Blah DSL Engineer Interview Questions and Answers

Round: Test
Experience: Overall easy. For the objective coding section, revise basic data structures like trees, pseudo codes. Quantitative, verbal and logic require speed. For the coding section practice coding. The questions were simple. Note, the test is an important stage in the shortlisting.
Tips: Practice speed aptitude tests and coding.
Total Questions: 1

Round: Behavioural Interview
Experience: Tried to asses interest in coding, company fit. Asked one java question. Why citicorp? Discussed about the financial crisis. Interview is flexible and can cover a broad range of topics.
Tips: Stay calm. If you can convince them if you are interested in a career in coding. Note, the profile is not completely IT based, it covers a broader umbrella, involves much more was what I was told. The prerequisite knowledge they expected too wasn't very high.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: Spoke about myself, my hobbies, my interests. Very peaceful round. We also had a little chat about my favourite book.
Tips: Stay calm ant try to be yourself and as honest as possible

General Tips: Citicorp was my fourth interview in the internship process. What i learnt collectively from this experience was to say calm, no matter what. Never approach an interview with an " I must get it " attitude. "Its not a big deal" works much better. This doesn't mean that you don't take preparation seriously but once you've prepared, don't care too much. Also prepare well, the biggest contributor to your confidence and satisfaction is the feeling of preparedness with which you attend the selection process
Skill Tips: Practice speed tests and coding on websites
Skills: General Coding And Problem Solving
Duration: 2
College Name: IIT Madras
Motivation: I was interested in non - core, finance, analytics and have basic coding skills. Citi is undoubtedly a reputed name.

Round: Test
Experience: The first one hour was an aptitude test consisting of MCQs based on 4 sections. The first section was programming related, consisting of questions related to binary trees, figuring out the output of a given pseudo code, completing a given pseudo code, finding the error in the given code, etc. The Quant section contained fairly simple questions but with very limited time. Lots of numerical calculations involved and use of calculator was not allowed. L&R section was again fairly straightforward but had many questions with limited time. English questions consisted of picking out the grammatically correct sentence, sentence sequencing, vocabulary (meaning of word/antonym of word, etc) and comprehension based questions. If you're preparing for CAT or other similar exams then this test will be simple for you.

The second hour of the test was the coding round. Two problem statements were given and we had to type out the code, compile it and run it. We had the option of C, C++ and Java. Full marks if the code ran successfully, zero otherwise. There were no in between marks for steps or incomplete codes, even if the logic was correct.
Tips: You'll find online mock tests for CAT for Quant, L&R and English sections. Focus on speed and accuracy, the questions won't be tough but the time will be limited with lots of questions. For the coding section it should suffice if you've had sufficient experience with coding. Even if you haven't (as I didn't) you'll still be fine. For the novices I'd suggest focusing on famous algos such as trapezium pattern, etc.
Duration: 120 minutes

Round: HR Interview
Experience: It was an extremely peaceful interview. There were 2 interviewers for my IT profile. I told them frankly that I didn't have much experience in coding, I had just done a course in my first year and an online course as well. I had a strong finance resume, so they asked me questions related to finance. I was able to answer them satisfactorily. It seemed more like a conversation rather than an interview, as if they were trying to figure out if I was a right fit for their company. Most of the time they were doing the talking and explaining about the IT role and what it involves, and asking me if that's what I was looking for. Almost all the questions they had for me were resume based.
Tips: Be honest and upfront. Tell them what you think and most importantly why you're applying for the profile. The questions asked to me were: If you're offered a PPO after the internship will you accept it? ; This profile is not in line with what you've taken as your major, do you feel that you'll be wasting 4 years by suddenly switching your line? ; What problems do you think you'll face if you are to join Citi as a full time employee?

These questions cannot be prepared for, you have to be honest in answering them. If you would have noticed their questions were leaning towards checking if I would be a right fit as their employee. Unlike other companies who hire 2 month interns just to get the maximum work out of them, Citi was hiring interns as possible employees and future leaders within the company, and their HR interview will be in this line as well.

General Tips: Practice speed and accuracy for solving aptitude questions. Be confident during the interview. They're looking for potential employees and their PPO offering rate is quite high, their questions will also be along the same lines.
Skills: 1)communication, Conversation Skills, Programming, Coding Skills, Proficiency In English, Logical Reasoning, Quantitative Problems
Duration: 2
College Name: IIT Madras
Motivation: Wanted back office experience and also exposure to coding/analytics in a banking company. Work given by them is generally challenging and fun.
Funny Moments: One of the questions asked in the interview was what I do in my free time. One of my answers was watching TV shows. They then proceeded to ask me what TV shows I watch and I mentioned Game of Thrones among my list (which was quite lenghty :p). Unsurprisingly, one of the interviewers was also a GoT fan and we spent quite a bit of time talking about the show and why neither of us hadn't read the books.