💼 UKG – SDE (College Graduate) Interview Experience

💼 UKG – SDE (College Graduate) Interview Experience

📌 Source: Shared via Reddit
📍 Type: On-site Campus Pool Interview
🗓️ Timeline: Single day – 9 AM to 12:30 AM
🎓 Eligibility: Final-year college students
💰 Offer:

• 6-month Internship – ₹50,000/month
• FTE on performance – ₹14 LPA base + ₹2 L bonus + ₹90K relocation

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✨ Overview

This is my friend's interview experience with UKG (Ultimate Kronos Group) for the SDE role (college graduate). It was part of a campus pool drive and turned out to be a grueling but memorable 5-round, full-day onsite interview.

Only 8 students were shortlisted from their college after a HackerRank assessment held 14 days earlier. The final interview shortlist was released just a day before.

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📝 Pre-Interview

• PPT (Pre-placement talk) started at 9 AM and lasted for 1 hour.
• Interview rounds were disclosed at the end of the PPT:

✅ Rounds:

1. Technical Round 1
2. Technical Round 2
3. Director Round
4. Managerial Round
5. HR Round

More than 50+ students attended the drive, but only 12 made it to the last round.

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🔹 Round 1 – Technical Interview 1 (L1)

🕒 Time: 2:50 PM
🕓 Duration: ~30 minutes

• Intro + Resume walkthrough
• Easy SQL question
• DSA question (Solved)
• 1 Puzzle
• Questions from resume

✅ Cleared the round – only 2 students from their college advanced, including my friend.

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🔹 Round 2 – Technical Interview 2 (L2)

🕒 Time: ~4:30 PM
🕓 Duration: ~25 minutes

• Project & Tech Stack discussion
• Experience-based questions
• 1 Puzzle
• Resume deep dive

✅ Cleared again.

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🔹 Round 3 – Director Round (L3)

🕒 Start: ~6:30 PM
🕓 Duration: ~35 minutes

• Resume-focused Q&A
• Explained major project
• 4 Puzzle Questions
• Best round of the day (felt confident)

✅ Cleared – only 12 candidates were now left (6 girls + 6 boys)

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🔹 Round 4 – Managerial Round (L4)

🕒 Start: 11:40 PM
🕓 Duration: ~22 minutes

• Project explanation (interviewer seemed distracted)
• DSA Questions:
  • Easy string manipulation
  • LeetCode Medium-level problem (Solved instantly)
• Exhaustion & nerves affected performance slightly

❓ Duration shorter than average (~20 min vs 40 min others). Possibly a flag.

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🔹 Round 5 – HR Round (L5)

🕒 Start: 12:08 AM
🕓 Duration: ~20+ minutes

• Casual start
• HR Questions:
  • Strengths and weaknesses
  • "What does money mean to you?" → Answered: Stability
  • Family situation & financial discussion (~4 min talk)
• Advice on communication and confidence
• Asked: “What if you don’t get selected?” → Answer: “I’ll prepare for the next opportunity.”
• Ended with life advice and encouragement

❗ HR mentioned publicly: “You know what you need to work on.”
❌ Friend was the only one not selected among the final 12.

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🧾 Final Result

At the end, all remaining candidates were called into a room for final announcements. The HR began announcing names and handing out goodies.

😔 My friend's name was not called.
💔 Only one among the final 12 not selected.

They quietly picked up their bag and left the premises.

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💔 Reflection

"I never imagined rejection could hurt this much."
"Was it the project explanation? The stumble on a string problem? Sharing too much during HR?"

Despite the heartbreak, this was an incredible learning experience:

• 5 rounds in one day
• Over 16 hours on-site
• Cleared 4 technical interviews
• Met senior interviewers (some with 16+ years experience)

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✅ TL;DR

• On-site interview from 9 AM to 12:30 AM
• Total 5 eliminatory rounds
• Final 12 candidates: 6 boys + 6 girls
• Only 1 rejection – my friend
• Performance was good in tech rounds, but likely fell short in L4 or L5

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🙌 Takeaways

• Stay calm, even when tired
• Learn to pace yourself in long interview processes
• Be mindful of over-disclosing in HR rounds
• Even rejections can teach valuable life lessons
• You are more capable than you think — clearing 4/5 rounds is not a failure

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"It was my lucky day. But when the day ended, my luck ran out."

Sending strength to anyone who has faced similar rejections. You'll bounce back — stronger and smarter. 💪🚀