2020 Campus Placements (SDE) Experience: 8 Tips Post 6 Offer Letters
By: Lakshya Tyagi
Tags: Interview Tips, Recruiting, University, Software Engineering, Interview

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Campus placements, during a worldwide pandemic, were always going to be interesting. Back in April-May 2020, I was reading about how to clear SDE interviews. 6 months on, I’ve received offers from every company I interviewed for, both on and off-campus.

The past 6 months for me have broken many myths about SDE interviews, college placement cells, and India’s job market in general. I’ll go ahead and list some important things I noticed straight away:

Competitive programming is helpful but not necessary.

That said, Hackerrank and Leetcode are an absolute must. Spend at least 4 months brushing up on problem-solving. I love Leetcode, my approach was pretty simple. I’d pick a data structure or algorithm for a week and solve the relevant Leetcode questions. Repeat.

Hackerrank’s playlist on Algorithms and Data Structures was a great way to start as well.

GeeksforGeeks is a great resource for quantitative aptitude questions and interview experiences. I’m not a big fan of their problem-solving platform.

2. Your interviews will likely begin and end with your resume, create a resume that gives your interviewer information that you want him/her to know, even boast about the things you are good at and expect to be tested on them. Be confident. If you can steer an interview towards your strengths, you’re winning the battle.

3. Mastery of at least one subject is essential, that is, you should know more than your interviewer. For me, research work in soft-computing ensured that I had at least one domain that I specialized in. Furthermore, have a “favorite subject”. It’s a common question that interviewers ask to trap you.

4. Data structures and algorithms aside, Operating Systems, DBMS will also play a major role, at least for on-campus interviews. These are the subjects that differentiate between a CS graduate and a Bootcamp developer.

5. CGPA certainly matters, but anything above a CGPA of 8 becomes redundant. On the other hand, if you wish to pursue post-graduation in CS outside India, the higher your CGPA the better.

6. Technical competence is important. But without communication skills, you’ll never be able to show what you can do. Work on your body language and communication. Express your ideas precisely, avoid too much jargon or “buzz-words” so to say. It displays a lack of understanding. Instead, approach your answers with simplicity.

7. Mass recruiters might be the first to hire you. Do not get satisfied under any circumstance. An offer letter early might feel good, but you’ll certainly regret it later. The tougher an interview process, the more confident you can be about the company and about the importance given to competence.

8. University placement cells are like vultures. Ironically, these placement officers do not have your interests in mind. The only thing that matters to them is somehow getting everyone placed. Please research on companies you interview for. Have they been laying-off during Covid-19? Reviews of Glassdoors and a quick look-up on Linkedin will help as well.