Publicis Sapient

Role: Trainee Engineer

College: Not Specified

Interview Date: February-March 2024

Interview Type: On-Campus, Full-Time

Result: Selected

Difficulty: Medium

Rounds: 3 rounds

Topics Asked: Data Structures, Algorithms, OS, DBMS, Software Engineering, SQL, CN, Java, OOPs, UML diagrams, Jenkins, Gradle, Maven, AGILE, Multithreading, Projects, Behavioral questions.

Experience:

Publicis Sapient visited campus in February 2024, with a selection process comprising three rounds.

Round 1: Coding Assessment
Conducted on February 28, this round was hosted on the QuizME platform and had two medium-difficulty coding questions to be solved in 90 minutes. One question was identical to "finding k pairs with the smallest sums". The other was similar to "Josephus's Problem". The candidate successfully solved both problems and was selected for the next round; solving one fully and another partially was also acceptable. 18 students advanced to the domain interview.

Round 2: Domain Interview (Technical)
This round took place on March 8 and lasted around 50 minutes. Questions were primarily based on the resume and covered engineering subjects such as OS, DBMS, Software Engineering, Data Structures, SQL, Computer Networks, and Java. After an introduction, a live coding problem was given: "Print the next possible string". For instance, if the input is "abcd-aa-09", the output should change "aa" to "ab" and "09" to "01". If the input ends with a number between "01" and "08", the number should be incremented by 1. Project-related questions were asked. Other technical questions included "How operating system works?", "How TCP/IP layer works when we search for something in our browser?", OOPs concepts, "What are UML diagrams?". The interviewer also asked about familiarity with Jenkins, Gradle, and Maven, and "What is AGILE software development?" and Multithreading. The candidate asked for feedback at the end, and the interviewer's encouraging response suggested being "industry-ready". The candidate was selected for the next round.

Round 3: Core Values Interview (HR)
This round was held on March 12 and lasted about 30 minutes. Questions focused on behavioral aspects and teamwork: "How did you coordinate with your mentor during your internship project?", "How did you go about persuading your mentor when you had suggestions regarding your work during your internship?". The candidate was asked to showcase their internship work, specifically a developed website. Further questions included: "Have you ever led a team, and if so, how did you manage and coordinate between team members?", and "Have you ever taken part in any social events or been part of any clubs during college?".