I recently had my first on-campus interview experience with InFoCusp, who were hiring for Frontend, Backend, Machine Learning, and Data Scientist roles. There were three offline rounds.

The first round was a technical test. It consisted of 40 MCQs covering various core CSE subjects like DBMS, OS, and Data Structures. Following the MCQs, there were three coding questions: one brute force problem, another involving finding and manipulating prime factors, and a dynamic programming question. I managed to score well enough to be shortlisted for the next stage.

The second round was an interview where the interviewer did a 'BFS' on my resume. They asked me in-depth about almost every topic, skill, project, and internship I had mentioned. Their goal was to assess if I genuinely understood and could elaborate on what I had put down.

Fortunately, I advanced to the final round (third round), which was another interview. This interviewer was very experienced technically. They performed a 'DFS' on my technical skills, asking initial questions and then following up with several cross-questions to test my in-depth understanding. For example, when I discussed my social media project, they asked about my authentication method. After I answered, they asked about the difference between authentication and authorization, then different types of token-based authentication, and then delved into more details about JWT after I mentioned it. They also inquired about various types of APIs. I recall one particular frontend question that stumped me completely: 'If you are fetching some API data which is too much large, then how will you optimize your browser side memory implementation to handle such large data?' The interviewer's consistent cross-questioning was aimed at ensuring my concepts were crystal clear. They also presented a few puzzle questions of increasing difficulty.

Ultimately, I was not shortlisted for the final placement, as my batch mates who were also competing were highly capable. However, it was a truly valuable learning experience for me.