Societe Generale

Role: Software Engineer

College: Not Specified

Interview Date: August 14, 2024

Interview Type: On-Campus/Full-Time

Result: Not Specified

Difficulty: Easy to Medium (coding)

Rounds: 4 rounds

Topics Asked: Aptitude, Technical MCQs (OS, DS, SQL), Coding (String Reversal), Web Technology (Front-end Security, React, Node.js, JavaScript, APIs), Java, OOP (Class, Object, Inheritance, Object-Oriented vs Object-Based), Puzzles, LLM, Projects (Final Year, LSTM), System Design (Scenario-based), Behavioral Questions

Experience:

Societe Generale conducted its recruitment drive on campus in mid-August 2024.

Online Assessment: The online assessment was on the Hirepro platform and comprised aptitude and technical multiple-choice questions (covering operating systems, data structures, and SQL), followed by two coding questions (one easy, one medium). About 35 students were shortlisted.

Technical Interview Round 1 (August 14, 2024): The interviewer reviewed the resume and asked for an introduction, including an instance of self-motivation. Questions included: What is web technology? How to implement security in the front end? Why is React used? What is the use of Node.js? What is known about Java? How does Node.js use APIs? How does JavaScript display a website? What is a compiler? What is known about OOP (class, object, child class examples, difference between object-oriented and object-based languages, is JavaScript object-based?). A puzzle was given: "The day before yesterday, you were 21 years old; next year you will be 24 years old. Explain how this is possible." Questions on LLM (Large Language Models) and whether chats can be used to train LLMs were also asked. Finally, a coding question to reverse a string was given.

Managerial Round 2: This round focused on the candidate's final year project, asking for an explanation on paper, details on testing, real-life scenarios, and the choice of methodology. A second project involving LSTM was discussed, with questions on its architecture, drawbacks, and alternatives like RNN, including drawing its architecture. A scenario was presented: "There are three buttons on your website, but the user is complaining that only two are visible. What would be your solution?" (The expected answer was to refresh the user's cache).

HR Round: This round covered introduction, family background, reasons for choosing software, and future plans. Scenario-based behavioral questions included: If you need to complete three tasks in three months but have only completed 1.5 tasks after two months, what is your next plan of action? What would you do if a colleague is not completing their work on time, and your delivery depends on them? How would you handle an inefficient team? What would you do if assigned work outside of your interest? How would you help your teammates?