Societe Generale (SocGen) Virtual Interview Experience

28 Aug, 2020
Round 1: Written test (Platform: Hirepro, No negative marks for MCQ)
The test had Aptitude, Verbal, Technical MCQ questions, and Coding. Every section had individual timings and you cannot use the remaining time of the previous section in the next section. You have to finish it in the allotted time. You have to be really quick in aptitude and verbal. I remember aptitude had only 15 minutes and verbal 4 minutes where there was a question on reading comprehension as well. Questions were moderate. I answered everything. Technical questions were mostly based on software engineering, testing, etc, (I am not able to remember them, but you can answer it easily with the basic concepts). It was all only theory questions (no output prediction), so time was more than enough. Questions were again moderate.
The next section is coding where I had 3 questions in 55 minutes.
Given a matrix, we have to find if it is a special matrix or not. The special matrix is one that has the same row sum and column sum for all the corresponding rows and columns. If it is a special matrix, Output should be Maxed (row sum) and the corresponding row number. If not a special matrix, then the output should be a max of all row_sums and col_sums considered.Given an undirected graph, input will be one of the nodes of the graph, the output should be all the possible unique nodes which can be visited with 2 hops max.  Given a list of numbers, starting number and ending number as well, the output should be a sequence where there is only 1 digit change between every number and its previous number.  
Given a matrix, we have to find if it is a special matrix or not. The special matrix is one that has the same row sum and column sum for all the corresponding rows and columns. If it is a special matrix, Output should be Maxed (row sum) and the corresponding row number. If not a special matrix, then the output should be a max of all row_sums and col_sums considered.
Given an undirected graph, input will be one of the nodes of the graph, the output should be all the possible unique nodes which can be visited with 2 hops max.  
Given a list of numbers, starting number and ending number as well, the output should be a sequence where there is only 1 digit change between every number and its previous number.  
Output example: 
1234->1254->1253->1953
If such a sequence with a given list of numbers is not possible, then the output should be -1.
Round 2: (Duration 1 hr Technical Interview Skype call)
The interviewer made me feel comfortable by asking general questions about the college, course, online classes, and quarantine days. Then it was all technical questions that started from the languages mentioned in my resume. He asked me in which language I am most comfortable among the mentioned ones from my resume. I answered c++ and python. Then he asked me to choose 1 to dig deep down. I chose c++. So be thorough with all the concepts of at least 1 language. The questions were based on namespace, virtual pointer, virtual table, virtual functions, polymorphism, etc (basically all important oops concepts). Then he asked me the difference between a software engineer and DevOps engineer, and which would be my choice. Then there were questions on the project mentioned in the resume. Since I had a package based on MongoDB and Neo4j, he asked me to explain the project briefly and then why I used both these databases? Why not just one? Why not SQL? What is polyglot persistence? Basically you have to know the reason behind the technology you have used in your resume. I had mentioned in my resume that I attended a workshop in IIT Madras on Ethical Hacking. So he asked me about it? What is the difference between white hat hackers and black hat hackers? After that, he asked me if I had any questions for him.
Round 3: (Duration 1 hr Technical Interview Skype call)
In this round, there was a long discussion on my previous intern project which was data science-based. So following that I had questions like where I have applied data science in real life. He gave me situations like inroads, gardening, etc. Then following that he asked me the difference between mentoring and coaching. After hearing the answer, he said “what if I say it is exactly the opposite”. So basically this type of question is to check your thinking skills. You have to justify your answer giving proper reasons behind such an answer and you have to convey in the right manner that what you answered made sense. You should be able to convince him of your answer. Confidence is important. He was satisfied with my answer and said fair enough. Then he asked me if I have developed any application. I had a package which is basically a quiz game based on the inheritance concept. Since the role was a software engineer and my resume was predominantly based on data science because of my previous role being a data analyst he just made sure if I am comfortable with a software background. After that, he asked me if I had any questions for him.
Round 4: (Duration 30 minutes Technical Interview Skype call – Coding round)
This is a complete coding round after a brief introduction to my background. Again as I spoke bout the data science project, 1st question was based on model validation. Then he asked me to code a confusion matrix since I had used that in my project. Next, I was asked to write a code to merge 2 n-ary trees. Next, I was asked to write a code to detect a loop in the linked list. Before that, he asked me a few questions on the linked list.
I had the choice to choose any language, the code should be clean, explain the approach whenever possible. I was asked to screen share, so I felt it’s better to tell him the approach before coding so that he will be able to follow whatever you are coding.
Round 5: (Duration 1 hr Managerial Interview)
Requires good communication skills and spontaneity.
This was basically a stress interview where I was given situations and was asked how I would handle them. Few questions to list were the following:
What drives you to have an interest in data (since my resume was mostly data science-based). Were you shortlisted in any company? What is that and what did u miss there? Why didn’t you make it? So basically I said to him SocGen was the 4th company, and I was shortlisted for Cisco but couldn’t make it because I was nervous and tensed. Then the questions were based on handling stress. He was saying to me everybody in the company will not make you feel comfortable, etc. I agreed and justified my point and told him how I will handle such situations and come out of it.  
What do you know about finance? What are the situations where you have shown your leadership? How flexible you are? Would you work in any shifts? Which place would you like to work in Bangalore or Chennai? What is your career aspiration? What kind of extracurricular activities do you do? After that, he asked me if I had any questions for him.
Round 6: (Duration 20 minutes HR Interview)
HR asked me what I know about the company and why SocGen. He asked about my 10th board, the percentage in 10th, 12th board, the percentage in 12th. Then he asked my overall GPA range and the current CGPA to check if there is consistency. He was happy with my marks overall since it was consistent. If it is not consistent, you need a valid reason. Then he asked whether I was flexible with the shifts and location. Then he started giving some information about how the work would be and other things about the company.
Finally, all rounds were done and got placed as a software engineer.
Tips:
The things which are of utmost importance are your confidence, in-depth knowledge on a resume, and coding skills since 1 round was completely based on that. Discuss the approach with the interviewer. Almost in all the rounds, they asked me why SocGen? And there was an interviewer who said everybody had 1st few points from Google, but you have a list of things. I feel that was a major advantage. I listened to the pre-placement talk and asked questions to the interviewers in all the rounds from the talk and the knowledge I had about SocGen. They will know that you have done the groundwork and you are interested in the company which is a plus.
ALL THE VERY BEST GUYS!! Don’t lose hope and put all your hard work ????  
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