Sarthak Yadav
Chemical Engineering
Placements
Wells Fargo
Program Associate A
Interviewed by:
Sanwal Agarwal
Internships
>
Placements
20th September 2020
Q
When to start preparing for the Placement season?
The sooner, the better. I’d say take COL106 as soon as possible. The major hard work
for me was the first month as you grow accustomed to the nuances of OOP, Java and
coding in general.
for me was the first month as you grow accustomed to the nuances of OOP, Java and
coding in general.
Q
Comparison between your intern and placement interviews?
There were many more opportunities for placements than that for internships. I found placement interviews to be easier as I had become more skilled by that time. The syllabus and the level of the test is more or less the same in my opinion.
Q
Is there anything unique or something regretful that you did in this placement season? Any advice for the juniors about the same?
I meditated before my interview. As a result, I was relaxed, confident, a good listener andwas able to think on my toes. I suggest that everyone should take out time for exerciseand meditation everyday
Q
How did you decide your field of interest? What about
backups?
backups?
At first, I was very anti-coding because COL100 doesn’t really explore coding that well.Once I started to see the possibilities and the people who I could be working with in this
field, it was a no brainer. Before this, I wanted to go for higher studies in my department.However, over time it became clear that I would not be happy in Chemical Engineering inthe long run, so I started looking at other options. My suggestion is try your hand atdifferent things and ask yourself “Is it something that I really really enjoy? Can I do thisfor the rest of my life? Can I sacrifice my sleep for it if need be?”My initial plan was going for M.Tech. in CS at IITD. Placements was a backup for me.Eventually, placements became the priority due to poor response from the CSEdepartment and I realized I can learn much more in industry than an M.Tech. here.So, my advice is at least decide for the field you want to go for by the end of 5thsemester so that you can prepare well for the placement season
field, it was a no brainer. Before this, I wanted to go for higher studies in my department.However, over time it became clear that I would not be happy in Chemical Engineering inthe long run, so I started looking at other options. My suggestion is try your hand atdifferent things and ask yourself “Is it something that I really really enjoy? Can I do thisfor the rest of my life? Can I sacrifice my sleep for it if need be?”My initial plan was going for M.Tech. in CS at IITD. Placements was a backup for me.Eventually, placements became the priority due to poor response from the CSEdepartment and I realized I can learn much more in industry than an M.Tech. here.So, my advice is at least decide for the field you want to go for by the end of 5thsemester so that you can prepare well for the placement season
Q
If someone does not get an intern via OCS in their 3rd year, what should they do?
I suggest getting an internship in the field that most excites you from outside asinternship is extensively covered in interviews. My internship was in ML and my jobprofile is Software Development. However, half of the interview was focused on theintern and ML in general.
Q
Major problems that you faced?
During the interview, there were many open ended questions. On the last one, they wanted me to build on their solution which I did not grasp at first. The interviewer explained the question and gave me a pointer in the direction he wanted me to take. I think that taking that direction went a long way in my selection. For test prep, I started comp coding for a bit but the questions were hard compared to actual questions asked by most companies. I suggest sticking to leetcode and doing random questions and going through the most voted 2-3 solutions after doing the question as it helps develop the thinking process faster.
Q
Online vs Offline placements?
I think offline placements give a fair fighting chance to everyone as there are low chances of cheating. Also, according to me, CGPA was given more weightage in the online selection process.
Q
Necessities for targeting your field?
Data Structures and Algorithms (COL106) - LeetcodeProbability (MTL106/MTL108)Puzzles - First 50 puzzles on gfg, Fifty Challenging Problems In Probability, Brainsteller(avoid strategy puzzles)ML (various courses offered by many departments) - CS480 at Waterloo, Kaggle
A good CGPA can go a long way in placements. If you have 8+, you should be fine formost roles (across profiles except consulting), if you can get to 8, get there; if 7.5, do it; if7 do it. If not, learn programming as CGPA does not play a very big role in getting youthe interview for this profile.If you don’t want to go in core, don’t apply in core because they just might take you.CP is not needed for most companies. First learn the basics of OOPs well and practicethem in the first few assignments of COL106. Picking up the rest of the course will be abreeze if you get this part down well. Once comfortable with DSA, start doing randomquestions on leetcode without peeking at the topic of that question and thoroughlyunderstand solutions from the discussion section after attempting the question as theyhelp you develop your thinking process faster.Another important thing is preparing your CV well. The Internship and Projects sectionsare the most important for software jobs and are generally the starting point of theinterview.
Takeaways
