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Interview experiences
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Interview experiences · IBM
IBM Software Engineer HackerRank assessment with two timed coding questions
Right after I applied, I received a timed online-assessment request that had to be completed within a week. It ran on HackerRank and consisted of two coding questions to finish in about an hour. The questions were clearly meant to filter quickly for problem-solving ability. My version used classic algorithmic prompts that felt like LeetCode problems. One was more puzzle-like than I expected: coun…
Interview experiences · IBM
IBM Software Engineer interview: automation testing, then manager fit
The technical interview was direct about testing and engineering fundamentals. We discussed my automation-testing experience, C# and Python, Selenium, BDD concepts, and how those topics connected to my own projects. The final round was with a hiring manager and focused on problem-solving, communication, and fit. I had to describe challenges I had handled and place the role in the context of real…
Interview experiences · IBM
IBM Software Engineer interview: campus shortlists and interrupted interview
My IBM process began with an on-campus assessment that combined multiple-choice questions and coding. Only a limited number of students were shortlisted. The technical interview took a fixed hour block and went well enough that the interviewer gave positive feedback. Afterward, HR announced names for the next stage in waves. When my name was not in the first list, I assumed I had been rejected. I…
Interview experiences · IBM
IBM Software Engineer interview: coffee chat, pitch, and technical-behavioral session
I started with a more casual conversation than expected: a coffee chat about my background, resume projects, and prior work. There was no real coding pressure, just friendly questions and a sense of getting to know the role and team. The next step was more structured. I received an email with questions about my location and background, then had one 30-minute technical and behavioral session. It s…
Interview experiences · IBM
IBM Software Engineer Interview Experience — An 80-Minute HackerRank with a Slow Web IDE
The assessment lasted 80 minutes in total. At the beginning, it recommended choosing one of three frameworks: Django, Spring Boot, or Node. The first problem was LeetCode's Design Authentication Manager. The second problem provided a web application for a ticket-booking system. I had to fix errors in the backend. It involved basic concepts such as RESTful APIs, caching, and paginating returned da…
Interview experiences · IBM
IBM Software Engineer Interview Experience — An 80-Minute OA with Tree Distances and Django Debugging
IBM's OA was unproctored. Here are a few pitfalls to watch out for: Q1: Tree Pythagorean Triples The problem: Given a tree and three fixed vertices x, y, z, count the vertices whose distances to those three vertices, sorted as a ≤ b ≤ c, form a Pythagorean triple: a² + b² = c², with all three distances positive integers. My approach: Run BFS or DFS once from each of x, y, z, record the distances…
Interview experiences · IBM
IBM Software Engineer Interview Experience — Coding Phone Screen on an IDE Function Signature Matcher
The task is to implement an IDE-style function signature lookup engine. It has two core APIs: Register a function (register): store the function name, its list of parameter types, and whether it takes variadic arguments. Query for matches (find_matches): given a list of argument types for a call, return the names of all functions that can be legally called with them. Core interface definition: Th…
Interview experiences · IBM
IBM Software Engineer Interview Experience — Passed the Coding OA, Failed the Behavioral OA
Two problems, 75 minutes. The first problem was counting triplets. You're given an array and a number d, and you have to return the number of triplets that satisfy a condition: in each triplet, the difference between the largest number and the smallest number can't be greater than d. My first solution was to sort the whole array and then use two nested for loops to find the smallest and largest n…
Interview experiences · IBM
IBM Software Engineer Interview Experience — PostgreSQL Averages and HAVING for Resource Usage
Write a PostgreSQL query to identify customers whose websites have excessively high average resource usage. Table schemas: The customers table contains id (INT, primary key) and email (VARCHAR(255)). The site_metrics table contains customer_id (INT, foreign key), cpu_usage (DECIMAL(5,2)), memory_usage (DECIMAL(5,2)), and disk_usage (DECIMAL(5,2)). Specific requirements: The report must show custo…
Interview experiences · IBM
IBM Software Engineer Interview Experience: Resume reasoning and follow-ups
I was scheduled for an interview about a week after applying. The early conversation was fairly standard: I walked through my experience and qualifications, then answered technical questions tied to what I had put on my resume. Even when there was not much coding, it felt like they wanted to know whether I could connect my background to actual work. Behavioral questions were a major part of it. I…
Interview experiences · IBM
IBM Software Engineer Interview Experience — Six Recorded Behavioral Questions, 1 Minute to Prep and 3 to Answer
Six questions in total, 1 minute to prepare, 3 minutes to answer. Questions: Tell me about a time you used an AI tool to help you create something. How did you work out what it could and could not do well, and what did you check or change before relying on its output? Tell me about a time something you created did not work as expected. How did you work out why, and looking back, what might you ha…
Interview experiences · IBS Software
IBS Software Backend Engineer coding round experience
I entered a multi-round process with a coding round first. The problem asked me to find unique quadruplets in an array whose sum matched a target. I did not clear that round, so the process stopped for me. There were a couple of technical-plus-managerial conversations and an HR-related round on the schedule, but I did not reach them. Overall, it felt like a fairly straightforward sequence: once I…
Interview experiences · Idfc First Bank
Idfc First Bank Software Engineer interview experience: face-to-face coding
I applied through Naukri and received an email saying I was shortlisted for a Developer or Senior Developer track. My first interaction was a face-to-face interview. The process looked straightforward, but the assessment was tough. I was given a hard coding question and felt real pressure from the pace and limited time. That pressure affected my performance as much as the problem did, and I was r…
Interview experiences · IFS
IFS Backend Engineer interview experience: SQL, Java, and Spring Boot
This was a multi-stage process covering both skill and fit. It began with screening, moved into detailed technical assessments, then system-design-style evaluation and behavioral discussions. By the end, it felt as though they had assessed technical depth as well as how I work with other people. The technical content stayed close to the role: SQL, Java, and Spring Boot. It did not feel random. Th…
Interview experiences · IMC
IMC Hardware Engineer Interview Experience — Five Chicago Onsite Rounds and a Template Rejection
A recruiter first found me through a professional network and referred me to IMC. After two phone screenings with a hardware engineer and a machine-learning algorithm engineer, I was invited to the Chicago office for an onsite. The onsite had five rounds, all on the same day, and I met ten interviewers across those rounds. First round: Hardware architecture. I was first given a small program writ…
Interview experiences · IMC
IMC Intern Quantitative Trader Interview Experience — Betting Strategy and Election Fund Allocation
Q1: Betting game. The setup was a series of matches with their odds and match times. Each group of matches could be treated as independent. I would receive two events, meaning inside information or statistics, and had to decide from each event whether to change my bet on a particular match. I also needed to calculate my profit and loss. During the final review, I had to explain my betting strateg…
Interview experiences · IMC
IMC Network Engineer interview: modern C++ and multicast protocol questions
My process began with an asynchronous online interview and a technical test. The main technical portion started with a deeper discussion focused heavily on C++. It felt intense from the beginning. The interviewers were welcoming enough, but the questions went well beyond surface-level knowledge and dug into modern C++. I went through additional rounds, and the later stages became even more specia…
Interview experiences · IMC
IMC New Grad Trader Interview Experience — Reflex-Game OA Then a One-Take Video Screen
I applied online for IMC Amsterdam's graduate trader role in March, and right after I submitted the application it automatically sent me the first round OA. The first round was a 45-minute Neurolympics game — you can try a shorter demo version of the same kind of questions before the real thing, but the real test is longer. I did really badly on this round, both my speed and accuracy percentiles…
Interview experiences · IMC
IMC Software Engineer assessment with limited sample guidance
After I sent my resume, I was pushed into an online assessment pretty quickly, just a few days later. It ran through Codility and had only a handful of questions, with a couple of hours to complete it. The structure was pretty tight. Each question had only one sample input and output, with no extra guidance, so I felt I couldn't rely on the examples to confirm my approach. That same straight-to-t…
Interview experiences · IMC
IMC Software Engineer asynchronous video interview after an online assessment
I applied in November, and about two weeks later I received a link for an online assessment. I did the work myself, but the part that really got to me was the interview afterward. Instead of speaking with someone on a call, I had to record my responses in a video format. I remember feeling unusually nervous because I wasn't used to talking into a camera without any back-and-forth. It didn't feel…
Interview experiences · IMC
IMC Software Engineer home assignment and code review
I started with a home assignment that was split into two parts. They estimated about six hours of work and gave me three days to complete it, so it felt manageable at first. The first part involved implementing something straightforward, along with smaller requirements such as writing a README and adding unit tests. Some of the solution requirements felt subjective and depended on the approach, w…
Interview experiences · IMC
IMC Software Engineer Interview Experience — Two OA Questions on Container Waste and Org-Chart Propagation
Two questions: Question 1: Waste Reduction A pharmaceutical company business scenario. The company prepares liquid medication for different patients, and the amount each patient needs varies. The medication has to be packaged into containers, and each "container set" offers bottles of different capacities. Given: the requirement amounts for multiple patients (requirements); and several container…
Interview experiences · IMC
IMC Software Engineer interview: seven three-minute reasoning sessions
I applied through a school career fair and online, and then received an online logical reasoning test. It was divided into seven sessions. Each session lasted three minutes and had four questions, which made the test feel rushed even though the topics were the kind of things you can practice. After I finished it, I received a second online test with three questions. This one was more technical, a…
Interview experiences · IMC
IMC Software Engineer interview with a two-question online assessment
I started with an online assessment containing two questions. The first was harder and reminded me of common LeetCode-style problems, especially arrays and lists before moving toward trees and similar topics. I spent time aligning my practice with that structure, and I remember thinking it was the kind of round where knowing the patterns mattered. I hadn't started the live interviews yet, but the…