Prashmit Kumar
Electrical engineering
Placements
N. K. Securities
High Frequency Trading Software Developer
Interviewed by:
Devansh
Internships
Placements
20th September 2020
When to start preparing for the Placement season?
Q
Skills developed and fundamental domain knowledge acquired during the years of B.Tech provide a remarkable head start in all profiles. Eg. Competitive Programming experience is pretty helpful for those interested in SDE profiles. For placement-specific preparation, I feel April-May is a good time to start considering the summer is mostly occupied with intern work.
Regarding the steps, it is very important to speak with seniors/supervisors and get an idea/overview of how the placement mechanism works. This helps create a mental roadmap for the upcoming months and I feel it’s a good place to start.
Regarding the steps, it is very important to speak with seniors/supervisors and get an idea/overview of how the placement mechanism works. This helps create a mental roadmap for the upcoming months and I feel it’s a good place to start.
Q
If someone does not get an intern via OCS in their 3rd year, what should they do?
It definitely helps to have an internship experience for CV shortlists; but companies don’t really care whether you got the intern via OCS. Last year, several internships were revoked due to the pandemic, hence the outlook was different.
Q
Necessities for targeting your field?
My field circles around Software/Systems Development for High-Frequency Trading. There are two aspects the firms tend to test your knowledge in.
CS fundamentals :
Data Structures and Algorithm Design (courses like COL106, COL351 help, Competitive Programming experience is a major boost)
Operating Systems and Parallel Computing (COL331, COL380)
Computer Networks (COL334)
Language-specific skills (varies according to firm requirements, C++ in my case. As far as I know, Graviton looks for experience in VHDL)
I must mention though that sometimes, companies are satisfied with good programming skills and they don’t focus much on core CS knowledge like OS or networks.
Quantitative Aptitude :
General quant puzzle solving skills (common sources are Brainstellar, 50 challenging problems, etc) and it definitely helps to have exposure to Markov Chains (MTL106)
CS fundamentals :
Data Structures and Algorithm Design (courses like COL106, COL351 help, Competitive Programming experience is a major boost)
Operating Systems and Parallel Computing (COL331, COL380)
Computer Networks (COL334)
Language-specific skills (varies according to firm requirements, C++ in my case. As far as I know, Graviton looks for experience in VHDL)
I must mention though that sometimes, companies are satisfied with good programming skills and they don’t focus much on core CS knowledge like OS or networks.
Quantitative Aptitude :
General quant puzzle solving skills (common sources are Brainstellar, 50 challenging problems, etc) and it definitely helps to have exposure to Markov Chains (MTL106)
Q
Major problems that you faced?
Lack of clarity about what the companies expect and are looking for was the major difficulty while preparing because there is no limit to preparation and having a clear perspective helps maximize productivity.
Now, specific to our batch, I definitely felt that handling the pressure and workload would’ve been easier on campus, amongst my peers. Also, there are logistic difficulties like network issues, etc.
Now, specific to our batch, I definitely felt that handling the pressure and workload would’ve been easier on campus, amongst my peers. Also, there are logistic difficulties like network issues, etc.
These are tips my seniors gave me so no offense to them. I will repeat that it's important to get an overview of how the placement process works, what the companies expect in tests (sometimes company-specific ideas), standard preparation procedures,etc as early as possible. Helps in analysing your drawbacks and figuring out how to work on them. There is no point advising people to not panic and stay calm, I guess that doesn’t happen. It helps to be mentally prepared for random OCS quirks now and then (censor this?) and go as it comes.
Takeaways
Q
As a matter of fact, this entire placement season was unique in multiple ways and I don't have enough exposure to the standard offline placement mechanism. I faced some minor obstacles like figuring out optimal strategies for tests but I guess they help a lot in future assessments and I don’t really regret much.
Is there anything unique or something regretful that you did in this placement season?
Q
Comparison between your intern and placement interviews?
Q
Comparison between your intern and placement interviews?
Broadly, the kind of problems you face during intern and job recruitment are fairly similar, with perhaps an increased degree of difficulty. The preparation roadmaps are similar as well. The experiences gained during the training procedure (failed experiences in my case lol) helped me a lot in taking decisions during placements.
Speaking of differences, companies obviously expect better skills and deeper knowledge during placements, compared to internship-recruitment; hence tests and interviews are more extensive and detailed. Also, the workload is massive during placements; way more PPTs, tests you appear for and stretched through almost an entire semester.
Speaking of differences, companies obviously expect better skills and deeper knowledge during placements, compared to internship-recruitment; hence tests and interviews are more extensive and detailed. Also, the workload is massive during placements; way more PPTs, tests you appear for and stretched through almost an entire semester.
Q
Online vs Offline placements?
Offline placements, any day. I feel the interviews would be much more interactive f2f, physical cues would come into play which is mostly helpful for the applicants, and interviewers would probably find character-judgement much easier. Apart from this, I would personally find it easier to handle the workload and pressure amidst my peers on campus as I mentioned earlier. Also, logistic issues have been massive this year, there have been endless complaints of plagiarism (more in other IITs than ours); but I hope authorities will be better equipped to tackle these issues if such a situation crops us again in the future.
Q
Does the higher studies application timeline and placement
session go along easily?
session go along easily?
Normally, the grad school application timeline is around October-December and it clashes massively with placements; job applicants are massively overloaded in this span with upto 4-5 tests on some days. I wasn’t applying for higher studies, but I guess it’s pretty difficult to manage both. Hence, if someone wishes to appear for placements as a back-up plan, they should probably plan beforehand around summer vacations otherwise things might get overwhelming.
Q
How did you decide your field of interest? What about backups?
I explored several domains in my first couple of years in college and gradually picked one from those based on enthusiasm; nothing out of the blue, it was a gradual inclination towards coding, algorithm-design, optimization.
Regarding the prospect of backups, it depends on the profile you focus on as your primary target. If you are focussed on SDE or Analyst roles, there is an abundance of opportunities and probably a backup domain isn’t necessary. However, it might be risky to focus on Quant profiles solely and not have a backup, considering the demand and supply.
Regarding the prospect of backups, it depends on the profile you focus on as your primary target. If you are focussed on SDE or Analyst roles, there is an abundance of opportunities and probably a backup domain isn’t necessary. However, it might be risky to focus on Quant profiles solely and not have a backup, considering the demand and supply.