Jasjot Singh: Placed at N.A.

Jasjot Singh BT CSE 200468, studying in IIT Kanpur will be joining Goldman Sachs. Here are some brief insights.

Shortlisted Profiles & Companies:

Companies NK Securities, Sprinklr, Cohesity, Microsoft, Goldman Sachs

Selection Process of the Company you are selected in 1) Resume Shortlist, 2) GD, 3)Test

The selection process for most companies includes an online coding test followed by interviews on day one. Some companies like HFTs place a CPI shortlist as well for sitting in the test (this is around 8 or 8.5 in most cases). Online assessments start after midsems in September so I tried to solve as many coding problems during that period as possible. If you have multiple interviews on day one, you have to be smart about your scheduling of interviews. Have a preference order in your mind and give interviews according to that, since you might not be able to give an interview in all your shortlisted companies due to clashes.

Insights on the interview process

N.A.

Sample Interview Questions?

NK Securities Egg Dropping Problem, start with 2 eggs, then 3 eggs version. Later on, asked a version based on infinite floors. Then a hard coding problem based on graphs. Goldman Sachs Firstly, I was asked questions based on my resume, specifically the work I had done in my intern and a finance project. Most banks and quants will grill you on any finance project that you mention in your resume so prepare well for it. In the second round, I was asked an optimisation problem and then some questions based on probability and statistics. The questions were medium-hard and I was able to do them all. Cohesity I was asked to screen share and do a live coding problem based on smartly using some data structures (sort of a system design problem where I had to process some data efficiently based on given constraints), the problem was doable.

Preparation Resources

For coding, I focused on solving Leetcode problems as much as possible. Another important resource was Programming club archives. They have some really good questions that were asked in coding tests of companies previously so make sure you do all of those problems. They have contests of 1.5 hours with 3 problems in each, so attempt within the time given to handle time well during the actual assessments. One can also do competitive programming from CodeForces during preparation for developing their problem-solving skills and handling time pressure. For quant, solve all problems from the book Fifty Challenging Problems in Probability and then move on to problems from Xinfeng Zhou. The first book has very few problems but you have to understand the basics of all the problems really well because you will not be asked those questions straightforward in most scenarios. They will ask you the standard version and then build up to an advanced and tougher problem which can only be solved if you know logic really well.

Advice for students (do's and don'ts)

If you are targeting certain companies, go to their Glassdoor page or ask seniors and get some information about what questions they have previously asked in OAs. It’s very likely that they will repeat some topics. Always prepare for placements in a small group and help each other as much as possible. It can get really stressful around midsem break in October so try to stay calm and get some rest during that time. Don’t get disheartened if your name is not there in the shortlist of couple of companies, there are lots of companies coming for placements and you need an offer from one of them )