SRID Interview Experience

Dec 07, 2024

Samsung Research Institute - Delhi (or SRID for short) visited during the 2.2 slot of our campus placements. I had 9 interview shortlists in that slot, and Samsung (SRID and SRIN) was my top preference. What I really like about Samsung is that they are clear about their shortlisting criteria, which is quite rare at IITD Placements. You can be pretty sure that you’ll make it to the interview round if you satisfy the requirements specified in the JD and clear the coding round.

My SRID interview was scheduled 3rd in order of time — SRIN at 5:00 pm, Meesho at 5:30 pm, and SRID at 6:00 pm, if I remember correctly. I was done with SRIN interview round 1 by 5:45 and skipped the Meesho interview to go directly for the SRID interview. SRID conducted two interview rounds: Technical and HR.

Technical Round

This round focused on basic CS knowledge and implementation. The interviewer was very experienced in his field and supportive. I was given an implementation-based question where I had to come up with an algorithm to solve the problem. I first explained the approach I came up with. The interviewer then asked me to implement a class and its two functions based on my approach on a piece of paper.

I usually dread such types of questions because your code can become very complex after follow-up questions if you don’t choose your initial approach properly. Luckily, my approach was simple enough for me to avoid future problems. I implemented my solution in C++ and tried to keep it as clean and concise as possible. I then explained the working of my code and did a dry run. The interviewer further asked me the time complexity of the functions and how I derived it.

There were some follow-up questions where the constraints were changed. I re-implemented my code with the required modifications. Then came some questions related to my code, like time complexity, which I explained correctly.

The interviewer also asked about the languages I am most familiar with (C++ and Python) and the skills mentioned in my CV (like Docker and Bash). I was fully prepared for CV-related questions and aced them. The round ended with the interviewer asking me if I had any questions. I asked about the kind of projects he works on at SRID.

Just after the round ended, I received several calls (3-4) from POCs of different companies for interviews, and I was still awaiting the results of round 1 for both SRIN and SRID. I decided to stick with SRID and asked the POC to confirm if I had made it to the next round. The result came a few minutes later.

Result: Made it to the next round!

HR Round

This was the round I was most nervous about. There were a few reasons for this: I was the only candidate rejected in the HR round of Oracle just in the slot before this, and I was still trying to figure out where I had messed up because the interview had gone well according to me. On top of that, friends of mine had told me that the HR round of SRID is usually difficult to clear.

I entered the room, greeted the HR interviewer, and took a seat. My throat was dry by then, as I had already given interviews for four companies since morning, with multiple rounds. Words were barely coming out of my mouth, even though I had drunk water just before entering the room. But I knew I couldn’t risk messing up this interview.

The interview began with me giving a basic introduction of myself. The interviewer then asked me what made me unique compared to the other candidates she would be interviewing that day. To be honest, I was not at all prepared for this question, but I managed to come up with a really good and unique answer on the spot. I supported my response with real-life examples from my life. It still amazes me how, out of nowhere, I came up with that answer, but it probably helped me stand out significantly in the interview.

The following questions were general HR questions about my long-term goals, strengths, weaknesses, and motivations.

The HR round went well, but I tried not to be too optimistic. I had learned from past experiences, like with Oracle, to never be confident of getting an offer until you actually get it. The process can sometimes be very random.

After the interview, I asked the POC if she could confirm whether I had made it to the next round. I didn’t want to sit for other interviews (there were seven more scheduled). The HR interviewer told the POC that my interview was decent but that she would confirm only after interviewing all the other candidates. I continued trying not to be optimistic and went ahead with interviews for other companies.

Aftermath

I had to skip multiple interviews because of time constraints and gave interviews for a few other companies. By 10:00 pm, SRID was still my best chance, so I stayed in the Lecture Hall Complex, waiting for the result. I was really tired and had no energy left to continue with interviews on Day 3. By that time, the company had already conducted HR rounds for eight candidates.

I kept waiting, and then the results came. The company had decided to give offers to three students.

Result: Got selected! 😁

We then had a group photo with the interview panel member, and my OCS portal got blocked after an hour. That night, I had a really great sleep. Months of effort finally paid off.

Written by Khushvind Maurya