First Campus Interview Experience - Oracle (Oracle Financial Services Software)

On 26th August 2024, I had my first on-campus interview with Oracle Financial Services Software (OFSS). It was a moment filled with both nervousness and excitement, as I was about to interview with one of the most prominent names in the tech industry. However, I reminded myself to stay focused and rely on the knowledge I had gained over my 3.5 years in engineering college.

A Little Backstory:

Before the interview, there were two shortlisting phases:

1. Candidates had to meet the eligibility criteria (including no active backlogs, a CGPA of 7.5 or higher, and being from CS or related branches).

2. An online assessment consisting of one DSA question, CS fundamentals, and aptitude questions. The DSA question was to find how many possible trees could be formed with a given number of nodes. I approached the problem using dynamic programming and was able to pass all test cases.

The Day of the Interview:

Dressed in formals, I arrived on campus at 8 AM. The day began with an introduction by Sanjay Bajaj, Vice President of OFSS, and the HR team. They spoke about the company's culture, innovations, tech stack, and expansion, followed by a Q&A session. This was an interactive and informative experience that helped calm my nerves.

The interview process consisted of two technical rounds, with the final one combining technical and HR questions.

First Round:

The first question asked me to introduce myself and discuss my interests and expertise. The technical problem given involved converting an input string to a target string using three operations: replace, insert, and remove a character. I used a hashmap to approach the problem and maintained a countOperations variable. The interviewer followed up with a question on searching in arrays. Throughout, I made sure to think out loud and clarify the problem statement, which helped me stay focused.

Technical+HR Round:

In the final round, I was asked to describe my college journey and explain my projects. The discussion covered backend system design, SQL queries, OOP principles, Java, and my opinion on Spring Boot. The HR questions focused on my future goals, family background, and where I see myself in the next five years.

Reflections:

Though I wasn’t selected, this experience was invaluable. The interviewers were professional and made me feel at ease, which helped me stay confident. I learned the importance of thorough preparation and handling advanced topics. I am grateful for the opportunity and look forward to improving myself for future interviews.