My Journey at Campus Placements @ RVCE

Hi all,

A busy summer comes to an end finally but the Topsy turvy journey that it brought with it has made me a specialist at tackling HR interviews with me trying out different kind of answers to the same questions and finally the divine force agreeing with my answer leading to me getting placed. Well, here are some excerpts from the interview processes I faced.

1. Cisco Systems

I was pursuing my Summer Internship at Cisco, Bangalore wherein i was assigned the project of developing a DNS client for their proprietary product. I performed well on the project meeting the expectations of my manager who offered me a job then and there. I thought, ‘YES!’ , no more interviews and crap stuff like that. Then he gets to know that i still have a year of engineering left and then he says you will have to go through the interview process and i can recommend the HR. Then, in the final week of my stay there, i get a call from the HR Space that I’ll have my written test followed by the interviews tomorrow. they split the interns into 2 batches, one at 10 am comprising 8 candidates and another at 11 am comprising 6 candidates.  Thankfully i was in the 2nd batch. The first batch guys come out and an announcement follows saying 2 out of 8 cleared the apti. We guys are like WTF. Then its our turn. The questions were mostly on General Aptitude, 8085, Digital Logic and Operating Systems. I did some 25 correctly and guessed the rest since we had to answer 50 questions in 60 mins. The results come and 5 out of 6 get through.. #FTW.. Then the technical interview followed where he asked questions from all topics related to Computer Science where I did fairly well, which was followed by the manager interview where he judged our understanding of the basics and finally the HR interview which went on for 45 mins since I knew the HR guy really well. They said the results will be out in 2 weeks time and I dunno the equivalent of 2 weeks for them since the results are not yet out.

Package-8.5 lpa ctc (Apparently)

Status- Awaiting Results

2. Oracle Systems

The First Company to visit us on campus was Oracle, which had 2 companies conducting the Online written test viz Oracle Systems and Oracle CGBU. Lot of Hype-Hoopla surrounded the whole process since everyone was giving the online test and this was a new process for all. Next day everyone had gathered at the IEM Auditorium (the only decent audi at RV), wherein they gave a brief description of the company and the job profiles they are offering. Then they started announcing the shortlisted names for the interviews and first came the names of the CGBU guys and I wasn’t one among them. Then they announced the names of the Systems Guys and thankfully I had made the cut. I had my technical interview slot for 4.20pm but they called me in at 6.30pm and the interviewer who was interviewing me was rejecting people within 5 mins of the interview. I prayed and entered the interview room and thankfully I answered almost all the questions she asked me. Then, they called me for the HR interview where the common question I feared surfaced-”Why won’t you join Cisco?”. I answered truthfully saying that Cisco is in a bad condition and I wanted a reliable company. Apparently even Oracle is in a bad condition and I didn’t know that. Then questions about Higher Studies and Stuff and at 9pm they called 17 candidates into a common room and started announcing the names. They selected 10 guys and I didn’t make the cut. I was dejected since I had to go through the process again.

Package- 8.5 lpa (Oracle Systems), 6.5 lpa (Oracle CGBU)

Result- Got out in the HR round

3. Akamai Technologies

I had decided that I would appear only for Companies which would offer more than 6.5 lpa. So, i skipped a few companies like Thought Works. Next in line was Akamai Technologies which dealt with Networking and Data Handling. I knew that this job profile suited me really well. 160 odd guys appeared for the written round among which 16 were shortlisted and were called for interviews. First Round interview was fun with the Interviewer being a chilled out guy and he mainly asked questions related to Data Structures which were fairly simple and straight-forward. Then I was called in for the second round where a young guy was interviewing me. He asked me to code a problem which i had not attempted in the Apti and i coded it easily using Recursion. Then he asked me a dice puzzle which was simple and finally a DataBase query which i knew the logic but not the exact syntax. Then he asked me to wait outside and one person comes and asks me my T-Shirt size which meant that I was Out. They selected 4 guys finally and 1 guy from Computers. Hard Luck.

Package- 7.25 lpa + shares

Result- Got out in the penultimate round

4. Citrix Systems

Had been home for the weekend after Akamai, just to get my mind off it. The next Biggie that arrived was Citrix Systems and it had a lot of hype since it usually took many guys from CS. They had their pre-placement talk which was followed by the written test. The short-list was out and they had called 36 guys for the interview. I had made it into the 36. Then the first round of technical interview which was 2 on 1 where he asked questions from all topics where I aced at some and sucked at the rest. But I did fine. Then the 2nd round of  Technical Interviews which was also 2 on 1 where he asked me what are my interests. I told him I love to solve Sudoku and puzzles. There!.. Now he asked me write a code to solve a 9 cross 9 Sudoku. I was shocked since lot of cases had to be taken care of . I wrote a Pseudo-Code which was fairly straight-forward but the Interviewer was not that impressed but he said its fine. Nonetheless, they called me for the HR interview where I had to describe myself for 2 mins where i went for the conventional answer of listing my strengths and team-player, motivated and stuff. Then, the same question “Why not Cisco?”. I told him that Citrix was my Dream company and i didn’t want anything else. Then the waiting process started and finally the results were declared at 12 am Midnight and they selected 7 guys (5 from CS) and I had not made it. I was broken.

Package-8.8 lpa

Result- Out in the HR Round

5. SanDisk Corp

The next Company visiting us was SanDisk which was visiting a private College for the first time since it used to recruit in less numbers at NITs and IITs only. They had 4 job profiles among which Firmware Development was open to CS guys. The Cutoff was 9.0 CGPA and some 120 guys appeared for the written in FD and they shortlisted 8 guys for the interview. My first round interview went on for 45 mins which mainly dealt with puzzles, projects and data structures. They selected 3 guys for the other profiles and shortlisted 2 guys for the FD profile and called them for Manager and HR interviews at their Campus at C.V. Raman Nagar. I went there the next day and the manager greeted me and called me in for the interview which went on for half an hour or so. There too I was asked the same question- “Why not Cisco?”.. My answer was “I don’t know whether they are recruiting. I’m not sure”. That answer was classic and fair enough and finally they called me for the HR and I was hired..

Package- 7.25 lpa

Result- Hired

So, this was my tryst with the HR interviews at different companies where I learnt some lessons on diplomacy. Raju’s interview in 3 idiots doesn’t work in real life..

Here’s me signing off. Until next time,

VCG.

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