Brane Enterprises Pvt. Ltd ( August 2023) - ASL Role(SDE Intern + FTE)
Summary
I successfully navigated through four rounds of interviews at Brane Enterprises, securing an SDE Intern + FTE offer. The process included an initial aptitude and technical MCQ round, followed by three detailed technical interviews covering DSA, OOPS, CS fundamentals, project discussions, and complex coding challenges.
Full Experience
Brane Enterprises visited my college for on-campus placements, initiating the process with an online test. This first round had four sections: Aptitude, Analytics, English, and a Coding question, which for me, was a bit manipulation problem. The questions were manageable, but the time limits were strict (5 minutes per section, 15 minutes for coding). I was proud to solve the coding question fastest in my college and successfully qualified for the next stage.
My first technical interview was with a friendly interviewer who started with my introduction and inquired about my coding skills and language preference. As I was comfortable with C++, we proceeded with that. He asked fundamental questions about DSA and OOPS in detail, alongside CS Fundamentals, specifically Computer Networks. For coding, I was tasked with building a Linked List from scratch using struct/class, then implementing cycle detection within it. Additionally, I had to code a solution to find the 2nd largest element in a Binary Search Tree. This 50-minute round felt smooth, as the interviewer was interactive and attentive to every detail of my explanation and code. I qualified this round as well.
The second technical interview began with a discussion about my tech stack. I had a Flutter project, so he delved deep into it, probing my backend knowledge, which I successfully explained. This project discussion lasted about 25 minutes. We then covered OOPS concepts and the Insertion Sort algorithm, specifically how it works and its time/space complexity. Next, I faced a coding question related to character frequency, where the goal was to delete repeated characters, which I solved using an unordered_map. Finally, I was asked an SQL query: to sort a table by First_name, with capital letters appearing before lowercase letters. I managed to solve that as well. This 50-minute interview concluded with my qualification for the next round.
In my third technical interview, the interviewer noticed my competitive programming experience on my resume. He asked about my preferred language and my reasons for choosing C++. The main challenge he presented was to convert a number (with a constraint of up to 10^6) into its English word representation (e.g., 1000 = 'one Thousand', 543 = 'five hundred forty Three'). I took some time to explain my approach thoroughly, and after he was convinced, I proceeded to code it. During testing, it initially failed for two specific cases, but I was able to debug and handle those edge cases, completing it within 35-40 minutes. He seemed satisfied and happy with my solution. A few days later, I received the verdict: I got selected! Ganpati Bappa Morya!
Interview Questions (6)
Implement a Singly Linked List from scratch using struct/class, then write a function to detect if a cycle exists within the Linked List.
Given a Binary Search Tree, write code to find its 2nd largest element.
Explain how the Insertion Sort algorithm works, discuss its time complexity (best, average, worst case), and space complexity.
Given a string or sequence, delete characters that are repeated, possibly based on their frequency. I used an unordered_map for my solution.
Write an SQL query to sort a table by the First_name column, ensuring that names starting with capital letters appear before names starting with lowercase letters.
Write a function to convert a given integer (up to 10^6) into its English word representation. Examples: 1000 -> 'one Thousand', 543 -> 'five hundred forty Three', 999 -> 'Nine Hundred Ninety Nine'.
Preparation Tips
My preparation primarily focused on mastering core Data Structures and Algorithms, understanding OOPS concepts thoroughly, and reinforcing my Computer Science Fundamentals, particularly in Computer Networks. My background in competitive programming also significantly contributed to my problem-solving abilities for the coding challenges. Additionally, my hands-on experience with Flutter projects proved valuable during discussions about my technical skills and experience.