- Dress nicely, not in jeans and a T-shirt.
- Arrive early.
- Be polite.
- Avoid using slang or other inappropriate language.
- Be confident but not arrogant.
- Answer questions honestly.
- Send a thank-you note to your interviewer after the interview.
Puys...how will you prepare for WAT??
How to answer the question "What are your weaknesses"?
You must approach this from a Recruiter’s perspective. The reason this question is asked is to see if a candidate actually has the ability to introspect and identify flaws. Because identifying flaws in yourself is the first and most important step. Fixing them is easier.
Most often, people flock to the well known and used answer of “My biggest weakness is that I am a perfectionist”.
There are a few reasons why this answer doesn’t bode well for many interviewees. One reason is that it is completely overused and unoriginal. Another is that it is an answer that is designed to try to make you look good and the person interviewing you can see right through this!
How can you answer this:
There is no definite way of answering this question. Just make sure that your answer is honest, shows self- introspection and includes a story of self improvement. This way whoever is asking the question knows that you have really spent time reflecting on your abilities and flaws. In addition this shows, that you take initiative and have began a journey with positive indications of self-improvement.
Let’s talk about it in detail:
*Choosing a weakness:*
This is the first and most important step to make your answer look genuine and acceptable. Therefore choose an answer that is:
Obvious and has been noticed by the interviewer already: “English is not my primary language. My spoken English is not very good.” or “I haven’t had much work experience.”
Something that is NOT extremely crucial for the role that you are applying for:
For a Finance Role: “I am not very good at interacting with people and I am socially awkward.”
For a Sales & Marketing Role: “I have always performed poorly in Mathematics. Trigonometry and Calculus are just not my cup of tea.”
A common human failure that is shared by most people: “I find it hard to say no to people” or “I have not really made the most of the opportunities that life has given me”
For Reference: https://codeground.in/blog/index.php/2016/10/05/what-are-your-weaknesses/
Was this Content Useful? Like Share Comment CodeGround Online Testing Platform is an online assessment and evaluation system that helps Recruiters conduct online screening tests to filter candidates before the interview process.
Hi All,
I found this interesting puzzle called the Monty Hall Puzzle.
You are the contestant on a Game Show. There are 3 doors – say A,B and C – and behind one door is the prize of a million dollars. The prize is randomly placed and the probability of finding the prize behind any door is 1/3.
You get to pick one door and if you’ve picked the right door, you win the prize.
There’s a catch. After you’ve chosen a door, the game show host will not immediately open that particular door. The host will open another door that you did not pick and which he knows does not contain the prize. Suppose you had picked door A, and the prize is behind door B, the host will open door C and let you know that there is nothing being door C.
At this point, you will be given a choice: Do you want to stick with your original choice (door A in the example above) or do you want to choose the other unopened door (door B in this example)?
Would you switch your choice?
Do you think that switching doors would have any impact on the probability of finding the prize?
I thought that it would not make any difference (probability would remain at 50-50 for the two open doors)
Surprisingly, it turns out that you SHOULD switch. You can read the proof of this here: https://codeground.in/blog/index.php/2016/11/13/technical-interview-question-on-puzzles-the-monty-hall-puzzle/
Explaining the Monty Hall Puzzle
Let’s the divide the doors into two sets
Set 1: {The door you picked originally}
The Probability that the prize is in Set 1 is 1/3
Set 2: {The other two doors}
The Probability that the prize is in Set 2 is 2/3
The Host will open a door from Set 2 that does NOT have the prize, but the probability that the prize is in Set 2 still remains at 2/3.
Switching your choice to choose the remaining unopened door from Set 2 maximizes your odds of winning.
Was this useful? If you’re interested, you can read more about more such puzzles for Tech Interviews (https://codeground.in/blog/index.php/category/interview-preparation/tech-interview-questions-puzzles/) or you can take do some online programming challenges (https://codeground.in/screening-tests/coding-contests.html)
Hi All,
I found the comparison between these two random shuffling algorithms to be interesting.
Consider two shuffling algorithms
SHUFFLE 1
shuffle(A[1 … n]) {
for i = 1 to n {
// Find a random integer between 1 and n inclusive
int rand= RANDOM(1,n);
swap A[i] with A[rand];
}
}
SHUFFLE 2
shuffle(A[1 … n]) {
for i = 1 to n {
// Find a random integer between i and n inclusive
int rand= RANDOM(i,n);
swap A[i] with A[rand];
}
}
How do these two shuffling algorithms compare against each other?
Which of these two is a perfect shuffling algorithm?
Consider an array with distinct elements A[1 … n]
A perfectly unbiased shuffle algorithm would randomly shuffle all elements in the array such that after shuffling:
1.The probability that the shuffling operation would produce any particular permutation of the original array is the same for all permutations (i.e.) since there are n! permutations, the probability that the shuffle operation would produce any particular permutation is 1/n!
2.For any element e in the array and for any position j (1<= j <= n), the probability that the element would end up in position A[j] is 1/n
Simulating Shuffle 1 and Shuffle 2 ( https://codeground.in/blog/index.php/2016/11/13/technical-interview-question-on-data-structures-and-algorithms-perfect-shuffle/ ) clearly proves that Shuffle 1 is biased while Shuffle 2 is unbiased
Can we prove that Shuffle 2 will produce an unbiased shuffle in all cases?
For any element e, the probability that it will be shuffled into the first position
= probability that it is selected for swapping when i = 1
= 1/n
For any element e, the probability that it will be shuffled into the second position
= probability that it is NOT selected for the first position x probability that it is selected for swapping when i = 2
= (n-1)/n x 1/(n-1)
= 1/n
…
For any element e, the probability that it will be shuffled into any particular position = 1/n
Was this useful? If you’re interested, you can read more about Technical Interview questions on Data Structures and Algorithms ( https://codeground.in/blog/index.php/category/interview-preparation/data-structures-algorithms-tech-interview-questions/ ) or look at some programming challenges ( https://codeground.in/screening-tests/coding-contests.html )
Hi All,
I found this interesting puzzle - There are 12 balls, one of which is different in weight (can be heavier or lighter)
Find the odd ball using less than 3 weightings of the balance
The Solution to this puzzle is detailed here: https://codeground.in/blog/index.php/2016/11/13/technical-interview-question-on-puzzles-the-ultimate-balance-puzzle/
Was this useful? If you’re interested, you can read more about more such puzzles for Tech Interviews ( https://codeground.in/blog/index.php/category/interview-preparation/tech-interview-questions-puzzles/ )or you can take do some online programming challenges ( https://codeground.in/screening-tests/coding-contests.html )
Hi All,
I found this interesting puzzle - Three missionaries and three cannibals must cross a river. There is a single boat which can carry a maximum of two people and there must be at least one person on board (the boat cannot cross by itself).
On either bank, if there are missionaries present, the count of missionaries must be equal or greater than the count of cannibals, else the cannibals would eat them.
This is a classic example of a puzzle that can be solved using state transition diagrams.
The solution to this puzzle is detailed in this blog post: https://codeground.in/blog/index.php/2016/11/13/technical-interview-question-on-puzzles-missionaries-and-cannibals/
Was this useful? If you’re interested, you can read more about more such puzzles for Tech Interviews ( https://codeground.in/blog/index.php/category/interview-preparation/tech-interview-questions-puzzles/ )or you can take do some online programming challenges ( https://codeground.in/screening-tests/coding-contests.html )
MECE framework for structured thinking
What is the MECE Framework?
MECE stands for “Mutually Exclusive – Collectively Exhaustive”
It is a structured problem-solving approach that forces you to list down all possible options without double counting.
The Problem Statement is written down first. You must choose your words carefully while writing this down to ensure that there is no ambiguity in understanding the problem.
The Options to solve the problem are then listed down in a tree-like fashion. The options must not overlap (Mutually exclusive) and no option must be missed out (Collectively exhaustive)
Once the tree is built, the pros and cons of each path in the tree is discussed until the optimal solution path is decided.
The MECE Framework can be used in case interview questions or in situational interview questions as discussed here: https://codeground.in/blog/index.php/2016/11/13/mece-framework-for-structured-thinking/
Was this useful? If you’re interested, you can read more about more such tips for Interview preparation ( https://codeground.in/blog/index.php/category/interview-preparation/ )or you can take do some online programming challenges ( https://codeground.in/screening-tests/coding-contests.html )
What is an inversion?
Let A be an array of n distinct numbers. If i < j and A[i] > A[j], then the pair (i, j) is called an inversion of A.
For example, the array {2,3,8,6,1} has 5 inversions: (2,1) (3,1) (8,6) (8,1) and (6,1)
Trivial Solution to count the number of inversions in an array
countInversions = 0;
for i = 1 to N
for j = i+1 to N
if(A[i] > A[j])
countInversions++;
The overall time complexity for this approach is O(n^2)
Using Merge Sort to count the number of inversions in O(n logn) time
The approach using Merge Sort to count the number of inversions is detailed in this blog post ( https://codeground.in/blog/index.php/2016/11/13/technical-interview-question-on-data-structure-and-algorithms-count-the-number-of-inversions-in-an-array/ ).
Was this useful? If you’re interested, you can read more about more such puzzles for Tech Interviews ( https://codeground.in/blog/index.php/category/interview-preparation/data-structures-algorithms-tech-interview-questions/ )or you can take do some online programming challenges ( https://codeground.in/screening-tests/coding-contests.html )