What are Your Strength and Weaknesses?

A to Z about YOU. Describe yourself by giving 1-5 points to each statement listed below.

5 points – always --> Excellent

4 points – usually --> Good
3 points – sometimes --> Satisfactory
2 points – rarely --> Fair
1 point -- never --> Poor

A. I am intelligent. I grasp instructions accurately and comprehend directions instantly.

B. I possess initiative. I attempt work beyond that required and work independently.
C. I am punctual. I complete assignments on time and keep appointments on time.
D. I am tactful. I say pleasant things and do the right things when dealing with others.
E. I obey rules. I observe the rules of my organization and obey them at all time.
F. I possess good judgment. I distinguish the important from the unimportant tasks.
G. I speak well. The way I speak often creates a favorable impression.
H. I am considerate. I am mindful of the effect of my conducts on others.
I. I am healthy. I am practically energetic at all time and never get ill.
J. I am accurate. I am good at details and keep records properly in order.
K. I am honest. I do not possess money, time, supplies or ideas without permission.
L. I am industrious. I am happy when I am busy and find work to do at all times.
M. I am loyal. I feel strongly about the ties that bind me to people and organization.
N. I am persistent. I complete assignments and do follow-ups with persistence.
O. I am confident. I know my goals in life and believe that they can be achieved.
P. I am capable of solving problems. I remain calm under pressure and in crisis.
Q. I am cheerful. I am humorous, flexible and generous. I smile to everybody.
R. I am enthusiastic. I am eager to learn new tasks and to be trained on-the-job.
S. I am career-minded. I do not mind spending more time at work.
T. I am creative. I like to contribute ideas but dislike instruction and routines.
U. I am adaptable. I adjust myself easily to people, place, things and changes.
V. I am open-mined. I accept criticism with gratitude and not hostility.
W. I am helpful. I offer help to others even before they ask for it.
X. I am efficient. I get my work done on time and with minimum resources.
Y. I am polite. I'm well-mannered and never offend persons whom I dislike.
Z. I am dependable. I volunteer contributions and do routine duties without being told.

This article is probably what most of you out there are waiting for.
So, wait no more! The "Interviewer's Top 10 Hits" Best Compilation
record is out! Here, you'll find a list of the 10 most popular
questions used by those faithful interviewers world wide. I do want to
caution everyone though, that this is only to provide you with a
overall guide to what they want to know, and it should not be treated
as text book answers, because there are none. If everyone started
answering the same questions with the same answers, there would be (a)
very bored interviewers, and (b) absolutely no selection process. But
let me not digress.

And the Top 10 are...

1. Tell Me Something About Yourself

Now, this is a golden classic used at the start of interviews to break
the ice and to get you to give them a good initial run down of who you
are and your "hidden" characteristics, demonstrated in the way you
present this self-story.

You should prepare a 2 to 3 minute presentation that briefly introduces

your self (where you're from), your personal interests (hobbies,
community involvement etc), your work history, and recent career
experience. The most time should be spent on the accomplishments in the
last two areas.

Interviewers look out for three things:

If you are able to give a brief, sequential summary of your life and
career that relates to the job for which you're interviewing. Don't
ramble on aimlessly on irrelevant nitty gritty details though. If you
find yourself at the 5 minute mark talking about your high school days,
you are WAY off the mark!
Your conversational style, your confidence level, your ability to
organize and present information.
An idea of the person your are behind the suit.
2. Why Do You Want To Join This Company?
OK, now they want to know your motivations for joining the company. And
this is usually where they can read between the lines in your answer,
so think carefully when answering.

First, do your research on the company, its culture and market. Not
enough job seekers do enough or ANY of this which is a real no-no! Make
sure you understand who you are being interviewed by.

Second, DON'T give answers such as "Oh, because its such a cool place
to work!", "I like your salary and benefits package," or "My friends
are already there and it makes it easier for us to hang out together."
OK, so maybe I exaggerate a little bit, but you should get the picture.

These answers seem "give-me" oriented and do not show the interviewer
how your skills and experience deliver what the company needs.

Third, DO demonstrate to them how you can contribute to the company's

goals and how your skills and experience match their requirements. Use
concrete examples as if you were already working there. For instance,
when I interviewed with JobStreet.com for the role of Editor, I drew up
a list of things that would add value to the job seeker. Similarly, if
research shows that the company is trying to be market leader, tell
them how your experience/skills will be able to let you contribute to
adding market share for the company.

3. Why Are You Looking For A New Job?

This may seem like a straightforward question to answer, but look
again. It is very easy to slip up here if you are unprepared. Most
people seek another job because they are unhappy/unsatisfied with their
current employment. But relating ANYTHING in a negative light at an
interview is bad form. Most interviewers don't look so much for the
reason you left, but they way you deliver your response. So, always be
honest and positive.
Even if you got fired from your last job, try to keep it brief yet
honest. If you start ranting on about how your ex boss/company was a
terrible employer, they may be thinking "Is he still dealing with
bitter or sad feelings, or has he been able to focus his energy on the
future and the next position? Does she place total blame on others for
her situation or does she accept at least some responsibility for it?"
Further, most terminations happen because of an ill-fit between company
and employee, not so much performance. So, try to take this angle.

If you left voluntarily, don't dwell on the negative reasons for

leaving, and focus on how you can contribute better to your new
company/role.

Some examples of answers that would work are below. But again, don't
just memorize these answers and throw them out again without being
really honest. Interviews never work if you approach them like textbook
exams.
I wanted to move my career in a new direction. (Make sure you mention
what this new direction is.)
My company was restructuring and I chose to seek better opportunities
elsewhere.
I want to keep developing new skills but was unable to pursue this in
my previous company. I decided to make a change to allow this to
happen.
4. What Kind Of Position Are You Looking For?
Avoid vague answers such as "I want an exciting job" or "I want to grow
my skills in this area." It shows lack of focus and motivation for your
career objective. Instead, focus on your desired position and how your
skills and experience can help you be an asset within that position.
For example, "I have a strong ability to communicate and market a
product as proven in my 2 years experience as marketing officer at
University/company A. I believe that I understand the consumer industry
and can add value to your company's marketing efforts."

5. What Do You Consider Your Strengths and Weaknesses?

This is a time to be honest, but don't go to extremes either way. You
don't want to start telling them that you are really terrible at
organizing and can never be on time. Neither do you make yourself out
to be the next best thing since sliced bread. Instead, be clear and
concise about qualities that demonstrate you take responsibility for
your work ethic, actions, and experiences learned (or failures) on the
job, problem-solving ability, and values.

6. What Do You Know About Our Company?

This is where your research has come in handy. It is a way to
demonstrate that you are serious about joining the company and was
motivated enough to learn about it before the interview. Don't respond
by repeating each and every fact you learnt about the company, because
it can seem arrogant and memorized. Do mention its major product,
markets and latest development. Keep things positive. Also try to show
your eagerness to learn more about the company by asking some questions
to the interviewer him/herself.

7. What Do You Consider Your Greatest Achievements?

Try to mention about 2-3 achievements. This is a way for interviewers
to gauge how you managed people/projects/yourself in a successful
manner - which can translate into how you may be able to succeed in the
company if they hire you. Try to choose a set of achievements that
allow you to display a variety of strengths. Ie. A successful event
that you set up showing your organizational skills, successfully
resolving a situation at work which demonstrates your problem solving
skills and delivering an important report under difficult circumstances
which shows your ability to handle pressure.

8. Where Do You See Yourself One / Five Years From Now?

Respond to reflect your confidence and drive to reach a level of work
that will be rewarded for your success. State realistic expectations
and propose a real plan of where you intend to go within the company.
Never sound overly confident, fearful or confused.

9. What Type Of Job Assignments Did You Perform In Your Last Job?
Be honest and to the point answering this, even if the assignments
performed don't exactly match those required in the new position.
However, also take the opportunity to mention any projects your
volunteered for, special projects you took on outside your work scope
or elected positions held in committees in other past jobs/university.
The key point here is to try to tell them about experience gained in
areas that might be relevant to your new position.

10. When You Start A New Job, How Do You Establish Good Relationships
With Your New Colleagues and Supervisors?
It is important here to be enthusiastic and positive. Tell them how you
worked well with your past colleagues or peers in projects etc.
Networking skills is important so show how you used yours in your past
to good stead.

So that wraps out the countdown! The bottomline is, be prepared, do

your research, and understand the job you are being interviewed for and
how your skills / personality / experience match the job's
requirements. Close the interview with any last questions, pass on your
namecard if you have one, thank them for their time and give a firm
handshake before smiling and saying good bye.

The first interview is just a lead into the second interview or offer
to a job. Not everyone is suited for the job or the company. So don't
be discouraged if you were not offered a position right away. Keep your
chin up and your cool, and don't give up on yourself!

Besides, things could be a lot worse at interviews and you could be

asked a question like the one used by Goldman Sachs in the USA, "There
are eight balls, one of which is slightly heavier than the others. You
have a two-armed scale, which you are allowed to use only twice. Which
ball is heavier?" Now where is my physics textbook again...
What The Interviewer Is Looking For
In most interviews, knowing what the interviewer is looking for means you have won half of the battle. The
other half of the battle: be prepared to show your knowledge about the organisation, ask tactful questions
about the job, and give a good impression that you can do better than others, if you are offered the job.

The interviewer has two methods of judging your suitability for the job. First, by questioning you and
evaluating the things about you and your experience, based on what you tell him. Second, by observing
person-to-person how you handle the interview.
If you have obviously planned your interview well, for example by showing that you are knowledgeable
about the organisation, the interviewer will assume that you are also capable of planning and making a
good job of your tasks. The converse is also true – a bad performance at interview could mean an
unsatisfactory performance at the job.

If you have the experience and ability to do the job, make sure that you do not let your interview
performance let you down. Since in most cases, the interviewer has no prior knowledge of the candidates
except their letter of application, the first impression you give is extremely important. If you are of average
intelligence or have few qualifications, do not despair. The most important factor is your actual
achievements and the positive way in which you put these over to the interviewer.

Here are five areas that help the interviewer select the right person for the right job: intelligence,
qualification, adjustment, impact on others, motivation and achievements.

Intelligence means your cognitive powers to take in and interpret information. You should be quick in
understanding all questions posed by the interviewer, and providing simple and concise answers to them.
Nevertheless, a person who is too intelligent, by giving complicated answers to simple questions, may give
an impression that he is a thinker not a doer.

Qualifications is necessary for certain professional jobs. So make sure you possess the formal qualifications
required or the experience needed when applying for that particular position. It is important to show your
knowledge and interest of the relevant professional institution in your field of work, as this will also reflect
your enthusiasm towards the profession.

Adjustment means adaptation to life in general and work in particular. The interviewer would like to know
whether you have a good capacity to withstand stress, whether you are always in control even in the most
unfavourable situations, whether you are emotionally stable, and whether you can do things on your own
initiative. Most important of all, your friendly or hostile relationship with the people around you. Impact on
others means anything from the use of simple language, the way you speak, the way you dress, to your
physical appearance throughout the interview. If you can talk from your own personal experience using real
life situations, make sense of things happen around you, think in terms of things and not people, you are
more likely to give an impression of a mature person and a problem-solver much in demand by any
employer.

Motivation and achievement are two important indicators of your general attitudes toward work and career.
Assessment will be based on the following:

Can you motivate yourself and work on your own initiative?

Do you set yourself goals and achievements?
Can you get things done even when faced with difficulties?
Are you a dreamer or an action-driven person?
Have you long term career objectives?
Have you reached the level one would expect for your age or qualifications?
Which kind of work or activity has given you the most satisfaction?
Are you a person who can deliver on time and meet deadlines?
Do you present your boss with problems or solutions?
Do you have initiative to finish work?
Do you pay attention to detail?
Do you perform well when the going get tough?
Are you good at problem solving?
The interviewer will not ask the above questions directly as the answers should come from what you have
accomplished, not what you plan to do in future. The interviewer will skillfully find out the answers by
asking what you have been involved in, your interests, your strengths, your weaknesses, the challenges in
your pursuit of knowledge or previous work, your perception of yourself, your dreams and objectives in
life.
If you are honest with yourself in the interview, you can avoid being worried about inconsistency in your
answers. Never mind if the first impression you give is imperfect to the interviewer. The worst thing that
could happen is when you lie about yourself, and have the interviewer sense it before the end of the
interview session.
O.R.P SYSTEMS( Legato systems )
-------------
1. Why do you like UNIX most as an O.S.?
2. How does UNIX provide security ?
3. How A file is accessed in UNIX ?
4. Where in the memory the inode table, in-core inode, file table and user
file descriptor tables are stored ?
5. What are the various mechanisms of IPC in UNIX ?
6. How each of them is implemented ?
7. Distinguish between a pipe and a socket ?
8. How a socket is created ?
9. Compare between file descripter and socket descripter ?
10.Discuss the concept of shared memory.
11.Why normalisation is done ?
12.Discuss Bacus normal form.
13.What is functional dependency ?
14.COCOMO model of software cost estimation.
15.What is cohesion and coupling, in a program which should be less and which
should be high ?
16.What is null modem ?
17.What is the functioning of codec ?
18.What is FDDI protocol ? How it is different from token ring ?
19.What is a base band and a broad band system ?
20.What do you mean by ports, are they nessary for communication ?
21.Describe ethernet communication technique ?

Rest of the questions on networking were indepth, some of the term or device
names were unheard of.

Only two personal questions were asked

1. Tell about yourself.
2. Another on my biodata.

GD topic: 1. Internet Technology, 2. Desktop O.S.

IBM GS
------
1. Distinguish between DOS, WINDOWS and UNIX O.S.
2. What are various kernel parameters that can be changed by an user or super
user ?
3. What are the differences between C and FORTRAN ?
4. Describe diagramatically the internal structure of UNIX kernel.
5. Write a C program which would recursively sum the numbers from parameter
n to 2n.

Personal:

1. About yourself.
2. Family background.
3. Strong points, weak points.
4. Expectations from career.
5. About hobbies.( about 10 questions )(main emphasis)
6. The story behind your success.
7. location preference ?

P.S : In all the three interviews I was asked to put a question at the end.
Tata Infotech (fwd)

1. after selling two dolls at Rs, 12 a sells man gets 25% profit in pne
and 20% loss in other. what is the net profit or loss?
Ans- Rs.0.60
2. 4 men has been caught as thives. one of them is thief and only one is
true teller. some statements of them are given. find the thief.
Ans-GUY
3. Conversion between two software engineer has been given about their
service time. (two simple eq. solv them)
Ans.-4 ys, & 8 ys.

4. One five degit no consists of two prime no. 3 rd degit is largest and
2nd is lowest. 1st degit =3rd-2nd. 4th+5th<1st.
Ans.- 81942
5.how many 4 degit no can be formed with 1,2,3,4 without the repetation.
which are devisible by four.
Ans. 6

6. A question from GRE, about the sitting problem among 5 couple.

7.A and B are climbing along the upslop of a hill of length 440m from the
bottom. when A returns from the pick he meets with B 20m from the pick.
The time diff, between them to reach the bottom is 30 sec.the uphill
velocity is 2/3 of the downhill for both. how long it will take to climb
660 m.

8. 4 persons are in a hotel having the diff mother tongue. some con, are
given about the language known. each know only two language. who speaks
what?

9. three women (names are given) having three diff precious jewellers.
( names are given). three thives(names are given) stole them . some
condition are given. Who stole what and from whom?

i can not remember another one,

there were two topics on which you have to write some thing on 150
words. time for the logical test was 60 min. and for the paragraph was 15
min.
one of the topic was likely about the --
supercomputer and man is being replaced by machine,
another was some thing related to industry and effect on man.

for logical test and puzzle read from--

1."puzzles to puzzles you" and "more puzzles"- by sakuntala devi
2. puzzles and teasures- George J. Summer
3.Brain teasures- by Narula
4. GRE (Barrons Guide)(logical part )

Subject: Infosys paper 99

>Hi everybody,
> Here Infosys people had bought two colour papers (white and
>blue) but questions in both were same. Any how its better to try solving
>Summers and Sakuntala Devi's puzzle book than trying for previous question
>papers . As some boys were able to collect recent paper of infosys from
>JNU. But they say that hardly two questions were same rest were different.
>So its better to have practice of solving puzzles especilly logical one
>(but don't neglect numerical one too)
> Be sure to have done rough work in rough sheet as at the time of
>interview they were looking at answer sheet as well as rough work( I had
>two member panel in which one was looking at biodata form that I had
>submitted going throughly through it and use to ask question where ever he
>felt neccessary . so be careful while filling bio data form of company.
>Another had my written test papers along with rough sheet . He too going
>throughly through it. And kept on asking question regarding written test
>like how well u have done in it , how much do u expect.)
> the other questions
> ---- tell us about your academic
> ---- how you have done so good in academics?
> ---- why you want to switch over to software?
> ---- do you think you are good chemical Engg.?
> ---- How do u know basic and C++ ( as I had mention in my biodata)
> ---- Do u think that u might have got highest mark in written test?
> ---- How can you say u will do well in softwere field?
>
TCS

Dated : 31/07/97

1. VOCABULARY.(SYNONYMS) 40 BITS. 20 MARKS. 20MIN.

2. QUANTITATIVE APTITUDE 15 BITS 30 MARKS 15 MIN.
3. CRITICAL REASIONING.(COMPREHENSION) 50 BITS 50 MARKS 25 MIN.
4. PSYHOMETRIC TEST. 150 BITS 150 MARKS 30 MIN
-------- ------
250 MARKS 90 MIN
-------- -------

THE PSYCHOMETRIC TEST IS SIMPLE AND THERE IS NO NEED OF OF ﾍ

PREPARATION. IT SIMPLY TEST YOUR PSYCHOLOGY. GIVE MOST POSITIVE ﾍ
ANSWERS TO THIS SECTION. I AM SEN- Mc}Š‹ùóíçáÛÕÏ µð µð µð µð µð µð µð µð NG
ANSWERS.BUT SOME OF ﾍ
THESE ANSWERS MAY CHANGE. SO YOU PLEASE CHECK IN EXAMINATION. THE ﾍ
ANSWERS IS SIMPLY (TRUE) OR (FALSE) OR (CAN'T SAY) TYPE. FOR THIS ﾍ
SECTION YOU HAVE READ AS FAST AS YOU CAN. IT SIMPLY TEST YOUR COMPREﾍ
HENSION ABILITY.
4. EVENTHOUGH WE ARE SENDING ANSWERS TO MATHEMATICAL ABILITY. ﾍ
SECTION. YOU DO " ROUGH " WORK BACK OF YOUR PAGE. IT IS ALSO ONE OF ﾍ
IMPORTNANT CAUTION.
5. IN PSYCHOLOGY SECTION THE QWE'S MAY REPEATE AT LEAST FOUR TIMES. ﾍ
BY SIMPLY CHANGING SENTENCE FORMATION. SO BECAREFUL GIVE SAME ANSWERS ﾍ
TO THOSE QWE'S.
THERE WILL BE NO NEGATIVE MARKING. TIME 90 Min.,
APPEARED FOR EXAM =255 STUDENTS
SELECTED FOR INTERVIEW =122, FINALLY SHORT LISTED = 55 STUDENTS.
overall the main thing is time managment and
presence of mind.be cool and do the paper,each section
have limited time after the alloted time we cannot
switch back neither we can move ahead to next section
if we complete a section earlier. there is no negative
marking but don't try to color all the questions
,don't spent too much time for any question ,for each
section just turn the page scan the page for the
questions u think that u can do without making much
calculation, after completing the scanning of one page
immediately switch to next page of same section,
complete the entire section like this now if u have
time switch back to previous pages do not spent more
than a minute in any question .try to perform average
in each section, don't leave any part almost
untouched,here very few people were able to do much in
number section.also there may be some upper cutoff.so
take care of it too.
***********************************************************************
the next section is interveiw section, technical and
personal interveiw both were combined in one.from some
of them they were asking there favourite subjects and
then were asking question from it from some of us they
asked from the project we have done .be honest and
just represent what u are, don't pretend to be this
and that take care while describing ur positive and
negative points.
In the paper I am sending,there r about 40 vocabulary questions.But
this year's paper has only 20 of them.Time 5 min.Marks 10.Do only
15 or 16 bits correctly.
Quantitative aptitude:I am sending 15 questions.In the latest paper we got,
there r only 10 of them r present.Time 10 min.Marks 20.Do all the
problems correctly.
Reasoning:All answers r given.Remember them.In the exam, u willnot be
having time to read the passages.So remember the answers.
I dont remember twohe passages (R and Q).U can read these passages
in the exam and answer them.Remember: don't answer all questions.Write
7 or 8 incorrect answers.Time 45 min.Total 70 questions and Marks 70.
Your ultimate aim is to get 75 to 85 marks.Because if u get high marks,
they may assune that u know the paper beforehand and u may be disqualified.
So don't get morethan 90 marks
PlacementPapers.com -- papers of campus placement and recruitment
Your guide to campus recruitments
Interview Section

After clearing the written test, companies usually interview the

candidates to gauge his/her capabilities and personality. Basically
there are two kinds of interviews, the techincal one, where stress
is laid on checking your fundamentals in your core subjects and the
HR one , where your communication skills and personality is put to
the test.
Check out the following sections for more details
Technical Section
Human Resources (HR) Section
General Tips for the Interview
Group Discussion (GD)

Technical Section
As we are from computers and electronics branches, so for the moment
we have information regarding core subjects of these fields only. As
most of the companies coming to the campuses are from the IT
industry hence you may expect them to probe your computer skills
regardless of your stream. Knowledge of C is always an added
advantage.
For Computer Students
For a computer student knowledge of C is essential. Other important
topics include
Data Structures
Operating Systems
Some students have also been grilled on Object Oriented Programming,
C++ ,Microprocessor Architecture, Networking, Database Management,
Automata, Compiler Design and Computer Graphics depending upon
subjects covered till the most recent semester.
Some Commonly Asked Questions
Usage of pointers and their fundamentals in C?
What is the difference between structures and unions in C?
Basic concepts about data structures like trees, linked lists,
circular lists, queues, arrays
Sorting Methodology ( you may be asked to make an
algorithm/program to implement a sort method).
What is an finite algorithm?
Basic concepts of Operating Systems such as multitasking,
multithreading, real time systems, CPU scheduling algorithms,
deadlocks, memory management etc.
Difference between one pass and multipass compilers, compilers and
interpreters, parsing etc.

For Electronics and Communication Stream

For electronic students the important subjects are
Digital Circuits and Logic Design
Microprocessor Architecture of 8085
Electronic Design and Circuits
Communication and Networking
Some Commonly Asked Questions
Difference between a latch and a flip flop
What is sampling theorem and why is it needed
Internal architecture of 8085
Comparison between OpAmps and transistors
Modulation techniques (AM ,FM , PAM etc.)
Transistor biasing methods ( fixed bias , emitter bias etc. )

HR Section
In your HR interview ie human resources interview the main effort on
the part of the interviewer will be to bring forth your true
personality.They may ask you some routine questions , few of which
have been mentioned below, but be expecting questions of varied type
regarding sexuality ,music , authors etc. ; anything to get to know
what you really are.

Some Commonly Asked Questions

Describe yourself
Why are you better than the next person
Your strengths and weakness and what you are doing to rectify your
weaknesses
Information regarding what kind of work your parents do
The magazines and newspapers you read , their cost and at times
their editors ; and that days headlines
You prefer a team sport to an individual sport
Why you want to join this particular company and not some other
one.
What are your career objectives ( long term and short term )
Why you plan to switch over to software field ( for those who are
from streams besides computers )
At the end of the interview they ask whether you have any questions
to ask them. It is better to stick to one or two questions
regarding the company and not dwelve into how you performed or the
pay package or any personal questions to the interviewer.

General Tips for the Interview

The Essentials
a) Fundamental principles pertaining to his academics ( most
important )
b) Essentials of past life and clear cut career objectives
c) General awareness of world around him
d) In depth knowledge of your extra curricular activities
Apart from these in general keep the following in mind
Always remember its a sort of formal occassion and never get too
informal , like accepting interviewers offer for a smoke or drink
Smart and clean turnout. Neat clothes and polished shoes with tidy
hair.
Be cool and don't get nervous.Try to be pleasant , alert and
mantain eye contact. If u cant hold your own in technical
 questions try to remain composed ;your confidence may do the
trick.
Try to maintain a good rapport with the interviewer and get him to
ask questions regarding the subjects you are strong in.
Maintain eye contact from the begining and dont act in a manner so
that the interviewer is distracted which for example can be caused
by flashy dresses ,exaggerated arm movements or you shifting in
your chair.
Give them the impression that you are going to stay with the
company for atleast 3 to 5 years. Never mention anything
concerning GRE or CAT .
Never try to bluff your way through an interview. The interviewers
would be able catch on to it fast.

References
For Computer Students
C
Let Us C
(Y. Kanetkar)
Kernighan & Ritchie
Gottfried (Schaum Series)
Exploring C
(Y. Kanetkar)

C++
Waite Groups' Turbo C++

Data Structures
Data Structures
(Tannenbaum)
Horowitz & Sahni
Sorenson & Tremelay

Operating Systems
Galvin & Silberschatz

DBMS
Silberschatz
Ullman
Date

Microprocessors
Gaonkar
Barry B Brey
Douglas V Hall
Mathur

Automata & Compiler Design

Aho & Ullman
Hopcroft & Ullman

Computer Organisation & Hardware

Hayes
Hamascher
 Peter Norton's computer guides

For Electronics Students

Communication
Kennedy
Simon Haykins

Electronic Devices & Circuits

Boylestead
Millman & Halkias
Mitchell et al.

Digital Circuits & Logic Designs

Malvino & Leach
Floyd
Taub & Schilling

Computer Networks
Tanenbaum

Antennas & Propogation

K D Prasad

Control Systems
Ogata
Kuo

Aptitude Section
Aptitude Series by
R S Aggarwal
Barron's GRE and GMAT preparation books
Shakuntla Devi's Puzzle books
MBA entrance prep material
Norman Lewis for Word Power
George W Summers Brain Teasers

Search the Web.

 For feedback send mail to webmasters@placementpapers.comSearch
the Web.

They wanted a bio-data at the time of inteview. I gave the placement

office bio-data and in that one there was column 'Major subjects
studied'. Many of the questions came from those.

Company name: Wipro Infotech Ltd., Bangalore.

Year: 1995

Wipinfo has 2 rounds of interviews. The first round is fully technical.

The second round, depending on the members of the board, may be
technical,
semi-technical or personal. Last year the second round was more
technical than the first(!) and the board was headed by Mr. P.V.Sanjeeva
Reddy, one of the no-nonsense, hardcore-technical, project leaders
in Infotech. This year it was headed by Mr. Victor Jayakiran, G.M.
(Technical, Global R&D) who was a much sober man and therefore spent
most of the time in the second round dealing with personal questions.

I detail here the technical questions asked in the first round --

--------------------------------------------------------------

[1] Tell us about your work in brief.

My Ans. Mention first the title, followed by a brief overview of the
work, what we plan to achieve, what has been achieved so far, finally
the relevance/scope of the work to the related area (i.e. how is it
going to be useful). [ 5-10 mins. depending on interest of the
listener.]

Personal Questions in the second round --

--------------------------------------

1. Tell us about yourself, your background.

2. What does your father do currently.
3. Your performance in schooling, B.E.
4. Your +/- points.
5. Why do you think Wipro should take you.
6. What qualities do you have that make you a person suitable for going
into the IT industry (a corollary to the previous question).
7. What do your friends opine about you.
8. When do you think you will complete and be able to join.
9. How can you assure that you will join by that time.
10. Anything you want to know about us.

Company name: Wipro Infotech

FIRST INTERVIEW:(First the interviewer asked me to name two

favorite subjects - OS and Networks)
a) Describe the memory management policies in Unix. How is paging
implemented? How page faults are handled?
Seems to be a favorite question for these chaps ---- Maurice
Bach.
 b) Write a macro in C for swapping two nibbles in a byte.
-Use the shift operators and be careful while defining temporary
variables( if you do so) as you have to write a macro. Otherwise
it is pretty simple.

c) What is the CPU-scheduling policy in Unix? - Round robin

scheduling
with multilevel queues.

d) Diffrence between short term, long term and medium term scheduler.
-First two should be peaceful. The last one is also known as
swapper. (See Taenenbaum and/or Peterson)

e) Name various page-replacement policies. Which can be implemented

both with and without pre-emption? - see Peterson.

f) Describe the Sliding window protocol. What is it's advantage

over stop-and-wait? - Saves bandwidth. (Taenenbaum please)

2ND INTERVIEW (Both personal and technical interleaved)

a) Tell us something about yourself.
b) Aren't you going for higher studies abroad? Why?
c) Rank and CGPA. MSites do not have ranks but still they wanted to
know my approx position in my batch.
- Shady question. It is your job to convince them that for
MS, grades do not hold any meaning.

d) What is re-entrant code? --- Non-self modifying code. Can be

shared by many processes simultaneously. Gave e.g. of text-editors
like 'vi'.
Counter Q: But then no code modifies itself. What does 'non-self
modifying' mean? ---- I don't know for sure.

e) Diff between compilers and interpreters. Some fundaes about

how to link code in different files.

f) What would your friends tell us about you if we ask them?

Standard question for everyone.

The first thing any IIT-ian should realize while attending Campus
Interviews is that the Companies have come to take you, and that
*you* are not looking for a job. I refer to the attitude of the mind.
Therefore, there's no need to treat it as a life and death issue. In
my opinion, several students take this matter as a very serious career
issue, and think that if they don't get a job in the campus
interviews, they are sunk. This is not true. A good case in point
will be Sudhakar's, who didn't get any job that he wanted in the
Campus Interviews, but when he came to Bangalore and applied to the
different companies, he landed a job in *every* company he applied
for. And these companies were by no means insignificant ones: Tata
Elxsi, Wipro Infotech, Novell, C-DAC ... all those which are
considered to be respectable employers. So, the catch phrase during
Campus Interviews is, "don't panic, be cool, relax, you have *nothing*
to lose, and everything to gain." This is the attitude you should
have in mind when you go for the interviews.

About the companies, now. There are mainly two kinds of companies in
Bangalore. Those that are small, like Tata Elxsi and Novell, with a
more or less flat organizational structure, and those that are very
huge, like Wipro and TISL, where there's a veritable population
explosion. There are merits and demerits of both. In the small
organizations, there are fewer people, so it is easy to make your
presence felt and to make yourself noticed, and to get proper credit
for what you are doing. The flip side of the coin for these
organizations is that you have to be very careful in what you say and
do, for everything you do/say is audible at the highest levels, and,
as the American Police say when they are arresting a criminal
"anything you say may be used against you." Smaller organizations
also have a flatter structure, so the amount of responsibility on your
shoulders may be quite heavy. In one sense it is good -- you can
contribute well to the organization and get credit for it, but in
another sense it is bad, for you may have to work late and quite hard
too. The advantages of being in a large organization like Wipro is
that you will never be *overloaded* with work, unless you choose to do
so yourself. You can be in the company as you are in the CS
Department right now, light-headed and carefree, even a bit careless.
The obverse side of the coin here is that in such huge organizations,
you will never be anything but small fry in a big pond ... and getting
credit where it is due may be a little difficult (specific reference
to TISL here).

Another issue that should be considered when seriously aiming at a

company is the nature of the job that you will be put in. In my
honest opinion, since the pay structures of most companies are
verisimilar now, and the salary differential between employees of
different companies is very minimal, the nature of work is the most
important criterion that one should pay attention to. If you are
specifically interested in some kinds of jobs, such as, say UNIX
Internals/Device Drivers, Networking (Unix/DOS), or graphics,
multimedia, etc, you should aim at companies that are primarily
working in those areas. Also, you should try to find out, through
other channels, as to whether openings exist in those companies for
the kind of job that you are aiming at. For example, Wipro Infotech's
communication group has no openings right now. Most people who join
Wipinfo are taken into the Testing/Debugging groups, or put in the
Tandem Group. These are pretty low down in the job priority order of
the average computer professional in Bangalore. Novell is working in
DOS based networking (Netware) and is by far one of the best companies
in Bangalore -- good salary, flat structure, nice working environment.
Tata Elxsi is also working in Networking, but that is mainly UNIX
based. Other companies that work in Unix are TISL and Wipro Systems.
Device drivers and Unix Internals are a big word in WipSys, Wipinfo
and Elxsi. There are other companies like Siemens Information Systems
Ltd., Siemens Computing Services Ltd., which I am not sure of. Texas
Instruments is working VLSI CAD and chip design stuff. Motorola,
can't say. Other companies working in Unix Internals and Networking
are Hughes and HCL HP. Also, some companies in Delhi are there ...

That's about companies. Now about the interview. A typical interview

panel will have one to two people from the technical cadres and a
couple (or more) of chaps from the Human Resources division. The
technical guys are usually interested in grilling you on an area that
you choose -- typically they ask you what areas are your favourites
and then ask you questions in that. This happens in companies like
C-DAC, Wipro, Elxsi etc. In addition, they might ask you, if you say
you like working in Unix, to select one particular area of the OS and
ask you fundaes in that. Therefore, prepare for all this kind of
thing. Read up the C-FAQ and the UNIX FAQ. Be prepared for dumb
questions in recursion in C and, if you know C++, some questions on
Inheritance etc. About UNIX, try to concentrate on some topic like
IPC etc. Otherwise, device drivers etc would be fine. Also, if you
are planning to suggest networking as an area of interest, be clear
about what the various layers of the TCP/IP stack do, where they fit
in with respect to the OSI protocol layers, and also internals of the
TCP or IP processes in the kernel. If you are preparing for the
Novell interview, there is no harm in saying that you don't know
anything about Netware, but you have only heard about it. However,
say that you have good basics in TCP/IP networking, and be prepared to
prove your statement.

Another thing you should be prepared with is how to give an overview

of your project/thesis topic in two-three minutes. This is the
typical attention span of the people who interview you, and it is
better to try and fit in as much info as you can into the first two
minutes of your talk about your project/thesis topic. Also, try to
make it as interesting as possible, and leave a few loose ends if you
want them to ask you some questions on that, so that you can
demonstrate your mastery over the subject.

I really can't think of many more things to write. Perhaps I would

have said more if I were giving you people a talk or something like
that. It is more interactive that way, and more issues crop up. Tell
me if I can be of any more help. Do mail back.

Regards,
Ravindra.

B) Personal
-----------

i) Tell us something about yourself. (This has to be there)

ii) Strengths and weaknesses (This question also disguised in various
forms is always asked).
iii) Why should we hire you?
iv) Can you describe your project in short?
v) Why did you take 2-1/2 years to complete (My case!)
vi) If given the job when can you join. (Caution: Don't think that if
you give some unreal early deadlines they will offer you the job.
Always play safe and give a deadline by which time you are sure to
complete and join. Asking for extensions is the worst scenario).

Tips: Be confident, frank (But need not give away information which may
weigh
against your case), free (use first names while addresing them,
so be
alert when they introduce themselves) and cheerful (attend an
interview
 with a positive frame of mind). Remember you are IITians and you
always
have an edge. That may sound arrogant, but its true.

Personal Questions in the second round --

--------------------------------------

1. Tell us about yourself, your background.

2. What does your father do currently.
3. Your performance in schooling, B.E.
4. Your +/- points.
5. Why do you think Wipro should take you.
6. What qualities do you have that make you a person suitable for going
into the IT industry (a corollary to the previous question).
7. What do your friends opine about you.
8. When do you think you will complete and be able to join.
9. How can you assure that you will join by that time.
10. Anything you want to know about us.

} /* End of for() */

Name: G.Kartik
Year: 1995

Company name: Wipro Infotech

FIRST INTERVIEW:(First the interviewer asked me to name two

favorite subjects - OS and Networks)
a) Describe the memory management policies in Unix. How is paging
implemented? How page faults are handled?
Seems to be a favorite question for these chaps ---- Maurice Bach.

b) Write a macro in C for swapping two nibbles in a byte.

-Use the shift operators and be careful while defining temporary
variables( if you do so) as you have to write a macro. Otherwise
it is pretty simple.

c) What is the CPU-scheduling policy in Unix? - Round robin scheduling

with multilevel queues.

d) Diffrence between short term, long term and medium term scheduler.
-First two should be peaceful. The last one is also known as
swapper. (See Taenenbaum and/or Peterson)

e) Name various page-replacement policies. Which can be implemented

both with and without pre-emption? - see Peterson.

f) Describe the Sliding window protocol. What is it's advantage

over stop-and-wait? - Saves bandwidth. (Taenenbaum please)

2ND INTERVIEW (Both personal and technical interleaved)

a) Tell us something about yourself.
b) Aren't you going for higher studies abroad? Why?
 c) Rank and CGPA. MSites do not have ranks but still they wanted to
know my approx position in my batch.
- Shady question. It is your job to convince them that for
MS, grades do not hold any meaning.

d) What is re-entrant code? --- Non-self modifying code. Can be

shared by many processes simultaneously. Gave e.g. of text-editors
like 'vi'.
Counter Q: But then no code modifies itself. What does 'non-self
modifying' mean? ---- I don't know for sure.

e) Diff between compilers and interpreters. Some fundaes about

how to link code in different files.

f) What would your friends tell us about you if we ask them?

Standard question for everyone.

Second interview: (fully personal) --- This was more interesting;-)

a) What did you feel about the ppt? --- wasn't very impressive
so gave some shady answer.
b) Have you heard of creativity? -- Ya.
Have you heard of Bernard Shaw? -- Ya.
(Then he rattled off some quote of BS regarding creativity)
What do you say? --- I put some shadiest fundaes regarding
visionaries and Leonardo da Vinci conceptualising Helicopters
in his time!

************************************************************************
NOTE: If you have been offered a job previously by any other company
after your BTech/BE or if you have even slightest of work experience
then make it a point to mention about it. It is a major plus point.
The interviewers will be definitely interested in knowing that some
other company also found you good enough to be selected.
************************************************************************

***************************************************************************
Personal Questions asked:
a)question
1. Tell me about urself, family background ..
2. Btech projects and M.S. projects
( spend more time here, even if u have not done much
workl; create a good impression)
3. Significant achievements in life.
( may be paper publications etc. )
4. Why did u leave ur previous company ( If u were working)
5. What do u expect from a company ?
( like how shd be the work environment etc. etc. )

Technical Questions asked:

1. Explain your project
2. What are your areas of interest in Appli Prog
Personal Questions asked:
1. Introduce yourself
 2. Why do you want to join INFOSYS
3. Do you have a passport
Personal Questions asked:
a)Which other companies are you applying to?

in interview
a)question
my weakness, kinds of friendship, family details
b) response
They are impressed if one presents papers.
I have presented conference papers
in the national level.

Generally most of the companies asks about the project.

Regarding other technical questions, they put questions
on the courses I did.

B) Personal
-----------

i) Tell us something about yourself. (This has to be there)

ii) Strengths and weaknesses (This question also disguised in various
forms is always asked).
iii) Why should we hire you?
iv) Can you describe your project in short?
v) Why did you take 2-1/2 years to complete (My case!)
vi) If given the job when can you join. (Caution: Don't think that if
you give some unreal early deadlines they will offer you the job.
Always play safe and give a deadline by which time you are sure to
complete and join. Asking for extensions is the worst scenario).

Tips: Be confident, frank (But need not give away information which may weigh
against your case), free (use first names while addresing them, so be
alert when they introduce themselves) and cheerful (attend an interview
with a positive frame of mind). Remember you are IITians and you always
have an edge. That may sound arrogant, but its true.

NOTE:::::

I'm sendin the questions, somany have no answers. U do check the

answers for all the given questions also.

All questions are MULTIPLE CHOICES ONLY.

U do try to cover the related topics to get some understanding.

In interview They are asking C C++ Operating system concepts
and Networks.
They will ask about Ur interesting subjects, U try to have good
grip on those intresting subjects.

They selected 11 out of 55 students.

They asked about c c++ project work and OS,NETWORKS.
But they selected only 2 , one from CS and another is BTech ECE.

SECTION 1 is main factor selection to the interview

--------------------------------------------------------------
In the interveiw you should be very active .And should be frank to say
no also.One CS student said that he don't know NETWORK and he hasn't
taken NETWORKS subject.But he has selected.
I am out of placement after getting selection in Honeywell,
which was my dream job.

Honeywell conducted a test in IIT and Interview was in their

office at B'lore.

Test contained 100 multiple choice questions divided into

a) Verbal ability (15 ques)

b) Numerical aptitude (15 )
c) Logical and analytical ability (15)
d) Elementary computer science (10)
d) Programming langauages (20)
e) Operatins systems and Data structures (25)

Not sure about the number of questions.

Verbal ability questions contained 3 parts.

a) One passage is given and U have to answer 5 questions
b) Some words are given and their synonyms have to be written
c)

Numerical aptitude and Logical questions were the usual stuff.

---------------------------------------------------------------
I had 4 rounds of interview.
First round (around 45 minutes) contained, questions from Real-time
-----------
Systems (my research area), operating systems and Software Engineering

Explain U'r research work.

What is a Real-Time System ?

What is the difference between Hard and Soft real-time systems ?
What is a mission critical system ?
What is the important aspect of a real-time system ?

Explain the difference between microkernel and macro kernel.

Give an example of microkernel.
Why paging is used ?
Which is the best page replacement algo and Why ?

WHat is software life cycle ?

How much time is spent usually in each phases and why ?
Which one do U want to work if selected in Honeywell ?
( I said I don't like testing )
They asked why ?
I said it is a boring job. Then they tried to analyse
the knowledge in testing.

What is testing ?
Which are the different types of testing ?
Then they explained the way they do testing. They said that they are
doing testing in requirement phase and design phase so that if any
problem comes in those phases it is not ncecessary to go back and change
the requirement or design. All the test processing is automated.

Why do U want to join Honeywell ?

Ans : To get a practical feeling of Real-time systems.

Do U know C++ ?
How good are U in C and C++ ?
Rate U'rslef in both C and C++. ( 1 - 10 marks)

Second round (around 45 minutes )

------------
They wanted a bio-data at the time of inteview. I gave the placement
office bio-data and in that one there was column 'Major subjects
studied'. Many of the questions came from those.

Explain U'r research work.

Lot of questions from it.

What is a distributed system ?

Some questions about CSP. ( I kept quiet)
Which languages do U know ?
What are the differences between Pascal and C.
I said Pascal is a strongly typed language.
Then what is typing and its advantages ?
Then he asked some questions from Compiler construction and Lisp.

WHich are the different computer architectures ?

What is the requirement in MIMD ?
What is the difference between RISC and CISC processors ?
Difference between loosely coupled and tightly coupled systems ?
What is an open system ?

Still a lot of questions from software engineering .

Which are the different phases in Software life cycle (asked again)
Why is analysis and testing phases very important ?
Which methodologies are U familiar with ?

Have U worked in windows ? (Yes)

What is the difference U have seen from a Dos environment ?
I said it event driven .
So what do U mean by event driven ?
How do WinMain look like ?
How the messages are processed in Windows ?
(Queue of events)
What are parameters needed to distinguish an event ?

Have U done any network programming ?

Why networks are layered ?
What is the advantage of that ?
How many layers are there in OSI ?
WHy is it called OSI model ?
Are U familiar with network topologies ?
Which are the different network toplogies ?
Tell an example of bus type network.
I said ethernet.
What is the Bandwidth of ethernet ?
Explain the advantage and disadvantage of ethernet ?
Which is the protocol used in ethernet. (CSMA/CD)
Why is it called so ?
If all stations tries to communicate at same time, what will happen.
What is binary exponential backoff algo ?

What is the advantage of Ring network ?

Compare it with ethernet.
In a real-time system which one do U prefer and why ?
What is the basic requirement of a real-time network ?
Which one is costly - ethernet of ring networks ?

Some questions form OOSD and Digital signal processing.

What is inheritance, encapsulation etc.

Third Round (15 minutes)

-----------
Asked about the percentages and marks during SSC, PDC, B.Tech and MS.
When can U join ?
Who is U'r guide ?
U are from which place ?
Where is it in Kerala ?
How do U perform in the first two interviews ?
WHy have U given Honeywell as dream job ?
Some more personal questions

Fourth Round (45 minutes)

------------
What do U like in Bangalore ?
I said the weather and all my friends are here.
Asked about my family members.
How do U interact with friends ?
How do adjust to a new environemnt ?
Suppose U solve a problem and after that U are getting an almost same
problem with high complexity ( and lower complexity). How will U
approach to the next problem.
What is U'r approach towards a new subject ?
How do U prepare for exams ?
Suppose in a project meeting, somebody fires U, how will U react ?
Are U patient enought to wait in long queues ?
Still some more which I don't rememebr.....

B) Personal
-----------

i) Tell us something about yourself. (This has to be there)

ii) Strengths and weaknesses (This question also disguised in various
forms is always asked).
iii) Why should we hire you?
iv) Can you describe your project in short?
v) Why did you take 2-1/2 years to complete (My case!)
vi) If given the job when can you join. (Caution: Don't think that if
you give some unreal early deadlines they will offer you the job.
Always play safe and give a deadline by which time you are sure to
complete and join. Asking for extensions is the worst scenario).
Tips: Be confident, frank (But need not give away information which may
weigh
against your case), free (use first names while addresing them,
so be
alert when they introduce themselves) and cheerful (attend an
interview
with a positive frame of mind). Remember you are IITians and you
always
have an edge. That may sound arrogant, but its true.