How to prepare for VIT placement process?

By: Deepak Nahar

The key to acing the placement process is confidence. One needs to be confident about the knowledge they possess and express the same without being nervous.

It’s no big news that the placement season is the most stressful time for students. It’s the time when every student is running around and juggling among various tests and interviews with a constant question on their mind “Am I doing this right?”

What makes it even more stressful is that most of the times students fail to identify the profiles they want to work in and apply for every opportunity they get.  Hence, they are evaluated in fields they are not fully prepared for which may lead to disappointment. The very first step to the placement process is building an honest resume that highlights your fields of interest while keeping it concise. As a fresher, one can use various resume builders available online to organise the content better.

The process feels real when the companies start coming to campus and the examinations for placements start. The most commonly observed examination pattern for engineering students for the technical profiles is:

• Round 1: Technical/Aptitude
• Round 2: Coding + Tech
• Round 3: Tech Interview
• Round 4: HR Interview

The first round usually consists of Aptitude- Quantitative questions, Data Interpretation, Logical reasoning, and Verbal English; Technical- Computer Science concepts. This round is easy to crack if the core concepts are well versed, the efficiency in these can be improved by following courses and solving sample questions which are available online.

The second round for most of the companies is competitive coding related to logical coding, data structures and algorithms, which is the toughest round to get through. This is what gives students maximum stress. In order to ace this round a lot of practice in competitive coding is required which can be aided by practising on various coding platforms and referring to YouTube videos to clear concepts and practice questions. Just like preparation for all other exams, solving previously asked questions by companies makes you aware of the difficulty levels of tests and shows what to expect. This is what one should do one day before the exam.

One may have to attempt the coding round of multiple companies before clearing one, but one must not give up.

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.

How to prepare for coding round

Identify a coding language that you are comfortable in and will stick with throughout the process. Learn the core concepts, strengthen your basics and practice codes in your chosen language. Platforms such as Geeksforgeeks, Hackerrank and Leetcode are great sources for surpassing the same. These websites help in learning from scratch as well as to enhance your coding skills further. Set targets and keep a check on your progress, this will help you stay focused and boost your confidence.

What may seem difficult requires a lot of practice and patience but it isn’t impossible. Once you clear the second round, comes the round which may make some a bit anxious but if you treat interviews like a formal conversation between people it will make the process much easier.

The key to acing this is confidence. One needs to be confident about the knowledge they possess and express the same without being nervous. Apart from testing the technical knowledge, interviews are taken to evaluate the soft skills of a candidate. Interviewers generally focus on testing candidate’s problem-solving methods and whether their goals align with the needs of the company. Although each company has its own way of proceeding through the interviews, all of them start off with some common questions.

• Walkthrough your resume
• Talk about your projects
• Core technical concepts

To avoid any pre-interview jitters, it’s a beneficial idea to have a friend or mentor take your mock interview so that you are prepared and confident. Don’t take failure as the end of your journey, review your tests and interviews thoroughly and spot mistakes so that they can be avoided in future.

Lastly, it’s most important to stay calm and take short breaks. During my placement process, I ensured that I meditated every morning or evening to keep my mind steady and reduce stress. Try to include activities in your daily routine that help you stay stress-free and rejuvenate your mind to work harder towards your goals.

About the Author:

Deepak Nahar is pursuing B.Tech (CSE) degree from Vellore Institute of Technology. He is the Digital Marketing & Content Lead of Developer Student Club, VIT powered by Google Developers