HSBC

Role: Trainee Software Engineer (TSE)

College: Not Specified (On-campus)

Interview Date: October 2023

Interview Type: On-campus, Full-Time

Result: Selected

Difficulty: Easy (Overall easy interview, but each round was an elimination round)

Rounds: 4 rounds

Topics Asked: Aptitude, Technical MCQs, Coding (Data Structures & Algorithms), HSBC Values, Spring Framework, Hibernate, Spring MVC, Spring Boot, NLP, CS Fundamentals (DSA, OOPS, DBMS - DDL queries, NoSQL vs SQL), Extracurriculars, Behavioral

Experience:

This interview experience for a Trainee Software Engineer role at HSBC in Pune in October 2023 consisted of four rounds, each being an elimination round.

Round 1: Online Assessments (AON Platform)

• Round 1.1 - Aptitude + Technical: This part had 70 questions to be solved in 75 minutes, covering English Usage (20 Questions), Analytical Reasoning (20 Questions), and Technical (30 Questions).
• Round 1.2 - Coding: This part involved 2 easy coding questions to be completed in 30 minutes. Only candidates who cleared Round 1.1 were allowed to proceed to this round.

Round 2: Values Assessment Test
This was an elimination round, and more than one-third of the students were unable to clear it.

Round 3: Technical Round
The interviewer started by asking for an introduction. Then, the candidate was asked to explain their first project, which was developed using Spring Framework, Hibernate, Spring MVC, and Spring Boot. This discussion lasted about 10 minutes, and the interviewer asked to draw different diagrams of the project. A brief discussion followed on a second project, which was NLP-based. The interviewer then asked very easy CS fundamentals questions related to Data Structures and Algorithms, Object-Oriented Programming, and Database Management Systems (including simple DDL queries and a discussion on NoSQL vs SQL). The candidate also mentioned their LeetCode/GFG rankings and rating as DSA experience. A short discussion on extracurriculars also took place.

Round 4: HR Round
The HR round included questions such as "Introduce yourself," "Where do you see yourself in the next 3 years?", "What are 3 things you would like to change in yourself?", "Why HSBC?", "Explain me about your projects," "What location would you prefer (Bangalore/Pune/Hyderabad)?", and "What technological stack would you like to work upon?". Other general HR questions were also asked. The advice given was to be calm, confident, and be yourself.