[TopTalent.in] Interview with Prashanth from IIT Madras who landed a job at Microsoft, Redmond

Armed with a dual degree from IIT, Madras, and a very strong resume, Prashanth Srikanthan was destined to land a lucrative offer from one of the big recruiters. So when Microsoft came calling he converted his potential into a Rs 60 Lakh package as a Software Engineer. TopTalent.in brings you his opinions and advice about dealing with interviews. 

 Prashanth from IIT Madras 

TopTalent: How does it feel to be selected by Microsoft?

Prashanth: It felt good to be recognized for the effort put in. It was definitely a proud moment to be hired by a company with such a rich history. After a few years of lacklustre activity in the spectrum of consumer products, I believe Microsoft is finding its way again, so this is an exciting time to join the organization.

TopTalent: Which companies did you get an offer from apart from Microsoft, Redmond?

Prashanth: I received an offer only from Microsoft Redmond. I was interviewed by Google MTV (Mountain View), Epic Systems Wisconsin and Oracle California besides Microsoft Redmond. My interviews with Oracle were left incomplete due to lack of time. Although I had excellent interviews with Epic Systems, I asked the HR to not extend an offer to me as I was uncomfortable with the fact that they had an office only in the US, and therefore being unlucky in the H1B-visa lottery would make the job offer worthless for at least a year.

TopTalent: Can you give us a brief account of what you felt was the toughest interview?

Prashanth: I think toughness of an interview is subjective to a certain extent. Having said that, the toughest interview for me was undoubtedly the final interview for Google MTV. They asked me a challenging set of questions, mostly open-ended. Overall, I would say Google had the toughest interviews.

TopTalent: What was your preparation strategy?

Prashanth: Preparation aimed specifically towards interviews was done in the 3-4 months leading up to the placement season. Apart from the resources I consulted, I also asked a couple of friends to suggest problems to think about during my free time. Whenever I encountered an algorithmic problem, I would try my best to solve it without consulting the web or a friend. Then I would code it up, since fast coding is often a great advantage during placement interviews.

TopTalent: What resources did you consult? Where did you practice problems from?

Prashanth: I read a few chapters from “Cracking the Coding Interview” by Gayle Laakmann McDowell, which I would suggest as a first resource for anyone appearing for a coding interview. Besides the book, I used to look up online resources like GeeksforGeeks and Leetcode from time to time. The tutorials at topcoder are also a fine resource. For a couple of years, I had been solving problems from codechef, codeforces and topcoder sporadically out of interest which helped me break into the mindset of an algorithmic problem solver.

TopTalent: What kind of skills do you think helped you getting this job?

Prashanth: The obvious answer is, first and foremost, algorithmic problem solving skills. Additionally, I was working, at that time, on two significant, interesting projects which I was very enthusiastic about, and spoke enthusiastically about them to my interviewers which I believe was a non-trivial factor in creating a favorable impression.

TopTalent: What is your advice to students who are aiming for similar placement offers as yours?

Prashanth: For the interview questions, practice a lot of problems and don’t feel lazy to practice writing code. In my case, the interviewers (from Microsoft and Google) were very interested to hear about the research work that I had carried out and was planning to pursue in my final semester. I would advise students to take an initiative to undertake projects that interest them, because it will give you an edge in the interviews.

TopTalent: What should one keep in mind while preparing a resume?

Prashanth: I spent a considerable amount of time preparing my resume. My rule of thumb was to not exceed 2 pages. It is always a good idea to scrutinize your resume from the perspective of an interviewer and ask yourself how you can make it better, more concise, more appealing. Never claim to know something you don’t. Do not be afraid to deviate from a fixed resume template (that your institute might suggest, for example) if you feel a different arrangement represents your case better. Advertise your achievements and projects well, and be thoroughly prepared to answer questions on every point mentioned in your resume.

TopTalent: Please add other details that you want our readers to know.

Prashanth: I want to emphasize a couple of points. First, always remember that the company you are interviewing for wants to hire you as much as you want a job offer from them. Remembering this simple fact helps in maintaining confidence and avoiding panic during the interviews. Second, never try to deceive the interviewer. Try to be as honest as possible and if you do not know something, admitting it is far better than any alternative.

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[TopTalent.in] Top College: No, Top Talent: Yes ; Anudeep cracks Google with a 1.44Cr Package

Anudeep Nekkanti embodies the old adage – there is no substitute for talent. The 21-year-old coder from Samalkot (a small town near Vishkhapatnam) has landed an offer from Google, Zurich with a package of Rs 1.44 crores and additional perks including relocation and travel.

       

What makes Anudeep’s feat commendable is that he was not placed out of the cream colleges of the country. No he is not an IITian, NITian or BITSian! A B.Tech student in computer science from Anil Neerukonda Institute of Technological Science, Vishakapatnam, he considers his preparation and performance in programing competitions the reason for his success at cracking the google interview process.

We at toptalent.in had the opportunity to interact and pick Anudeep’s brain to gain valuable insights into developing the right skills to be successful at getting recruited at Google.

Toptalent: How do you feel on achieving this rare feat?

Anudeep: It always feels great to achieve something rare. I was happy after knowing about it, but the real joy was after knowing how much my parents and well-wishers enjoyed the news. There is a lot of hype about being Googler, excited to see what it is really. Also excited about Zurich and Swiss chocolates

Toptalent: What made you chose your particular college and course?

Anudeep: I did not know about IIT-JEE or AIEEE. I did not dream about joining particular college. I almost never took decisions back then. My dad is cool, he does not believes that education is everything and he did not want me to only concentrate on studies. So, when joining 11th standard, he asked me if I want to opt for JEE training. Not knowing what it is, my initial answer was yes but then he realised that I had no knowledge of what I was getting into and made me change my mind, and I am grateful to him for that.

My EAMCET (State board common entrance test) rank was in the seven thousands. I had never lived outside of my town. So I wanted to stay away in a city and study, at the same time I did not want it to be too far from my home. Visakhapatnam was the best choice.

Initially I was supposed to take Electronics. My sister, who had finished B.Tech in computer science by then told me “CS is easy, you can start preparation one day before exams and clear them”. Well, I was looking to enjoy a lot in engineering and this line was perfect! It had so much impact. I just decided to take Computer science. It turned out to be one of the best decisions I have taken. CS is not easy, it is fun!

TopTalent: How many interviews were held in all?

Anudeep: Telephonic Interview initially. Then six onsite interviews at Google Hyderabad, then manager interviews.

Toptalent: Can you give us a brief account of what you felt was the toughest interview?

Anudeep: Hard to pick a single interview. Of the eight rounds I had with Google, couple of them were tough, one of those rounds lasted two hours on a single question.

Toptalent: What was your preparation strategy?

Anudeep: I did not prepare on anything specific for Google interview, I knew that my strength is algorithms and data structures. I did not want to read about other topics only for the purpose of job. I was hoping that only algo related stuff was asked. I was lucky with Google, all my interviews, all the questions were related to algorithms, data structures and programming.

Toptalent: What kind of skills do you think helped you getting this job?

Anudeep: It is competitive programming. I should say I was lucky about it. It is true that majority of hiring is biased towards competitive programming. One can clear these interviews by having good knowledge only about algorithms and data structures. Open source contributions, projects and machine learning are 3 other skills I would list.

Toptalent: Tell us a bit about competitive programming and how you became good at it.

Anudeep: It is similar to any other sport. One need to have a lot of interest to perform. One need to put a lot of effort to top. We say someone is ‘out of form’ or ‘in form’ in sports, true for competitive programming too, you need to keep doing them to be in good touch. And most importantly, at some point of time you realize that ‘This sport is not correct for me’, it can be true with programming too, and when this happens do not hang on to it, move on there are lot more things to do. How did I become good at it? I played it a lot. Concentrated practice is all that matters.

Toptalent: What resources did you consult? Where did you practice problems from?

Anudeep: Firstly, I solved about 300 problems on SPOJ (Sphere Online Judge). I came to know about online judge for the first time in 2012 Jan. That was because of IOPC (programming contest by IIT Kanpur).

Practice was my mantra. I used to try a problem for 2-3 hours. If I didn’t get it, I looked for solutions on forums. I read few tutorials on TopCoder, but I did not know that TopCoder also has algorithm problems. I participated in following August’s long contest, I was lot better this time, I could solve 7 problems. Ended 35th in Global ranking.

With this limited exposure to programming I went to participate in ACM ICPC Regionals. I could solve 4 problems there at onsite. I then understood that knowing how to solve is not enough, it is the ability to think and code fast is more important.

By August end I solved about a hundred and eighty 500 pointers. I slowly started to think dynamically. By then I was able to solve four out of five problems. Now I am quite comfortable with 500 pointers. So, to conclude all that matters is sheer practice.

Programming is fun, programming is easy. My failure at IOPC 2012 made me start it. I thought, I will do well in IOPC 2013 and stop programming. That is how I started it. Very soon I started to like it, then I got addicted to it. I enjoy the feel that I get when I see “Accepted”. That awesome green color. My heart beat raises whenever I submit a solution. I get goosebumps. It was that fun that kept me going. Don’t do it, Play it. Enjoy it, it is a fun game. After 21 months, I am still deeply in love with it. Right now I am preparing for world finals. I am doing problems from various on-line judges like Topcoder, Codechef, Codeforces.

Toptalent: Were grades a factor in you getting selected?

Anudeep: No. I did not mention much about my grades in my CV. My CV only says B.Tech 4th year, 8 CGPA till date.

Toptalent: Tell us more about your final location choice, Zurich?

Anudeep: I had to risk my job for Zurich. I was initially offered London, Bangalore and then Hyderabad. I told I do not want to take those position, and was in a situation of being completely rejected by Google. But I was okay with that too so I told no to those 3 positions. 70 days after my onsite interview I was finally given Zurich.

Toptalent: Whats your advice to students who are aiming for similar placement offers as yours?

Anudeep: I see that a lot of Indians are putting a lot of effort into competitive programming (mainly for placement offers) with not so good results. Trust me, do it with complete concentration for a month, by then you will exactly know if you have to continue in this field or not. If you feel you should not continue, stop it, do not hang on to it hoping for offers. Use your time on other stuff.

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