Roadmap to SDE #5
Name: Kaushal Banthia
Department: Computer Science and engineering
Company: Amazon
Profile: Software Development (SDE)
When did you start your profile-oriented preparation?
5th January 2021
What were your prior experience and level of preparation(in the field) before the month of March?
I completed two internships (Intern at ISB and Intern at IIMA) and was doing another (Intern at upUgo.in) before CDC. I also had some prior experiences in programming languages like Python, C, C++, Java, etc by then. I did a course on Algorithms-1 of the CSE department which helped me in the basics of the various data structures and algorithms that are used for problem-solving and Competitive Programming. I also did a few projects in the domain of Machine Learning (Self Project) and Software Engineering (Lab Project).
The roadmap that you followed for preparing?
For CDC, I mainly stuck to practicing CP at first, because I knew that I was not so strong in that sphere and had to practice it properly. I dedicated summers doing CP questions and learning many new concepts, that popped up while doing those questions. (Tip #1: You need to practice problems and give competitions and not just sit around learning the theory, because it is the practical application that is going to help you in CDC and not just the theoretical part). I completed my CP part from mainly 2 platforms — InterviewBit and CodeChef.
(Tip #2: I highly recommend solving all the problems on InterviewBit, as they are exhaustively categorized into various important concepts that are asked not only in CDC tests but also interviews).
The last month of my preparation was divided into 2 parts. On one side, I was reading and practicing puzzles and quant problems, while on the other, I was preparing for the HR rounds and going through my CV, to make sure that I do not misrepresent any facts during the interviews. During this month, I did practice CP, but kept it quite minimal.
(Tip #3) Practice CP in groups, so that you can get your doubts cleared by each other. This is also helpful on certain days when you feel like lazing around or giving up, but resort to solving a few questions, just because your partner did so.
(Tip #4) Practice Object-Oriented Programming, as it definitely helps!
During the CDC session (tests and interviews), just keep your calm, solve the tests and analyze them later, to find your mistakes and do not get demotivated if a company does not select you for their next round, or if you do not make it through their interviews. There are plenty of companies that come during CDC, for the role of Software Development, and you will surely have your chance at one of them.
Resources relevant to the profile:
• InterviewBit: https://www.interviewbit.com/courses/programming/
• CodeChef: https://www.codechef.com
• Algorithms Playlist Stanford University: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEAYkSg4uSQ37A6_NrUnTHEKp6EkAxTMa
• Puzzles and Quant problems (Brainstellar):
• Puzzles and Quant problems (50 Challenging Problems in Probability): https://mbapreponline.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/fifty_challenging_problems_in__2.pdf
• Internpedia: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1009o9Sv_mWir6DJuMeEt_sdc6h4V-nvw?usp=sharing
Links of projects done as a part of your preparation for CDC:
Handwriting Classifier (Machine Learning): https://github.com/kaushal-banthia/Handwriting-Classifier
Supermarket Automation Software (Software Engineering): https://github.com/kaushal-banthia/supermarket
My other projects can also be found on my GitHub profile: https://github.com/kaushal-banthia/
What was the selection process of the company?
Amazon had 2 rounds of selections.
Round 1: The test.
The test was a very long one. But, worry not. It was easy! It involved spotting mistakes in one-line codes, writing answers to some behavioral questions, writing solutions to some problems (CP), etc.
Basically, anyone with decent preparation will be able to crack this round, as all these round tests are the accuracy of the person and his speed. Some basic concepts of Data Structures and Algorithms would be required.
Round 2: The Interview
The process only involved a single round of interviews. The interviewer was a software developer at Amazon who started the interview by asking me to introduce myself.
Then he directly jumped on to asking problems on Data Structures, skipping my CV completely. He asked two questions, both based on trees. (Yet another tip: Brush up on tree and graph algorithms, as Amazon apparently loves asking them). The problems were quite simple and were very similar to the ones I had practiced on InterviewBit. After giving my initial sketch to the interviewer, he asked me to code the same and then state its time complexity. Upon successful completion of that, he modified the question to include a constraint and then asked to give a solution. This might require some thinking on your side (Tip again: Make sure to voice out your thoughts to the interviewer, so that they know in which direction you are proceeding and can help you move in the direction, if you wander away, with a wrong solution).
After these two questions (and an hour), the interviewer said that the interview was over and if I had any questions for him.
After around 15 minutes of the interview getting over, I received a call from a member of the Placement Committee, saying that I have been offered a role as a Software Development Intern at Amazon and need to provide my confirmation for the same!