Sakshi Gupta
Electrical - Power and Automation
Placements
Goldman Sachs
New Analyst
Interviewed by:
Ojas Srivastava
Internships
Placements
20th September 2020
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When to start preparing for the Placement season?
Comparison between your intern and placement interviews?
Learnings from this placement season?
How did you decide your field of interest? What about backups?
If someone does not get an intern via OCS in their 3rd year, what should they do?
Major problems that you faced?
Online vs Offline placements?
Does the higher studies application timeline and placement session go along easily?
Necessities for targeting your field?
The test format is fairly standard.
● For tech / SDE roles: comp coding + MCQs on OS, DB, Networks
● For tech / analyst roles in banks: same as above, plus quant
● For ML roles: comp coding + ML MCQs
● Also, a lot of firms have an additional aptitude section as well (math, logical reasoning) which is usually very easy.
So, how much time it will take depends on how comfortable you are with coding. If you have zero experience, and are not comfortable with the basics like taking input/output, string and array operations, loops etc. then you’ll need 4-5 months. If you’ve coded before, but don’t have comp coding experience in particular, 2-3 months of dedicated practice should work.
For coding - To start, pick a language, and a platform (I suggest Leetcode if you’ve more time, and InterviewBit if you’re in a rush). Start with the basics, then move towards topics that are commonly asked - arrays, dynamic programming, graphs, stacks/queues, etc. Practice everyday, and try to understand how to do questions on your own.
For quant - get clear with the basics of random variables, probability, expectation. There are some standard puzzles and questions on websites like brainstellar.com, CSE Blog, Gurmeet.net, where you can find lots of prep material.
● For tech / SDE roles: comp coding + MCQs on OS, DB, Networks
● For tech / analyst roles in banks: same as above, plus quant
● For ML roles: comp coding + ML MCQs
● Also, a lot of firms have an additional aptitude section as well (math, logical reasoning) which is usually very easy.
So, how much time it will take depends on how comfortable you are with coding. If you have zero experience, and are not comfortable with the basics like taking input/output, string and array operations, loops etc. then you’ll need 4-5 months. If you’ve coded before, but don’t have comp coding experience in particular, 2-3 months of dedicated practice should work.
For coding - To start, pick a language, and a platform (I suggest Leetcode if you’ve more time, and InterviewBit if you’re in a rush). Start with the basics, then move towards topics that are commonly asked - arrays, dynamic programming, graphs, stacks/queues, etc. Practice everyday, and try to understand how to do questions on your own.
For quant - get clear with the basics of random variables, probability, expectation. There are some standard puzzles and questions on websites like brainstellar.com, CSE Blog, Gurmeet.net, where you can find lots of prep material.
The overall process is identical. There’s a test, followed by a CV+test score shortlist. Interviews are more or less the same. Placement interviews are more rigorous for sure, and there are far
more people applying than for interns - but on the other hand, the number of companies is also much larger.
Prep-wise, it’s almost the same, except of course placement has a higher difficulty level.
more people applying than for interns - but on the other hand, the number of companies is also much larger.
Prep-wise, it’s almost the same, except of course placement has a higher difficulty level.
Do look at past year placement docs. The format and level of tests hardly change across years. It gives you an idea of what to expect so that you’re comfortable while attempting a timed, stressful test.
Also, practice relevant questions and don’t get caught up in unnecessary extra stuff. There’s a fairly standard set of questions companies ask, easily found in placement docs / Leetcode Discuss / InterviewBit or GeeksForGeeks archives.
Prep for interviews in advance, shortlists come really late, sometimes even a few hours before the interview.
Also, practice relevant questions and don’t get caught up in unnecessary extra stuff. There’s a fairly standard set of questions companies ask, easily found in placement docs / Leetcode Discuss / InterviewBit or GeeksForGeeks archives.
Prep for interviews in advance, shortlists come really late, sometimes even a few hours before the interview.
If I’m being honest, I didn’t pick a field out of interest, but more so out of exploration. Based on my intern, I had some idea of what fintech is like, and wanted to work on roles more heavy on coding.
It’s good to have a backup, of course, plenty of chances to switch fields later too. We’re just starting out, it’s okay to not be 100% sure of what we want to make a career in!
It’s good to have a backup, of course, plenty of chances to switch fields later too. We’re just starting out, it’s okay to not be 100% sure of what we want to make a career in!
I don’t think it matters much. Companies are only looking for relevant skills/experience on your CV. It could be a non-OCS intern or project, or even an independent project. Identify what sector you’re interested in, and work on something related to that. For example, banks notice if you do something related to ML / Analytics in finance. Tech firms notice if you have experience with Java/C++/DB/cloud. There are tons of interesting projects within IIT itself, and a lot of startups and smaller companies that don’t offer interns through OCS, try working at something that interests you.
One problem was - there’s just so much material. There are 10s of coding websites, and hundreds of resources for quant. It’s important to understand that quality matters more than quantity - it’s better to understand how to do questions on your own, rather than simply “solving” more questions. Don’t try to do everything - you will end up confused and lose motivation.
Also, managing acads with prep is a bit of a hassle. What I learnt - be regular with classes, or else catching up later will be very difficult. It’s best to start prep early, so that you’re not forced to choose between acads and prep later, and keep the 7th sem light if you can.
Also, managing acads with prep is a bit of a hassle. What I learnt - be regular with classes, or else catching up later will be very difficult. It’s best to start prep early, so that you’re not forced to choose between acads and prep later, and keep the 7th sem light if you can.
I applied for interns offline, and placements online. Personally, I preferred the online process because it was much, much better organized - but I guess that’s largely because of spreading the “days” over a longer span. I think a larger number of companies came because of the convenience of the whole process being online.
The timelines are largely coincident, and in my personal experience, it’s difficult to do both things at once. It’s fairly certain that you’ll focus on one of these, and keep the other as a backup, so prepare in advance so that the backup can be handled easily and you can put your energy into the main target. You can give GRE and TOEFL early on to get them out of the way, and work on a rough draft of your SOP in advance.
It’s good to have done the popular COL106 and MTL106 courses to get a hang of the basics, but not really necessary because in the end, you can always learn that on your own. Skills, #1 would be comp coding definitely, and a good hold on combinatorics/probability.
Don’t worry too much. This is something I wish I had heard more often. There is a lot of pressure involved with placements, but don’t let it overwhelm you! Please don’t get caught up in the rather toxic culture of “Day 1 - Day 2” or how much salary someone gets, what’s important is that you gain industry-relevant skills. Plenty of time ahead to build your dream career.
Takeaways