ABB Group Interview Experience for Software Engineer - GeeksforGeeks

09 Dec, 2020
Hello everyone, I want to share my interview experience with ABB for the position of Software Engineer.  I am surprised that no one has written a single experience for this post in the Company. This was a pooled campus drive for 3rd Gen IITs. The company allowed EE and CSE only.
Round 1: Three sections were there.
Sec1: Aptitude and reasoning(20min).
Sec2: Coding (1hr) Languages allowed were Java/Cpp/python/CCoding questions were moderately difficult.Print path between any two nodes in a Binary Tree.An array of string is given. And one string is given. We have told how many times, the input string is moved from its place while sorting.It is compulsory that the string is only compared with its neighboring string. We have to sort the strings according to the sum of the first three letters in the string (if string is “abcdef” then ascii value for this will be int(a)+int(b)+int(c), i.e. 294)  Example:array= { january, february, march}
input string = january
Ascii for januray is = 313
Ascii for february is = 301
Ascii for march is = 320Output: If we sort this array, the output will be February, January, March (301,313,320). So we have to tell how many times January is swapped with its adjacent neighbor. 1Answer – I applied Bubble Sort, Simple sorting it, and compare the position will result in a wrong answer, assume 10,9,8,7 – after sorting 7,8,9,10. By the wrong method, the answer is 1, but if we look at the first step of bubble sort, it will be 9,8,7,10. In this step itself, the count is one, in the next step – 8,7,9,10. so the answer will be 3.Total number of unit cells covered by all given Rectangles
Coding questions were moderately difficult.
Print path between any two nodes in a Binary Tree.An array of string is given. And one string is given. We have told how many times, the input string is moved from its place while sorting.It is compulsory that the string is only compared with its neighboring string. We have to sort the strings according to the sum of the first three letters in the string (if string is “abcdef” then ascii value for this will be int(a)+int(b)+int(c), i.e. 294)  Example:array= { january, february, march}
input string = january
Ascii for januray is = 313
Ascii for february is = 301
Ascii for march is = 320Output: If we sort this array, the output will be February, January, March (301,313,320). So we have to tell how many times January is swapped with its adjacent neighbor. 1Answer – I applied Bubble Sort, Simple sorting it, and compare the position will result in a wrong answer, assume 10,9,8,7 – after sorting 7,8,9,10. By the wrong method, the answer is 1, but if we look at the first step of bubble sort, it will be 9,8,7,10. In this step itself, the count is one, in the next step – 8,7,9,10. so the answer will be 3.Total number of unit cells covered by all given Rectangles
Print path between any two nodes in a Binary Tree.
An array of string is given. And one string is given. We have told how many times, the input string is moved from its place while sorting.It is compulsory that the string is only compared with its neighboring string. We have to sort the strings according to the sum of the first three letters in the string (if string is “abcdef” then ascii value for this will be int(a)+int(b)+int(c), i.e. 294)  Example:array= { january, february, march}
input string = january
Ascii for januray is = 313
Ascii for february is = 301
Ascii for march is = 320Output: If we sort this array, the output will be February, January, March (301,313,320). So we have to tell how many times January is swapped with its adjacent neighbor. 1Answer – I applied Bubble Sort, Simple sorting it, and compare the position will result in a wrong answer, assume 10,9,8,7 – after sorting 7,8,9,10. By the wrong method, the answer is 1, but if we look at the first step of bubble sort, it will be 9,8,7,10. In this step itself, the count is one, in the next step – 8,7,9,10. so the answer will be 3.
It is compulsory that the string is only compared with its neighboring string. We have to sort the strings according to the sum of the first three letters in the string (if string is “abcdef” then ascii value for this will be int(a)+int(b)+int(c), i.e. 294)  
Example:
array= { january, february, march}
input string = january
Ascii for januray is = 313
Ascii for february is = 301
Ascii for march is = 320
Output: If we sort this array, the output will be February, January, March (301,313,320). So we have to tell how many times January is swapped with its adjacent neighbor. 
1
Answer – I applied Bubble Sort, Simple sorting it, and compare the position will result in a wrong answer, assume 10,9,8,7 – after sorting 7,8,9,10. By the wrong method, the answer is 1, but if we look at the first step of bubble sort, it will be 9,8,7,10. In this step itself, the count is one, in the next step – 8,7,9,10. so the answer will be 3.
Total number of unit cells covered by all given Rectangles
Total number of unit cells covered by all given Rectangles
Sec3: Choice between two sections. One section contained C#,Cpp,.NET and the other was Java (30 min).
I attempted the first one. MCQ Question was from OOPs, Basic C output questions.
Note: Just coding round won’t get you anywhere. Many students attempted more coding compare to me but didn’t get shortlisted, so I can say that you must perform well in all 3 sections.
26 students were shortlisted out of 120-130.
Round 2 (30 minutes): The interviewer asked me if I was nervous and tried to comfort me by saying ‘you can turn off your camera if you want’. He asked me how my previous interview was (from different companies visiting campus). Then he said what do you want me to ask you. I said CV and whatever this job requires.
He told me I have 5 min to talk about anything. I talked about the projects that I did.One project was about graph animation that interested him.So he asked about Graph, why it is important. Traversals – BFS, DFS briefly.He then asked about MST. What does it mean? Give a real-life example. (connecting electric poles in the locality)Then he asked me about the basic ideas of Electrical Projects that were implemented using Arduino.Then he asked what will I do next month irrespective of the fact if I got the job or not. I said DS and Algorithms is my prime focus.He again jumped back to DS. He asked me to open the paint and draw a Binary tree and show its traversal in Both DFS and BFS manner.He asked about Basic OOPs. Multiple Inheritance etc.He also asked me about the fields I was interested in their company.Then he finished the interview by asking if I have any questions for him.  I asked him about the feedback for improving myself.
He told me I have 5 min to talk about anything. I talked about the projects that I did.
One project was about graph animation that interested him.
So he asked about Graph, why it is important. Traversals – BFS, DFS briefly.
He then asked about MST. What does it mean? Give a real-life example. (connecting electric poles in the locality)
Then he asked me about the basic ideas of Electrical Projects that were implemented using Arduino.
Then he asked what will I do next month irrespective of the fact if I got the job or not. I said DS and Algorithms is my prime focus.
He again jumped back to DS. He asked me to open the paint and draw a Binary tree and show its traversal in Both DFS and BFS manner.
He asked about Basic OOPs. Multiple Inheritance etc.
He also asked me about the fields I was interested in their company.
Then he finished the interview by asking if I have any questions for him.  I asked him about the feedback for improving myself.
Note: Listen to the PPT carefully. It will help you in the HR round (in some cases, technical also).
PS: I was very nervous. Words that were coming out of my mouth were mixed. Fortunately, the interviewer was very helpful, and he suggested several times to take a breath. 
I think 15 students were shortlisted for the next round.
ROUND 3(30 minutes): He started by asking about the previous interview. He asked me if I want him to turn on his camera. I said interaction will be better if he turned it on, so he turned it on.
He asked me about my internship. What did? Why did I use a particular technology like PGSQL etc? Why ANGULAR JS?Then he asked about my project in socket programming. What is the client-server architecture? Why do we need it? Real-life examples? How I implemented client-server architecture? How did multithreading use to improve the performance?Then he asked questions about OOPs from C++. Multiple and multilevel Inheritance.He asked something about compilation error in multilevel inheritance and I immediately said “Diamond Problem”. He was impressed by the quick reply. Then he moved on to Algorithms. He asked one question.Question – Count the first repeating character in the given string. Discuss its time and space complexity. Just expressing an idea was fine, no need to code it.Then he said he was done with the technical part. The interview finished in 15 minutes. So he asked questions about hobbies. Why do I like it? Time pass for 10 minutes.Then he asked me if I have any questions for him. I asked about how they are going to implement CS core subjects like OS, networks, etc. in whatever they are doing and what will be my contribution to it.
He asked me about my internship. What did? Why did I use a particular technology like PGSQL etc? Why ANGULAR JS?
Then he asked about my project in socket programming. What is the client-server architecture? Why do we need it? Real-life examples? How I implemented client-server architecture? How did multithreading use to improve the performance?
Then he asked questions about OOPs from C++. Multiple and multilevel Inheritance.
He asked something about compilation error in multilevel inheritance and I immediately said “Diamond Problem”. He was impressed by the quick reply. Then he moved on to Algorithms. He asked one question.
Question – Count the first repeating character in the given string. Discuss its time and space complexity. Just expressing an idea was fine, no need to code it.
Then he said he was done with the technical part. The interview finished in 15 minutes. So he asked questions about hobbies. Why do I like it? Time pass for 10 minutes.
Then he asked me if I have any questions for him. I asked about how they are going to implement CS core subjects like OS, networks, etc. in whatever they are doing and what will be my contribution to it.
PS: The interviewer was frank. I never felt I was in an interview. I read somewhere an interview is not a monologue, it’s a dialogue.
10 students were selected.
ROUND 4(30 minutes) This round was totally surprising. Most of my fellow interviewees were asked HR questions and basic interaction. So I also prepared HR questions – where do you see yourself after 5 years...blah blah blah.
The round started, he asked me to introduce myself. Then he fired DS’s question. I was shocked. But I gathered myself and tried to answer it.
An input string was given. I have to print all the valid anagrams of string. Valid words are stored in a file. The number of words in that file was huge, say 1 million.
I said we create all the anagrams of a given word and insert in hashmap and traverse the file.
After that, he said to improve time complexity. I said to create a count array for the input string and compare it with the count array of words in the file. (comparing will be constant time – O(26)). He still wasn’t satisfied.
Maybe I was not thinking in the way he wanted me to think, so I asked for a hint. He said we have lots of memory these days why are you not using that. At first, i wanted to say the maximum memory allowed is 256MB and time complexity will be similar but I thought to leave it, tell him what he wants to hear.
So I suggested traversing the file initially make count array (for example – ‘abcd’ will correspond to {1,1,1,1,0...}) and convert this array to string so we will have “1111000...” and then we insert it in hashmap (in c++, you can use map<string, vector<string>>). That way we will be able to output all the anagrams in O(1) or O(log n) (only searching time). He was satisfied.
Assume file contains ‘abcd’, ‘bcad’, ‘dcab’ all will be mapped to “111100..”.
Then he asked about my strengths and weakness (it is better to give situations you have encountered to prove your points).
Finally, it was over.
PS: If you have a better solution to this question, feel free to post it.
Note: Express your thinking, don’t just think in your mind. Fight for the hint. He will definitely give you one if you are on right track.    
Round 5(20 minutes HR):
He started the discussion by asking me to introduce myself. Then he proceeded with a behavioral question that he prepared.He gave me a different situation and asked me how will I tackle it. Example: If someone in the company is not responding to your email or messages, what will you do. How will you solve the conflict between team members?The biggest failure, how did you deal with it?what is your experience as a team leader?Where do you see yourself after 5 years?
He started the discussion by asking me to introduce myself. 
He started the discussion by asking me to introduce myself. 
Then he proceeded with a behavioral question that he prepared.
Then he proceeded with a behavioral question that he prepared.
He gave me a different situation and asked me how will I tackle it. Example: If someone in the company is not responding to your email or messages, what will you do. 
He gave me a different situation and asked me how will I tackle it. 
Example: If someone in the company is not responding to your email or messages, what will you do. 
How will you solve the conflict between team members?
The biggest failure, how did you deal with it?
what is your experience as a team leader?
Where do you see yourself after 5 years?
After 30 min They declared the result. 4 students were selected from my college and 3 from other IITs.
Luckily I was one of them. 
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