Goldman Sachs Interview Experience For Internship (Off-campus)

I participated in an off-campus drive through the Engineering Campus Hiring Program and applied through the official portal of Goldman Sachs. Roughly everyone who applied for this got an aptitude round invitation link.

The test was conducted on the HackerRank platform and was divided into seven sections, containing a total of 70 questions with a time limit of 120 minutes. Video proctoring was there, and switching between sections was allowed. These 7 sections are :

• Numerical Computations — 12 questions
• Numerical Reasoning — 12 questions
• Abstract Reasoning — 12 questions
• Diagrammatic Reasoning — 12 questions
• Logical Reasoning — 12 questions
• Comprehension 1–5 questions
• Comprehension 2–5 questions

It had a marking scheme of +5 on correct and -2 on incorrect answers, So attempt if and only if you are sure about the answer to the question. Most of my friends are screened out in this round. It was also luck-based, I attempted around 55 questions.

I got an email that I cleared the aptitude round and was invited to their pre-placement talk.

They talked a lot about their company and their work culture. They provided some material to prepare for the upcoming Technical assessment round. We were given 3 weeks to complete it. Most of the links in the material were from w3wiki. All of it was worth listening to!

This test was on HackerRank and there was forward navigation. The instructions mentioned were :

Instructions

The total duration of the test is 1 hour.

1. The test has 2 sections and all sections are mandatory.
2. The computer science section has 2 programming questions and the duration is 30 mins.
3. The computer science section also has 10 MCQs and the duration is 20 mins.
4. Each incorrect answer for MCQ will earn negative marks.
5. The “Tell us about yourself” section has 2 questions and the duration is 10 mins.
6. The test will be proctored and any attempts at plagiarism will lead to disqualification.
7. You are free to choose any language from the list and code for programming questions.
8. The webcam should be highlighting your face all the time and shouldn’t be turned off or moved away.

I attempted around 6-7 MCQs, successfully solved one DSA question completely, and the second DSA question passed 4 out of 12 test cases. I thought I might not clear this round, but after one week, I received an email from Goldman Sachs informing me that I qualified!

We had a meeting with Goldman Sachs employees, and they arranged a Zoom call meeting, in which we could ask any question related to firm and Interview preparation. They also provided details about the Interview process, which consisted of 3 Rounds, each of them eliminatory, I was scheduled for the second shift on 12th December.

Round 1 :

We were asked to join a Zoom call, there were about 60 people in the meeting. The moderator picked each student and sent them into a breakout room which consisted of an interviewer. After waiting for 2 hours, I was taken to a breakout room.

The interviewer introduced himself, and later asked me to do the same. Right after that, he pasted a comment code and asked me to read the question and explain the approach.

Question: You are given an array that consists of the name of the student and his marks scored in a particular subject. You have to output the average marks of each student.

Testcase 1:

{{“Dinesh”, “50”}, {“Sahil”, “90”}, {“John”, “20”}, {“Dinesh”, “100”}, {“Sahil”, “60”}, {“Sahil”, “30”}}

Output 1:

Dinesh: 75
Sahil: 60
John: 20

I explained my approach which consisted of using a map, counting the marks as well as keeping track of how many subjects encountered. He was convinced by my approach and asked me to code it up. I did it in a few minutes. I explained the time and space complexities. He asked what can we do to optimize it. I told using an unordered map will reduce the time complexity by the log(n) factor. He asked about collisions in unordered maps and what can be done to avoid it. I mentioned about using a good hash function. He was satisfied and concluded the round.

TIP: Never mention anything that you are unsure about. If the interviewer decides to ask follow-up questions, you should be able to answer them.

After waiting for 2 more hours, the majority of people were removed from the Zoom call, making me anxious. Soon, I was sent to another breakout room.

The interviewer was super chill, we had a casual conversation. It felt like talking to a friend. After I introduced myself and about my coding experience, He was like “Okay, have to give you a hard one!”(in a funny manner).

Question: House Robber 1 & 2 as its follow-up. House Robber 1, House Robber 2

Thanks to the Striver DP playlist, I solved it many times. I started with a recursive approach first and then memorized it. I explained about the Tabulation approach as well, but he did not want me to code it. He asked House Robber 2 as its follow-up. Later he asked about OOPS and what are its uses. Then he asked if a class occupies any space in the memory or not.

I answered all of those questions and It was a cakewalk. He asked me if I had any questions for him, I said yes and asked about the firm.

TIP: Never say No when the interviewer asks “Do you have any questions for me?”. Make sure you ask questions about the firm, showing that you are interested and would love to work there.

Later I was moved back to the waiting room, where people were sharing their Round 2 experience. I talked with 2 people the most, and both of them had flawless Round 2 interviews.

I did not have to wait for long for the next round, I was moved to another breakout room where there was a very experienced interviewer. He is in a manager role.

Round 3 :

It was a short interview of 40 minutes, He stressed about the time a bit too much and went straight into the question.

Question: Reverse a Linked list.

I was like “WHAT?!”, I instantly explained the recursive approach and then he asked about the Time and Space complexity. I addressed that, He was like “Will be have any issue using this approach?” I said, “Yes, We might have a stack overflow error if the length of the linked list is of high order”. He said right and asked me to code.

I have coded the recursive approach, he asked me to create a linked list and run my code. I started creating the linked list, I had a minor issue there, I dynamically created the object of the linked list and stored it in a class variable rather than creating a pointer variable for it. I tried figuring it out and I finally did(After taking 15 minutes). By then I could see him getting a bit uninterested. I explained to him the approach and why my code works. I was worried that he might not ask any further questions. He said “You have done it” and asked if I had any questions for him. I inquired about the work I would be doing if selected as an intern. He explained and moved me to another waiting room.

TIP: Sometimes It is code quality that they want to check, make sure you name the variables and functions properly.

In this waiting room, there were only 3 people, including me. The other 2 were the flawless Round 2 performers. We stayed there for about 30 minutes, discussing Round 3 and exchanging LinkedIn usernames. Turns out one of them had flawless Round 3 and the other one had a minor hiccup, just like me. Soon I was moved to the previous waiting room and informed “Your interviews are done, we will be sending the results in a few days to your mail”. The call was disconnected. I felt anxious but also sceptical about the whole interview process. I expected it to be a bit more challenging.

15th December 2023:

I contacted those 2 people and asked about their results, and to my surprise, they were rejected too. None of the people who were on that call were selected. It was disheartening that although having a near-perfect round, we all got rejected.

End note: Remember, being rejected can sometimes be like offering a gold piece to someone who doesn’t recognize its value. work on yourself and level up so much that even rejections become a testament to your worth.