BNY Mellon | SDE | On Campus | Selected | Fresher
Summary
I secured a full-time Software Developer offer at BNY Mellon after an on-campus recruitment process. The interview experience consisted of an Online Assessment, two Technical Interviews, and a Bar Raiser round, culminating in a successful placement.
Full Experience
My interview journey with BNY Mellon for the Software Developer role began with an Online Assessment on July 26, 2023, conducted on HackerRank. This round featured four DSA questions: one easy (arrays), two medium (strings and linear DSA), and one hard (tree/graph). I managed to solve two questions completely and passed 7/15 test cases for the hard one.
Following the OA, I was invited for offline technical interviews scheduled from July 28-30. My first technical interview lasted about an hour. Despite being my first ever interview, the interviewer was very supportive. She started with my introduction, followed by behavioral and scenario-based questions. Noticing my database experience on my resume, she asked several SQL questions, including writing code for basic tasks like reversing a string without built-in functions and concatenating SQL columns on paper. She also covered theoretical OOPS and Cloud Computing concepts, linking them to real-life examples. After a long wait, I was shortlisted for the next round.
The second technical interview was more intense. The interviewer immediately inquired about my strengths and preferred languages. When I mentioned my proficiency in SQL and databases, he drew 4-5 tables and began asking questions related to SQL Joins and their complexities. He then moved on to coding questions involving C++ STL containers like Hashmap and SET, requiring me to write full codes, including headers and return statements, with pen and paper. At the end of each round, I consistently asked what I could improve about myself.
Unexpectedly, I was called for a third round the next day, which turned out to be a Bar Raiser interview instead of an HR round. This round was known for tougher questions, and it lived up to its reputation. The interviewer deeply delved into my resume, projects in AI/ML and web development. He then transitioned to DSA, asking theoretical questions about Linked Lists, such as why to choose them over vectors and how to detect a cycle. I elaborately explained the Hare and Tortoise method, including the slow and fast pointer concepts. More DBMS questions followed, and finally, I tackled classic puzzle questions like the Handshakes in a Party and Water Jug problems.
To my delight, I was selected along with ten other candidates. It was a moment of immense pride and happiness, marking my second on-campus placement.
Interview Questions (7)
Write code to reverse a given string without using any built-in string manipulation functions.
Explain or demonstrate how to concatenate multiple columns in SQL.
Discuss different types of SQL Joins and their time/space complexities.
Write code utilizing C++ STL containers like std::unordered_map (hashmap) and std::set.
Explain how to identify a cycle in a linked list, specifically detailing the Hare and Tortoise (Floyd's Cycle-Finding) algorithm and the concept of slow and fast pointers.
Solve a puzzle related to the number of handshakes in a party.
Solve the classic Water Jug Problem, typically involving two jugs of different capacities and a target amount of water.