Technical assessment

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.

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.