This is a recorded Interview conducted for a Job posting of Junior Software Engineer at a Multi National Company. The company’s core business is Information Technology outsourcing. The job requires competency in latest Computer technologies. The Company is also ready to train if they find enthusiastic and budding engineers.
The interviewee, being a graduate of Electrical Engineering, is not well versed in the latest computer technologies, except C language. The student – studying in last year of engineering, is naive, unsophisticated but hardworking and has a good academic record.
Read this interview experience and guess whether this candidate was selected or not. Comment your guesses below this post.In this post, the Interviewee is referred to as “Student“.
Interviewer: “Tell me about yourself? ”
Student: Starts speaking nervously, “I am ABCD, I am studying pre-final year of engineering in XYZ University”.
Interviewer: “Tell me about your family background.” Student now gets a little comfortable with her tone and tells about her parents, siblings and their occupations. Interviewer jots down something.
Interviewer: Examines the resume and asks, “So Ms. ABCD, What are your future plans ?”
Student: Replies with a sparkle in eyes, “I wish to become an Embedded Systems Engineer. I like programming in Micro controller. I know very little in micro controller programming , but would love to learn.”
Interviewer: “What are the steps you are going to take for pursuing your plans?”
Student: Confidently asserts, “I wish to work for a Company for 1 year and later apply for Masters In US. As I am in my pref inal year of engineering, I have one more year to go. In this year, I would learn and practice embedded programming. I would also prepare for my GRE test. ”
Interviewer: “What is C? ”
Student: Without thinking for a moment, replies ,”C is a programming language. It is a middle level language widely used in system programming.”
Interviewer: “What is C++? ”
Student: “C++ is an extension of C language. It has some additional features that C does not provide.”
Interviewer: “Why C++ was developed? ”
Student: “Author of C++, Bjourne Stoustrop wanted to have the features of C, integrated with the power of objected orientedness. ”
Interviewer: “What do you thinks is the main difference between C and C++? ”
Student: Thinks for few seconds and answers “C++ is Object Oriented, whereas C is a procedural programming language.”
Interviewer: “When compared to C, what is main drawback of C++ when compared with C? ”
Student: “C is more suitable for Embedded systems as it is closer to Hardware than C++. C has better control of memory and running speed than C++. C++ is more suitable for large and complex applications.”
Interviewer: “Difference between C++ and Java? ”
Student: Shrugs her shoulders and says ,”Sorry I do not know.”
Interviewer: “What is Polymorphism? ”
Student: “Polymorphism is having the same name for different functions. ”
Interviewer: “What is inheritance? ”
Student: “Inheritance is a property by which a class can extend new features to another class by still retaining the old features of the class that is inherited. ”
Interviewer: “Can you give any example for inheritance? ”
Student: A Dog is an Animal. If we consider Animal as a general class, Dog has some extra features added to the original class Animal. So Dog inherits Animal.
Interviewer: “Tell about one topic in Java? ”
Student: “I am sorry I have not learned Java.”
Interviewer: “Say something about dot Net? ”
Student: Answers in an uncomfortable tone, “I’m afraid, I do not know dot Net.”
Interviewer: “Say something about J2EE? ”
Student: “I do not know J2EE too.”
Interviewer: Removing his glasses, speaks, “Our company works totally on Java, C++, dot Net. How can you cope up with the work if you don’t know any of these softwares? ”
Student: “A friend of mine learned Java in 7 days. If he can learn, I can too.” , she replied confidently.
Interviewer: “What do you know about our company? ”
Student: Students tells some facts about the company that she read in their website.
Interviewer: Looking seriously into the eyes of student asks, “How much salary are you expecting from us? ”
Student: “I do not have any specific constraints, anyways I will be paid for my work. I do not really mind even if I am under paid, I wish to takeaway the experience working for this company.”
Interviewer: “Do you have any questions?”
Student: Asks in a polite tone, “I would like to know more about my job responsibilities.”
Interviewer explains about the company background and explains the job responsibilities clearly. Interview Ends. Now, wear the hat of the interviewer and comment below whether to select or reject this candidate. Justify your selection or rejection.Update1: Read the best three responses to this blog post
Update2: Read dos and donts in an interview derived from this post
About the Author: Sridhar Jammalamadaka is the Editor of Interview Mantra. He is a student pursuing masters in International Institute of Information Technology. With over 4 years of IT experience, he is obsessed with software programming and computer technologies. He loves to see a software come to life in its development life cycle. He is a person who defies "mob mentality" and a deeply spiritual and a strong believer of moral values and righteousness. Through this website, he wishes to gather a large community of aspiring engineers, entrepreneurs and professionals from all parts of the globe. You can connect with him on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/sridhar.j 
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