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From: Ravi Mangal (ravi9788@yahoo.com)

To: btech_it_2010@yahoogroups.com;
Date: Sat, 21 November, 2009 11:06:03 PM
Cc:
Subject: [btech_it_2010] Interview Xperience
Hey,
My memory about the interviews is somewhat hazy but I will post whatever I can recall. Also this has
been a really good initiative and if all our experiences could be aggregated on a blog it might help our
juniors as well. I can do that but, a blog being in the public domain, I need the consent of all those who
have written down their xperinces. Lastly,this mail might seem too long and my apologies for that but I
have never been good at precis writing.
I guess I did well in the apti and that helped definitely must have helped in the final decision coz I felt
that my 1st interview was real crap. Anyways I was the 1st one to be called for the interview.
1st interview:
Initially I was asked my interests. I mentioned DS and Networks.
1. Combining the interests above design a data structure to store IP addresses?
I couldnt think of anything intelligent. Suggested a structure with 4 characters. He asked what would be
the benefit of using 4 characters. I mentioned that mebbe if you want to compare just the initial part of
the address with another, this structure provides the advantage that you can compare just 1 or 2 bytes as
needed. He wasnt very impressed with it.
2. Then he asked me that given an IP address string like 192.168.0.1, to convert it into long i.e. basically
a binary representation of the address.
I wrote the code for the same.
3. He drew 2 routers, with 1 host attached to each router. He gave the IP addresse of each host. Then
asked me build the network between the 2 routers and simulate how a message might be forwarded.
I drew some routers in between. He asked cant the 2 routers be connected directly without any other
network in between i.e. a point to point connection. I said yes, so he asked the benefits of doing so. I
mentioned some crap like QoS, no collisions like on LAN etc.So he asked cant the 2 hosts be connected
on a LAN if they want to communicate with each other. I said yes. He asked whether a LAN would still
apply if a host was in India and the other in US. I said LAN has size limitations and there cant be more
than 4 repeaters on a LAN. On being asked why are the size limitations present I said the electrical
signals can get corrupted by noise if they travel too long without repeaters or switches in between.. (Yes
I did give him a lot of crap throughout the interview).
Then maybe to get me on the right track he asked what is the minimum size of a Ethernet packet. I didnt
remember it and said so. He said forget the exact size and asked me to give the theoretical reason for
Ethernet having a minimum sized packet. Initially, I mentioned that headers will always take up some
bytes hence the minimum size but then the correct answer struck me. Its basically coz all the hosts on
the LAN need to detect if a collision occurs and speed of light being a physical limit, the packet needs to
be of a minimum length for all hosts to detect in time.(A proper explanation is given in Tannenbaum)
Then I was asked what would be the IP address of the routers connected to the hosts in the problem

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given. I calculated something and told him.

He asked why would the router have only that particular address. I gave him some crap. Was asked if a
router has only 1 IP address. I said yes.(Actually a router has as many addresses as Network interface
cards i.e. basically 1 address for each network that the router is connected to)
At my answer both the interviewers were so shocked
that they couldnt avoid staring at each other. I
felt that the game was over at that pt.
4. I was asked about mobile networks. How is a mobile device managed and how does the network
know where the device is?
I strted explaining but at one point he felt that I was giving him crap (and in this case I wasnt) so he
asked whether I really knew this stuff or was just making it up?(Now that I look back, I am surprised
how this statement really didnt affect me much at that time. I guess the hangover of college xams was
still present.) Neway I said we had a course on the subject and I had read this stuff.
Finally I asked for some feedback and was told to be honest and not to make up stuff when I didnt know
it.

I didnt expect any further interviews after that but was for called a 2nd interview after abt 45 min.
2nd interview:
1. I was asked to explain the projects and internships I had mentioned in the resume with a focus on the
final year project.
2. Was asked about stacks and to simulate how function calls use a stack. I explained the stuff and was
again asked if I had actually seen C lang working that way. I mentioned I had just read about it.
3. Was asked to reverse a string. I did it in a normal manner. Then was asked to do it in a different
manner. I realized she wanted stacks and did that.
4. Was asked about DLLs. I explained some stuff. Then was asked if I knew "Function Tables". I said
no. Next she asked how does a program link with DLLs. I realized it must be something to do with
Function Tables and answered using some guess work.
5. Was asked if I knew what a kernel was and when are kernel calls made. Next was asked when does a
"Hello World" C program make kernel calls. I mentioned during the printf statement.
6. Finally was asked if I remembered Digital Logic and I replied that I could just recall some basics.
Was asked to draw the circuit for a half adder. I didnt remember it, so used the truth tables and drew an
unoptimized circuit.
In the end I was given the feedback that I shouldnt forget the basics like DLDA. Also, she mentioned
that I could be more confident when making educated guess, coz the guesses were correct.

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Was called for the HR immediately after this. There were no uncomfortable questions there. It was
general TP and I was told to improve on my communication skills.

Finally, after having been through some interviews, I have realized that once you clear the apti and get
to the interviews, your luck on the day plays a huge role. This might be apparent from my experience
above.

Hope that this might have helped.

Regards,
Ravi

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