Western Digital

Role: FTE + Intern (Virtual Hiring)

College: Not Specified

Interview Date: Not Specified (experience refers to past virtual hiring)

Interview Type: Virtual Hiring (FTE+Intern)

Result: Selected

Difficulty: Medium

Rounds: 6 rounds

Topics Asked: Aptitude, C Programming, Data Structures and Algorithms, OS Internals, Electronics, Projects, Web Development (backend framework), OOPS concepts, Computer Architecture, Puzzles, HR questions.

Experience:

This virtual hiring process for Western Digital consisted of 6 rounds.

Round 1 (Online Round): This was an online aptitude test on the Codility platform, 45 minutes long. It had 5 mandatory sections: Aptitude, C Programming, Data Structures and Algorithms, OS Internals, and Electronics. Each correct answer gave 1 mark, with a 0.25 penalty for wrong answers. Aptitude questions were easy, but coding questions required deep knowledge. Around 40 students were selected after this round.

Round 2 (Technical Round 1): Started with a self-introduction, followed by a discussion on one of the candidate's projects. The interviewer then moved to coding, asking the candidate to share their code editor and write code for basic questions like toggling a bit at the Kth position and copying a character array. Further discussions covered Operating Systems, OOPS concepts, and programming fundamentals. This round lasted about 1 hour.

Round 3 (Technical Round 2): This round began with a discussion on one of the candidate's web development projects, as the interviewer also had a similar background, focusing on the backend framework. Two coding questions were asked: "Sort the ages of the population" (requiring an O(n) sorting technique, solved using Counting Sort) and "Unique paths in a Grid with Obstacles" (solved using DFS). Questions on Operating Systems and Computer Architecture concepts were also asked. This round also lasted about 1 hour.

Round 4 (Managerial Round): This round was shorter, about 40 minutes. The interviewer reviewed the resume and discussed projects and inclination towards web development. A question was posed to give an algorithm to store a data stream from a given source to a destination address. The candidate eventually provided a solution. A puzzle, the "Car Wheel Puzzle," was also asked.

Round 5 (Directorial Round): This 30-minute round involved a general, non-technical discussion about future plans, hackathon achievements, interests during graduation, and projects.

Round 6 (HR Round): This 30-minute round started with an introduction and moved to basic HR questions like "Where do you see yourself in 5 years?", "Why WDC?", hobbies, strengths, and weaknesses.