DEV Community: Anubhav Gupta

Accenture - ASE Interview Experience

Anubhav Gupta — Sat, 23 Sep 2023 15:23:23 +0000

In this blog, I'll share my interview experience appearing for the 2024 batch on-campus recruitment cycle of Accenture.

Introduction

Accenture is an Irish-American professional services company based in Dublin, specializing in information technology services and consulting. It is a Fortune Global 500 company.

Accenture visited our campus and was offering 2 roles:

Associate Software Engineer (ASE)
Advanced Associate Software Engineer (AASE)

There are total 4 rounds in the recruitment process:

Round 1: Cognitive and Technical Assessment
Round 2: Coding Assessment
Round 3: Communication Assessment
Round 4: Video Interview

Round 1: Cognitive & Technical Assessment 📝

The first round was an online assessment taken from college. We took the online exam in our college. Company officials were also present. They manually verified the details of each student one by one and then generated the login credentials for the exam.

Date: 28 August 2023
This is an elimination round
Total Questions: 90
Time Limit: 1.5 hours

It consisted of the following sections:

English Ability
Critical Reasoning
Problem-Solving
Pseudocoding
MS Office
Networking Security and Cloud

There will be 90 MCQs on the above topics. The English Ability, Critical Reasoning and Problem Solving sections were easy. The MS Office, Networking Security and cloud were of intermediate levels. The pseudocode section was of difficult level.

Once you pass this round with the required cutoff, you will be taken to the next round.

Round 2: Coding Assessment 👨‍💻

The selected candidates from the previous round got a mail regarding the coding assessment within the next 5-10 minutes. It was conducted on the same day, right after the cognitive & technical assessment.

Date: 28 August 2023
This is an elimination round
2 coding questions: 1 Easy, 1 Medium
Time limit: 45 minutes
Allowed languages: C, C++, Python, Java.

I got the following questions in my assessment:

Question 1:

You are given an integer N denoting the number of students in a class. The 
class has N*N desks for the upcoming examination. But this time the examination
department came up with a unique idea to avoid cheating amoung students.
They decided that during the exam no two students can sit in the same row
or same column. 
Your task is to find the number of ways in which they can make their students
sit in the exam by implementing the unique idea.

Question 2:

Alice wants to distribute some chocolates. You are given an integer N which
is the number of students, and an integer K which is the number of chocolates.
Each student should get aleast one chocolate. The no of chocalates distributed 
to any two students cant be same. Distribute in a decreasing order way i.e.
the first student gets more chocalate than second and second gets more than 
third.
How many ways can the chocalate be distributed?

Once the coding assessment is over and successfully submitted, you'll instantly get an email from Accenture indicating if you have cleared the round or not.

NOTE: If you clear at least 1 out of the 2 questions, you'll be selected for the next round. This was not an official instruction from Accenture, but this has been the case for many years. In our case as well, those who had cleared just 1 question, got selected for the next round.

Round 3: Communication Assessment 🎤

If you clear the coding assessment, you'll get the link for the communication assessment after a few days.

Date: 01 September 2023
This is a non-elimination round
Total Questions: 63
Time limit: 30 minutes

It consists of the following sections:

Section A: Reading - 8 questions Text will be displayed on the screen and you have to read the sentences out aloud
Section B: Repeat - 16 questions You will hear audio clips, and then you have to repeat what you heard
Section C: Questions - 24 questions Very simple questions will be asked and you have to answer them. For example: From where do we drink water? From a bottle or a park? (The answer is "bottle")
Section D: Sentence Builds - 10 questions These are jumbled sentences. The audio clip will be played which consists of jumbled sentences. After listening, you have to speak the correct sentence.
Section E: Story retelling - 3 questions You will hear a story for about 30 seconds. After listening you'll have another 30 seconds to record and re-tell what you heard.
Section F: Open question - 2 questions General questions will be asked and you are expected to speak on it for about 30 seconds. For example: Who is your favorite person and why?

This round is the easiest round of all 4. It's also a non-elimination round. That being said, you should still give the exam properly.

Round 4: Video Interview 🧑‍💼

This round was an online take-from-home interview round. This is a Technical + HR Round. My interview lasted for around 20 minutes.

Date: 07 September 2023

I was asked the following questions:

Introduce yourself
Tell me about your projects
Follow-up technical questions regarding my projects
What were your learnings from the project
Describe a time when you saw a problem as an opportunity
Tell us about any conflict at work and how you resolved it
I see you have served as a team leader, how did you distribute the tasks among your team
How did you resolve conflicts when working in a team

After 15 days, we got the list of the final selected students. Accenture selected 29 students from our college. I was one of them.

Conclusion

The interview process was easy overall. If you have a strong foundation in coding, then it will be a piece of cake for you. Even if you are not strong with programming, with a preparation of 1-2 months, you can easily clear the interviews.

If you liked this article and you think it helped you know about the interview process, consider giving this post a like and sharing it with your friends who might have the same doubts.

If you still have any questions, you can reach out to me on my socials (Twitter or Linkedin) and I'll be more than happy to help. FYI: nohello.net

LFX Mentorship - My Experience

Anubhav Gupta — Mon, 04 Sep 2023 11:01:51 +0000

In this article, I share everything you need to know about the LFX Mentorship Program - what is it, the selection process and my experience as an LFX Mentee with CNCF: Kubescape.

What is LFX Mentorship? 🤔

LFX Mentorship is a 3-month mentorship-cum-internship program by The Linux Foundation. You get to work on an open-source project in the organization you are applying for. Multiple organizations take part in the LFX Mentorship program, like CNCF, Hyperledger, Open Mainframe, RISC-V, and Red Hat, including The Linux Foundation itself!

I applied to the CNCF's Kubescape project.

About the Selection Process 📝

Let's have a look at how to apply for the LFX Mentorship program, the selection process, and tips for getting selected.

To apply for the program, head over to their official website. Choose the project you want to work on, click on apply and submit the information it asks for.

The Selection Process:
If you have applied to one of the projects of the CNCF organization, then you will be asked to submit 2 things: Your Resume and Cover Letter. Unlike GSOC, you aren't required to submit a complete proposal (as of today).
The selection process for other organizations may differ, however. For example, you may be required to complete some tasks beforehand which showcases that you are well-versed with the required tech. Or, in some other cases, you might even be required to appear for an interview.
As said, it differs from organization to organization, and you'll get to know what tasks are required once you apply.

Tips for Getting Selected:
I often get asked, "Any tips you would like to share" for getting selected? The answer is simple:

Have some sort of experience with the required tech. Maybe through internships or projects. The mentors need to know why YOU are the best person for this job.
Get involved in the community beforehand. If you have made some contributions to the community beforehand, then that can serve as a plus point, as the mentors will know that you are already familiar with the project.

My Experience as a Mentee 🥼🧪

I worked for the CNCF's Kubescape project.
There were 3 mentees selected to work on Kubescape (different projects for each) - Me, Yash and Tejas. We had 3 mentors assigned to our projects Craig, David and Ben.

What is Kubescape? 🔍

Kubescape is an open-source Kubernetes security platform. It includes risk analysis, security compliance, and misconfiguration scanning. Targeted at the DevSecOps practitioner or platform engineer, it offers an easy-to-use CLI interface, flexible output formats, and automated scanning capabilities. It saves Kubernetes users and admins precious time, effort, and resources.
Kubescape is a Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) sandbox project.

My project 🧑‍💻

My project was to develop a new image vulnerability patching command for Kubescape. Kubescape already supports scanning images for vulnerabilities. My task was to automate the fixing of these vulnerabilities by developing a new command that patches the vulnerabilities automatically.

My end goal was an Integration between Kubescape and Project-Copacetic.
A user should be able to run kubescape patch -i image:tag and have that image pulled down, analyzed by Kubescape, patched by copa using that analysis, and a summary of the vulnerability count before and after the action.

My work was divided into 2 parts:

Add support for Kubescape to copacetic: Copacetic is an existing tool for directly patching container images using reports from vulnerability scanners. However, it currently supports patching only Trivy-produced image vulnerability reports. I had to add support to copa such that it can patch an image when provided with a kubescape-generated image vulnerability report as well.
Embed copacetic within Kubescape to directly patch images from Kubescape: After adding support to copa such that it can patch Kubescape-generated image vulnerability reports, the next task was to embed the copa package within Kubescape so that we could directly patch images from the Kubescape CLI. Kubescape would scan & analyze the image, and pass it to copa for patching, re-scan it, and then finally display the vulnerability data after patching, all using just a single Kubescape command.

The copacetic team is currently designing a modular scanners approach to incorporate multiple scanners. I'm actively working with the team on that issue and it will take time to come up with the final solution. In the meantime, I've added support of Kubescape to copacetic, in a fork on mine.

How does it work? ⚒️

Below is a small flowchart I made, to help you understand the Kubescape image patching process.

The user inputs the image name to be patched
Kubescape scans the image for vulnerabilities using Grype as its engine
Kubescape then uses the scanned image information to analyze the vulnerabilities and passes the report further to the patching process.
Kubescape then reads the vulnerability report and patches the applicable vulnerable packages in the image using copacetic.
Kubescape re-scans the patched image for vulnerabilities using Grype as its engine.
In the CLI output, we have the vulnerability summary report and a patched image exported to our local Docker Server

Related PRs 🔗

Added a new patch command to Kubescape CLI: kubescape/kubescape#1332
Added kubescape support to copacetic: anubhav06/copacetic@kubescape
Added a new ignore-errors flag to copacetic: project-copacetic/copacetic#247
Added docs for filtering vulnerabilities with copacetic: project-copacetic/copacetic#251
[WIP] Add modular scanners to copacetic: project-copacetic/copacetic#261, project-copacetic/copacetic#270

Takeaways 🗒️

What did I gain from my 3 months of the LFX Mentorship program with the CNCF?

Knowledge: The amount of knowledge you gain while working on your project is inexplicable. Just for your reference, before the program, I knew nothing about image vulnerabilities, and now I'm very well-versed with image CVEs and SBOMs.
Experience: Only because of this program, I was forced to move out of my comfort zone, and look at other projects as well (since it involved adding support in another project). Now, I can very easily jump into any new project and contribute to it, which was very difficult for me beforehand. For instance, I got to jump into copacetic and grype codebases.
Skills: As said, you'll get to learn and work on new tech which will help you in upskilling yourself.
Network: You not only get to connect with your mentors but also with other fellow mentees. It's always good to connect with an industry expert and gain knowledge from them, but at the same time, you get to connect with your fellow mentees as well. For example, we were 3 mentees selected to work on Kubescape (different projects) and we helped each other in our tasks and also had frequent meetings.
Stipend: Last but not least, you are also paid a good stipend for the hard work you do.

Conclusion ⏳

LFX Mentorship is a very rewarding program that can help you upskill yourself while getting to work on a project and getting mentored at the same time. If you get rejected for a particular term, don't get disheartened, you can always apply the next time. If you get selected, you'll have the best experience of your life, just like I had! Ultimately, it depends on how you make the maximum out of the opportunity you are getting

If you liked this article and you think it helped you know about the program, consider giving this post a like and sharing it with your friends who might have the same doubts.

If you still have any questions, you can reach out to me on my socials (Twitter or Linkedin) and I'll be more than happy to help. FYI: nohello.net

MLH Fellowship - My Experience

Anubhav Gupta — Thu, 17 Aug 2023 13:09:17 +0000

In this article, I share everything that you need to know about the MLH Fellowship program - what is it, the interview process, and my experience being a fellow (of the prep program).

What is MLH Fellowship? 🤔

The MLH Fellowship is a 12-week internship alternative for aspiring technologists. The different programs pair a fun, educational curriculum with practical experience that you can put on your resume right away. It's collaborative, remote, and happens under the guidance of expert mentors.

The program is divided into tracks that align with the different career interests that Fellows have.

The different tracks that the fellowship has to offer are as follows:

There is another program called the Prep Program which is a 3-week preparation program for those who are interested in experiencing the fellowship before committing to the full 12 weeks. You'll build out your portfolio of personal projects & experiment with new technologies by collaborating in small groups through a short hackathon sprint.

About the Interview Process 📝

Let's have a look at how to apply for the fellowship, the interview process, and how to ace your interviews!

To apply for the fellowship, you can go to their official website and apply directly from there.

The selection process is divided into 3 stages:

The initial application
The behavioral interview
The technical interview

Let's have a look at each stage separately in detail.

1. The Initial Application

This is the very first round of the selection process - the application round.

Essays:

The majority of the applicants are filtered here, so don't take it lightly. Make sure to take your time when answering the questions. The questions are made to understand you better and your interests.

Pro Tip: The interviewers are looking for these specific things in your applications:

Are you passionate enough about the fellowship?
Are you dedicated enough?
Are you open to learning and collaborating with others?

Make sure to cover these when writing your answers.

Code Sample:

This is another area where a lot of applicants get rejected. You are expected to submit a code sample/project which you have worked on. The complexity of the project depends upon the program and track you are applying for. For example, A simple static site might work for the Prep Program but it may not work for the full fellowship (if applying for a backend track).

2. The Behavioral Interview

After about 2 weeks of submitting your initial application, you would get a response from MLH about if you are selected for the next round or not. If your application gets approved, you are invited for a behavioral interview. This is a general interview and not a technical interview. It is conducted to confirm your eligibility and to check if you can communicate effectively with a proper internet connection.

What to expect in the interview?
You'll be asked general questions like an introduction of yourself, why you want to be an MLH fellow, and then some questions confirming your eligibility to join the fellowship.

This is a relatively easy interview round as no such preparation is needed for this round. Although, some people, do get rejected in this round as well, so make sure to answer the questions effectively.

3. The Technical Interview

This is the final interview round. After about another 2 weeks, you would be invited to a technical interview if you made it past the previous round. In this round, your technical skills are assessed. The duration of the technical interview is 15 minutes.

What to expect in the interview?
You have to share your screen and present the code sample which you submitted during the application. You will have to explain how your code works. The interviewer will ask you questions from this code sample itself, so make you know what you have written and how it works. What they want to see is your passion for the project, how did you build it, what made you pursue it, and what would you change about it.

That's it about the interview process! Now, sit back and relax and wait for the final review and matchmaking. The interviewers will evaluate your overall performance and would let you know if you get selected. The final result typically comes about 2 weeks before the program start date.

My Experience as a fellow ✨

I was a part of MLH's Prep Program, the batch of Spring 2022, i.e. January 2022.

This is our pod, GC-Cheetahs:

Day 1

The first day was full of anxiety for me thinking and worrying about what would happen. Everyone joined the meeting and our pod leader Gabriel Cruz introduced himself and briefed us about what to expect from the fellowship.
After this was the introduction time, but MLH never fails to amaze us with its innovative ideas. Instead of the standard introduction in which everyone tells about themselves, someone else introduced us. We were sent to private breakout rooms in groups of 2 each, where we had to interact with the other person so that we could get to know them. After this, we were sent back to the main meeting, and the other person, whom I interacted with, had to introduce and tell everyone about me. Vice versa, I had to give an introduction to the person I interacted with. This way everyone was introduced to the pod.

After a few days, we were told that we had to work on a total of 2 projects. We assigned ourselves issues and started working together in groups of 2/3 depending upon the issue's size.

Pod Meetings: Daily Standups

Every day we used to have our pod's meeting for 1hr where everyone was expected to be present. These were daily standups and retros, in which everyone shared what did they work in the past 24 hours and what will they be doing in the next 24 hours. There also used to be a general discussion on the project and how to go about it.

Let's come to the fun part, games! Yes, we used to frequently play games with the whole pod during these meetings as well. Can't express through words the fun we had playing those games, especially Gartic Phones. I remember how a China flag turned into a fat man, and then whatnot.

We also had a concept of lightning talks. In this, every day one of us had to teach a certain topic to the entire pod. The topic could be anything of our choice, which we would like to teach, and which we master. I was very nervous when it was my chance, as I had never taught a technical concept to this many people before. However, my presentation turned out to be excellent and I received very positive feedback from my pod mates. This certainly motivated me to teach to an even larger audience and has given me confidence in public speaking.

My Personal Experience

The fellowship was not just limited to the daily pod meeting of 1hr. We spent most of the time interacting outside of the daily meetings. I remember how we used to stay in meetings while working on issues together, till late at night, sometimes even 3 AM.

When I was a part of the fellowship, it was covid time. I used to have my online college in the morning, which I hardly attended (LOL), and slept during that time, and then used to stay up till late at night while interacting with my pod mates.

At a more personal level, the fellowship had a very good impact on me. I was just in 2nd year of Engineering when I was a part of this program. 12 out of 15 folks in the pod, were from 3rd year or even older than that. This gave me an advantage as I had access to the most valuable resource - mentorship. Those people guided me and helped me make a better career choice. Imagine getting guidance and mentorship at a personal level, from people who have achieved so much in their life (GSoC, LFX, Microsoft, Uber and more!) They expanded my knowledge to a very good level and introduced me to the various career options and what should I do to achieve them (just like they did!).

This one is a candid picture 😛, and don't mind our sleepy faces as it was past midnight (here, in India):

Conclusion

I would recommend you apply for the fellowship, no matter you get selected or not. If you get rejected, MLH always says it's "not now" and not "never". If you get selected, you'll have the best experience of your life, just like I had! Ultimately, it depends on you how you make the maximum out of the opportunity you are getting.

If you liked this article and you think it helped you know about the program, consider giving this post a like and sharing it with your friends who might have the same doubt.

If you still got any questions, you can reach out to me on my socials (Twitter or Linkedin) and I'll be more than happy to help.