Interview Experience of Parth Kulkarni in Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank visited our college for placement drive in June. It was the first company to visit the campus and it was the company I had been targeting from let’s say last 2 years. The practice began for developing profile right from first year itself wherein me and my friend Himanshu Palve, we started coding on GeeksForGeeks(10000 points) in the First Year, took part in few online coding competitions arranged by IEEE and ACM society in college. Having challenged with some good questions, we shifted our base to HackerRank(6 stars). The same process continued till pre penultimate year, wherein we again switched bases to IntervieBit(Another platform dedicated for interview preparation, wherein I eventually ranked 1st in our college circle). Then prior to the placement season, few sessions were arranged by seniors who were placed there and had performed well otherwise in different company interviews. The company was hiring freshers for the post of Graduate Analyst. I was totally mad for getting placed in that company, had seen a few seniors who had got the offer there and was totally motivated to get in there. So the process began. The company started the process with the filling of online applications. Made a catchy and bulky cover letter, modified Resume to fit well for the job.
The company had scheduled this on a Friday afternoon when it was raining like anything and had to take my dad’s driver so as to not get interview clothing wet. This round was supposed to be my strong zone, I had prepared days and nights for this, still wasn’t able to perform exceptionally here. Performed quite average and was quite disheartened. Had a warm tea with my friend in the evening after test, wining and crying that this ain’t happening. She gave me a lift, same wining to her, this test was not what I had expected. Took a hot shower, as it was raining heavily that day and I was half drenched. Thought deeply during that 10 min shower, got myself ready to prepare for the next company visiting the campus.
Round 1 :
This was a coding round. The questions were from easy to moderate level. They concentrated more on the analytical and logical approach of thinking. There were 3 coding questions unlike the standard pattern of Deutsche Bank which included 2 coding questions and some objective questions. So the candidates who were proficient in competitive coding were at an advantage. Having familiarity with the HackerRank platform would be beneficial. The three questions were as follows-
1) Find the maximum number of events that can be organized for the given start time and duration of each task. This was a classic greedy question ( Activity Scheduling)
2)This question was to find the number of the sparse palindromic substring in a given string. ex- bbrl : this string has possible sparse palindrome as b, b, r, l, bb, bbr etc. A sparse palindrome is a palindrome which when shuffled will form a proper palindrome.
3) This question was a math-based question. We were given a set of coordinates and we needed to extrapolate the graph for the new coordinates. The standard equation of Y=MX+C would be enough to solve the problem.
The criteria weren’t announced by the company but the people who had been able to solve at least one question completely were shortlisted for the round 2.
(The round 1 had 388 participants from which the company shortlisted 49 candidates for round 2. )
The company had arranged Interviews on Sunday. Duh! It was quite painful, as I was certain I am not gonna get placed, still had to dress up completely so as to attend company presentations. Yelled at my Mom, who was always there with me for being optimistic and I am always sorry to her for being angry in those 2 days. Bitched about the company, for “Why do they want all of us to attend the seminar?” Sat through the PPT making no impression, which I would have tried to develop if I was optimistic about the outcome, Nothing goes as planned. To my luck, out of nowhere, The company hr said my name, “Parth Kulkarni!” I was stunned. That moment was one of the momentary things in my life to date. I got out from those back seats where I and my friends had camped. Shreya said to me dude, “Hotay tuza!”, (You are gonna get through). I laughed there with a smirk and left. Like a fool, I wasn’t even carrying my resume and my personal documents. Duh! As I had thought I wasn’t gonna get through, I called my Aai(Mom)(The saviour). She sent my Baba(Dad), he rushed through his car carrying all my things… In the meantime, I took copies of my Resume from the shop outside my campus. As it was Sunday, the one in our college was closed. I was panting like Tom Cruise running through the campus, listening to people say “Congratulations!”, what they didn’t know was I was so scared as I had no documents and placement committee had asked for all the documents and Resume in 10 min. Luckily, thanks to his driving skills, Baba came to college in time. I was completely sweating like a Pig, panting with heavy breath… He handed over the documents, consoled me and said to me to take some deep breaths… God that helped so much. Luckily, my name wasn’t announced for Interview. So settled down for some time, got my shirt tucked back well… Went to the washroom, had a glass of water, dried my shirt(thanks to that Linen, it dried quickly)… My name was called. However, the interview started after some time. Was waiting in the lobby along with peers who were also waiting for their interviews from their assigned interviewer. Tried getting some idea from the place com volunteers. However, those guys didn’t give any clear idea, so I was on my own. After some time, Interview called me through the place com peeps. I walked to the table. Exchanged pleasantries and thus the interview begin…
Round 2:
This round was a pure technical round which was also an elimination round. The interviewer was quite a cool person. He was cooperative and helpful. The round began with interviewer going through my resume and asking me the level of proficiency I would give for the programming languages I had mentioned on my resume on a scale of 10. Then he asked me if we have a legacy system with minimum ram and processing power which sorting algorithms can be beneficial. Followed by it there were standard questions related to linked list and circular linked lists. Then there was some basic discussion on oops paradigm and it’s components. There was also some discussion on virtual memory and paging concepts. Then the interviewer asked for designing the shortest path distance from node 1 to node N(Dijkstra’s algorithm or bellman ford). Then the interviewer asked me for any questions and I asked a couple of questions and then the round completed.
(After Round 2 they shortlisted around 27 candidates for the further rounds. After this round, all the rounds were compulsory for the shortlisted candidate and there was no elimination round further)
Then there was a lunch break. I was happy as hell. I was totally satisfied with my performance and had some sweet buns and lime juice in the canteen. Some of my friends were still there, hanging out… Gave them update, I was happy! So after the lunch break, there was a group activity scheduled. Had earlier read about it online, so wasn’t a complete surprise. However, the way it worked was completely new. Everyone had read to make active presence so everyone was rattling and babbling, and it was all mess there. Luckily, the company people were able to figure out the points they were looking out for.
Round 3:
This was a group activity wherein the teams were formed from the shortlisted students. The teams were formed of around 10–15 members and were given a problem statement. With the help of Lego blocks, we were asked to build a bridge which can be used to cross the river of width W. This round tested our team spirit, our leadership skills and our thought process for solving the problems as a team. Then after 15 min, both the teams were asked to combine their work and get a better quality of the bridge. This wasn’t an elimination round but the panellist noted the behaviour of each and every candidate and scored them accordingly. It’s advisable to be active in this round but not over-dominant and bossy. Everything is being watched by the panellist. (people got rejected because of this trait later)
Again after this, there was a technical round. Everyone had a different order of interviews based on the availability of the interviewers. Mine was a technical interview. Got in there, same… exchanged pleasantries sat on the chair, the interview started. The interviewer got a special interest in my internship work and it was all sixers from there one… The puzzle he gave me I had been knowing since my school days… still pretended to do on-feet thinking(it’s needed, folks). The round finished on a satisfactory basis.
Round 4:
This was again a technical round for me. The order varied for different students. In this round, I was asked to write some basic programs. Questions related to my internships were asked here. Followed by this I was asked questions related to SQL. Some basic queries with ORDER BY, GROUP BY, HAVING constructs were asked. Next to it questions related to joins and differences between different kind of joins. Questions related to union and can we merge two databases output using union were asked? I said YES we can if both are Oracle-based or MySQL based. Next, I was asked which algorithm OLA uses for finding cabs near to u? I said I don’t know specifically for ola but I said google maps do use A Star algorithm and the round progressed further. I was asked questions related to basic threads and multithreading, they were pretty basic. Then the interviewer gave me a puzzle. The famous 3 lit, 4lit, 5 lit bucket question. Even if you the solution imitate as if you are solving and thinking on the problem and then come up with a solution. Try to improvise the solution if possible.
Then there was the most dreaded and non-use to round of interview, HR Interview. You basically need to look deep in your mind and answer these questions. Try being authentic, it helps. The HR was starring at my resume and my day’s progress in a file… We exchanged a few small talks and jokes. He made the situation quite casual and it made me feel like a friendly conversation. This was the most insightful and thoughtful round of interview I had faced till date.
Round 5:
This was the first HR Round. It included a basic set of questions. The list of question is as follows –
1) Tell me how was your journey through these 3 years in college?
2) What was the most stressful thing you have experienced until today?
3) What will you favour more in your team — A good developer or a good friend who isn’t that skilled?
4) Were u confident about getting shortlisted? (Even if u aren’t saying I was pretty much confident)
5) How was your mindset before the aptitude round and before the interview?
6) How do you control your stress?
7) What skills will you look for when choosing a team member? If u say some N things which you are looking for he/she will ask which among these do u believe u have in yourself?
8) What do you know about DB?
9) What are your expectations from the company?
In this round especially the HR person will check your mindset. Don’t tell the answers which you find ready-made on the Internet. The people interviewing are highly experienced and saying those bookish answers will harm your candidature. Being genuine and smart with what you say is the key.
After this, there was a short round of HR Interview again. I tried asking questions in each round of Interview. Basically the doubts were my serious concerns and things I would like to get clear idea upon. Asking questions is a good practice, so try staying active and proactive so as to remember small things during the interview as well.
Round 6:
This was another HR Round. This was quite a short interview. The interviewer asked me whether I had any questions for her. I asked a couple of questions and the round completed.
After waiting for around 30 minutes the result was declared and I was confident enough that I would get selected !! (being sarcastic in this). My name was announced and it all went black for me. It was dead silence for me in my head for two minutes and this is how I got placed with Deutsche Bank. This was by far the best day for me. Things I was always willing to get, were now a reality and I couldn't believe it. I called my Mom, told her “I got the job”. She was the most satisfied and contended person on earth that day and that day was one of the most memorable days in my life. It had a contribution of everyone, My Mom(for staying optimistic, supporting me like hell), My Dad(whom, I saw proud of me that day), My friends(who were unhappy that they couldn’t get through, I get it… but at the same time were happy for me and were there to help me, support me and obviously Instagram me)…
“ However, remember one thing, how much you prepare(It’s the only thing in your hand, so do it properly), your family, friends and your luck does play a role”
