Role: Summer Analyst Intern
College: 3rd year circuital student from an old IIT
Interview Date: Not Specified
Interview Type: On-Campus
Result: Selected
Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Rounds: 3 rounds
Topics Asked: Data Structures, Algorithms, System Design (DBMS, scaling), HR questions
Experience:
This candidate was selected for a Goldman Sachs internship. All interviews were conducted with pen and paper, requiring pseudocode for solutions.
- Round 1: Started with an introduction, followed by a discussion on a random project built by the candidate. The coding question asked was "Minimum Window Substring" (LeetCode Hard). The candidate provided the optimal solution quickly and was selected for the next round.
- Round 2: Focused on system design. The question was to "Design a large-scale application, for example, BookMyShow." The candidate explained their choice of database, scaling strategies, and other relevant aspects, which seemed to satisfy the interviewer. This round also included numerous HR questions.
- Round 3 (Final Interview): This round started immediately with a coding question without an introduction. The problem was "Frequency of the Most Frequent Element" (LeetCode). The candidate had not solved it before but managed to come up with a solution. Towards the end, HR-style questions were asked about the expected work as an intern and whether it would involve production-level projects.
Tips: The candidate prepared by completing Striver's A2Z sheet. Key advice includes solving problems on your own, only referring to solutions after decent effort, and being prepared for various HR questions. It's also crucial to effectively communicate your thought process.