to join ourcompany?
à I have realized that software is the field where I can make apoint. So basically I want to join a software firm like yours that worksglobally on cutting edge technologies and expose its employees to all thefields, which help the employees to excel.
[If the company is small like IVEGA, ONMOBILE, ITTIUM etc.]
sir, since your company is small, it can give every attention toeach of your employees so that one gets to know all the things that’s happeningin the company unlike some big firms like INFOSYS where some group is givensome task and they are not allowed to see what’s happening on the other side.So one can grow faster in a smaller company like yours. So I prefer to work inyour company.
[If the company is big like INFOSYS, TCS etc]
Sir, it makes me proud that there are few Indian companies which areglobal leaders today. The phenomenal growth of your company in last couple ofyears only speaks volume about your company. Yours is a SEI CMM level-5 companythat gives its employees not only a challenging career, but also a rich workculture and rich values. I just want tobe a part of that.
7) What do you expect from thecompany?
à Freedom! The company should give its employees the freedom ofthoughts, ideas and proposals so that one is not restricted to something. Oneshould be allowed to share his views on the things going on in the company sothat both the employees and the company get benefited. By this the company canspot the areas in which an employee is good at and can extract good results bymaking him work on that area.
[Or you can say]
The company should encourage those who perform well and providegrowth opportunities. It also can work on strengthening the employeerelationship. I think a company should be like a family.
8) What are your strengths or whyshould we hire you only?
[You can say your strength with respect to the company but there are4 things that a company usually expects from you. They are hard work,efficiency, flexibility and teamwork]
à I am efficient and flexible. I can learn faster and deliver fasterwhich is required in software industry.
[You can say you are enthusiastic, creative, confident, haveleadership qualities, communication skills, organisation skills, good memoryetc, but support your answers with relevant examples. Here don’t try to bluff,if you want to bluff do it intelligently with proper expressions and emotions.For that you need to be an actor. You will win only when you out think youropponent. Out thinking is to know what the opponent is thinking and thinkingbeyond him. Wasim Akram had the ability to out think the batsmen and take themout with his variations. Sachin outthinks not only the bowler but even theopposite captain by improvising his shots. Vishwanathan Anand has to do the samething.
In an interview youneed not defeat the interviewers but anticipate what they are expecting, whatthey are thinking about you and accordingly deliver the goods based on you andyour preparation. It’s not as complex as it looks. Believe me.]
9) What weakness do you have?
à Well, I think I underestimate myself at times. (Or) I need to stillimprove in my communication skills. I am working on that. At times, I actcarelessly, so I try to motivate myself always.
[Don’t tell too manyweaknesses, one or two are enough. Also mention the ways to overcome your weaknesses]
10) What really motivates you?
à [Say who really motivates you]
The achievementsand sacrifice of all the great people in all the fields motivates me to do bestin my field. The sheer thought of excelling in technical field and becoming arecognized individual in the industry motivates me.
[or]
The way my parents are struggling to educate me and their hope &blessings motivates me (or) Bill Gate motivates me (or) I am self-motivated.
Who is your role model?
[You can say anybody but you should know what you like about him orher]
[I had said]
My role models are Sachinand Shahrukh Khan, because apart from their talent they worked hard anddedicated themselves to their field and rose to stardom right from the scratch.I mean to say, they justified their talents to the full extent. I like theirconsistency [You can say Bill Gate, Narayan Murthy, Sports persons. YourFather, Scientist, politician or anybody. By the way many say, east or west‘Vivekananda’ is best]
11) Your Hobbies?
[They see your resume or bio data and ask about whatever is writtenthere. So prepare well thoughtresume. About hobbies say some qualityhobbies (of course you should cultivate them) like writing articles, quizzing,organizing tournaments or competitions, knowing new cars, meeting new peoplesand places, singing, sports, etc.
Eighty percent ofstudents write, ‘reading books and playing cricket’. Please avoid these two options as they havebecome default and moreover interviewers will be fed up seeing same hobbiesagain and again. So don’t put upsomething that makes interviewers boring and lose interest in you. You need to out think and present yourself asan interesting, curious, fresh and raring to go kind of candidate.
12) What are your future goals?
à Right now I want to get into a good software/hardware/mechanicalcompany like yours, stick to the company forever and grow along with thecompany.
13) O.K. What about your higherstudies?
à Sir, after my engineering I just want to get into the industry, seehow it works and how I work in it. So Iam not opting for higher studies at this stage. And also, as I am from a middle class family my parents can’t afford formy higher studies.
14) Are you comfortable with ourtwo-year agreement?
à Yes sir, I am pretty comfortable with that.
Like this some companiesmay pour hundreds of questions. So don’tbe impatient, show them that you have temperament and patience to work hard. Be modest and down to earth. Some companies may ask just a couple of HRquestions, you should know earlier itself what you are going to speak. The people who can speak well without preparationare very very rare.
Interviewers may ask someunexpected complex questions like:
1) Consider yourself as C. E. O.,what do you do for growth of the company?
2) How can you improve employeerelationships in the company?
3) What can you do to avoid sexualharassment in the company?
4) You said you are innovative;you better suit to join a product company rather than our services company.
5) You being weak in communicatingskills do you expect you will get the job?
Take a breath, take your time to think and answer in a positive andoptimistic way. Don’t leave hope orsurrender at any stage.
Companies askwhether you have friends and enjoy their company. This is to test whether you can work in ateam. So always say you have pretty goodnumber of friends and you enjoy their company. Never ever agree to work alone.
I forgot to tell onething, about imaging again. The dayprior to the interview you sit alone and rehearse the interview. It’s like taking your interview by yourself. Ask HR questions to yourself and answer themloudly as you do in an interview. Youcan anticipate even technical questions and rehearse. This technique is very, very effective. Don’t think that you are the only one who hasto do this; even ‘Amitabh Bachchan’ rehearses before acting.
By the end of theinterview you will get the clue whether you stand the chance or not. Even if you don’t have hope don’t leave thecentre, wait till the results are announced. Koun jane Khuda ko aapka kounsasajda pasand ajaae!
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7. RESULTS
7.1CELEBRATION
Selected!! Wow that’snice. Celebrations are totally left toyou. But I suggest, if you want to partyand have fun, do it on the same night as after couple of days you lose the joshof your success. After you get selectedI swear, you won’t get sleep in next couple of nights. So ultimately everything has to be fought andearned. Believe in yourself, not inluck. Luck never made a mad man wise.
7.2NOT SELECTED
Earlier I used tolaugh the phrase “failures are stepping stones”, but now I think that failuresare building blocks of your personality that make you stronger every time youfail.
So you have failedirrespective of your efforts and endeavours; no problem. You can say to yourself ‘this was not mycompany, there are hundred more good companies and I will get into a betterone’. I know how bitter thedisappointment is, but life does not stop. The show must go on and on. Thisday you have not lost anything but gained something. You have gained experience, which makes youhandle pressure in a better manner next time. You have got to interact with few people and got to know yourshortcomings, on which you can always work and improve yourself. Yeah, I know how difficult it is to takethese things positively. When I hadfailed in my first four interviews, I was so much disappointed that when one ofmy friends asked “Hey still you have not been selected? This time I wish you will be selected”. I had replied sarcastically “I am ready toface hundred interviews”. That day Icame and watched the film ‘Kabhi Han and Kabhi Na’ which changed my way ofthinking. In the film the characterSuneel is a normal guy with ambitions and the desire to get his girl. To succeed or to get what he wants he triesin every way, he even lies here and there but does not succeed. But he does not feel guilty or disappointedat all. He keeps telling his parentsthat one day he will become a successful person. He tries again, but fails. He is restless; he looks more fresh andoptimistic every time he tries. Ultimately he loses his love for whom he had yearned several years. But even then he smiles and hopes he willsucceed some day. Kundan Shah hasdirected the movie very much realistically.
This movie inspiredme so much so that when I failed afterwards I never felt thedisappointment. Again next time with asmile on the face and hope in my eyes I went for the interview. So I strongly recommend you to watch KHKNwhich is the story of optimism.
You can look backwhat were the areas in which you didn’t perform well. Sit and work on those areas. And again with new hope and a fresh lookapply for the next company. You may failhundred times, but one day will surely be yours and that day you will feel likeyou have conquered the world. Feelingdejected makes you miss your moments. Good moments don’t come often in our life; one should live every momentthat comes his way. Say yesterday, youhad failed and today you have your brother’s wedding. If you are dejected, nervous and don’t enjoythe occasion and after couple of days if you get a better job, you will repentthroughout your life that you could have enjoyed your brother’s wedding.
‘When a door isclosed for us, we tend to look at the closed door for so long that we neverobserve the other opened doors’. When I had failed in Infosys I was sodisappointed for weeks that I never realized when the companies, TCS, CTS,L&T came and went away. So please don’t get carried away with yourfailures. One more thing, always stay focussed on one particular thing. Say youhave five call letters, please never ever think that you have so many calls andyou can get into one or the other. Otherwise you will land up nowhere. Henceaim only the interview, you have right ahead and just do it.
There is nothingcalled success because success is purely virtual and has no boundaries. So always commit to CANI (Constant AndNever-ending Improvement), then what ever they call success, money, fame willall be yours.
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8. ATTITUDE
Company HR managersare psychologists. They can gauge thepersonality of the candidates by evaluating the answers given by them. So even by preparing perfect answers andbluffing perfectly you can’t prove yourself to be a person with solid attitude.Short term preparation doesn’t help this out. So if you start now you will find the difference after few years.
So basically whatshould you do to get the job? You shouldimpress the interviewers. You can do itby giving brilliant technical answers, knowing, explaining and appreciatingcompany’s performance or business plans (for this you should be knowing what’shappening in the industry), telling your achievements, delivering emotionaldialogues or portraying your personality which improves them.
Changing ourpersonality fully is difficult as few aspects are innate in us, which areunchangeable, but we can develop good attitude by commitment and practice.What’s actually attitude? It is the conception and the way with which we lookat the things around us, people around us and behave or lead our lifeaccordingly.
I was too much ofphilosophical when I was in 2nd semester. I did lot of soul searching and set certainvalues for myself. Most of the time Ifollowed them and it really paid off. The advantages that I got were, I never experienced mental stress andnever had personal problems with anybody. The main advantage was that I enjoyed every moment that came my way andat the end of the day I am not complaining; I am happy.
So let me list fewtips that can help you. Even if yourefer some personality books(I have heard Shiv Khera’s book ‘You can win’ ismind-blowing), you will find these things in some or the other way.
1) Enthusiasm: - Aman without enthusiasm is like an animal. Enthusiasm is the urge or curiosity to know, learn, do and experiencenew things and moments. With this onecan lead a thrilling life, without which the life becomes just a routine like amachine. So this is the age, when yourblood should rush to make you energetic to do (Positive) what you can.
2) Angry young man:- Never get angry. If some body makesyou angry, just laugh at them, laugh at the situation. Think that you are the master of the momentand you just don’t get out of control. In anger, if you shout at others or beat them, ultimately you have torepent about what you have said or done. Moreover by shouting or beating you are not changing anybody. So neverlose your temper, let whatever happens: being cool and patient is an asset.
3) Laugh at yourself: - If you can’t laugh at others, somebody will laugh at both themand you. Life is to enjoy, and laughteris its tool. When you laugh at others it’s OK, but the problem comes only whenothers laugh at you; you feel humiliated and tend to become short tempered.Instead one can learn to laugh at oneself. This avoids ego problems, makes you more social and down to earthperson. So there is no use in thinkingyourself as a great personality and behaving like a king because people alwayslike modest individuals.
4) Criticise: -Don’t criticise anybody. By doing that again you are not changing him to a goodperson. Criticism only spoils yourpersonality. You won’t get anything ifyou comment on others.
Weak minds talk aboutpeople,
Average minds talkabout events.
Strong minds talkabout ideas.
5) Learn: - Havethe hunger to learn the things you don’t know. Let it be technical knowledge, general knowledge, etiquettes etc. So learn the things eagerly and sincerely. Everyday you should feel you are improving.
6) Groupism: - Evenif you wish, you can’t work alone after you get the job. So those who like loneliness and arereserved; open yourself and make friends. Meet new people and share your views and knowledge. By this you can learn effective communicationand develop leadership qualities. Forleadership skills you can opt to become the captain in the cricket field andsee how best you can manage the players. You can organize competitive events and try to lead in your projectgroups.
7) Optimism: -Even if you are at dire straits, hope for the best. Even if you are dying hope that you wouldlive. This what makes life sweater. Always believe you can bounce back andwin. Never give up.
Whatever you do youshould not disturb, hurt or harm others. Being selfish doesn’t make you happy; making others happy makes youhappy. Hence, always work for the welfare of the society.
Still there arehundreds of aspects that can make your personality a rock solid. In this regard you can refer the personalitydevelopment books.
Your personality ismeasured not by your words but by your thoughts and behavior. So over the time anybody can develop‘positive attitude’, if they are serious about it. With proper workout even a ‘khajoor’ (stupid)can become a dignified person.
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9. JUICY EVENTS AT INTERVIEW
1) For TCS interview I had worn anew shirt and had fixed a new pen in my shirt pocket. The first technical question, ‘write 8085program to sort 10 numbers…’ the interviewer was explaining. Mean while I tried to take out my pen from mypocket but the new pen was so tight that it was not coming out at all. I pulled, pulled and pulled for around one minute,but the pen was stuck their like a virus. The other interviewer was enjoying the scene. Ultimately I asked ‘Sir can I have your pen?’
“You should”, came the reply.
With such a situation, who can come out successful?
2) In L&T ‘C’ test, one of myfriends solved a ‘C’ program and wrote the output as 200 unfortunately, whichwas the right answer. But he saw a ‘C’punter in front of him, who had written 105 as the output for the same program. So he stroke off 200 and wrote 105 beside it.
In the interview,interviewer took his ‘C’ answer sheet and asked ‘how did you get 105 aftergetting 200?
“Sir, later I thought the answer might be 105 so I changed it to105”.
“Can you explain how did you get 105 with the given program?”
The candidate was bewildered, he replied
“Sir….. No sir……I……….actually guessed it”
“Why did you guess 105 only?”
“Sir…… because ………105 is my lucky number”
And rest is the history.
3) One candidate went to CTSinterview; of course he was a Kannadiga. His was the last interview of theday. The interviewer asked, “Who is theCM of Karnataka?”
The candidate replied with great confidence, “Sir, K. M.Krishnamurthy”.
Ultimately he was selected. By the way K. M. Krishnamurthy was his project batch mate
4) By the end of 2002 I was soobsessed with the film ‘Devdas’ that I had watched it 10 times. In MindTree interview I mimicked “Shahrukh”as Devdas. I had remembered all hisdialogues. Interviewers felt reallyhappy and said they never had experienced such an entertainment at interviews. That was my best interview.
5) In some interview, a guy called“Ehtisham” showed different Karate skills in front of the interviewers. [They didn’t take him because they feared oneday he might kick them too].
6) For a softwarecompany, 9 from our class were short listed for the Ist interview. For 8 of us they asked which programminglanguages we knew. We said we didn’tknow anything except ‘C’. But one guysaid he knew many languages and smashed every question that came his way. Unfortunately that guy was rejected. We all were short listed for the nextinterview. Finally 5 of us were selectedfor the company.
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ALL THE BEST
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