My Interview Experience at ION Group

I am a final year student at VIT, and I received an offer for a 6-month internship + full-time employment (FTE) on campus. ION Group visited our campus at the beginning of August, offering three roles: SDE, TA (Technical Analyst), and DS (Data Science). I applied for the DS role.

The eligibility criteria required 75% in 10th, 12th, and my pursuing degree. The selection process consisted of a total of six rounds: one online assessment and five interviews.

Online Assessment Round

The OA was tailored for different roles; I'll detail the one for the DS role. It had about 20 MCQ questions covering English, aptitude, SQL, and Python. Additionally, there was one medium-level SQL query and one Machine Learning problem. For the ML problem, a dataset was provided, and I had to code a solution in a Jupyter notebook and submit an output CSV file with my prediction values.

My interview was scheduled for the third week of August.

1st Round: Technical (1 hr 30 mins)

This round involved basic questions on Python, Pandas, and Matplotlib, including coding exercises. We then delved into discussions about my projects and internships. Since I had a Sudoku solver project on my resume, the interviewer asked about the algorithm I used and requested me to code it in Python. The round also covered some DBMS concepts and a classic puzzle: the mislabeled jars problem.

2nd Round: Case Study

This round took place just 15-30 minutes after the technical round with the same interviewer. I was presented with a case study about whether I would open a cafe business, given certain details. I had to outline strategies to ensure sales during the initial period. A follow-up question asked how to increase profit once the cafe was established.

3rd Round: Stakeholder Round (Hiring Manager)

This round was scheduled for the day after the case study round and lasted 30 minutes. The interviewer asked in-depth questions about my projects, followed by inquiries into my motivation for pursuing data science, the typical responsibilities of a Data Scientist, and the kind of work I aspire to do. We also discussed a technical case: given consumer goods data with an overstocking issue, what steps could be taken and what data would be necessary to resolve it.

4th Round: ION Day (Noida office) Culture Fit

The company arranged for my travel and stay for this round, which included a Group Discussion (GD) with the ION India head, Mr. Sanjay Chikara. We were asked only three initial questions: an introduction, my passion, and why I applied for the specific role. Following this, a question was posed that we needed to solve as a group. My tip for this round is to be confident, clear, and interactive.

5th Round: Future Fit

This final round was 10-15 minutes, conducted online via Microsoft Teams two days after the 4th round. It involved general questions such as my introduction, why I wanted to be a Data Scientist, details about my specialization and subjects, what I excel at in the field of data science, what I knew about ION Group and a Data Scientist's role there, and even personal questions about whether I had traveled outside India and where I'd like to go if given the chance.