eBay Interview Questions, Process, and Tips

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: It was a very good experience interacting with the recruiter. He was guiding me throughout and kept on asking questions to push me to the right directiin.
Tips: Always think about all the details and structure your thoughts before going ahead. always think aloud. This gives the recruiter a chance to help you with the case

General Tips: Be confident and maintain your calm. It is more important to make an honest effort than to get to the right answer of a case/puzzle.
Skill Tips: Practice a lot of case studies especially related to e commerce.
Skills: Structured problem solving skils, Analytical skills, Communication skills
College Name: IIM LUCKNOW
Motivation: Good work cultureGlobal ecommerce playerGreat analytics work

College Name: IIT ROORKEE

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: I had a standard resume for this company as per our institute placement cell norms. eBay interviewers were not much concerned about the resume but they would surely browse through it and ask you questions from it. So it’s better to write genuine stuff rather than bluffing about things you have not actually done.

Round: Test
Experience: The first round was the written test. The test consisted of two sections one dedicated to the programming questions and the other to the logical reasoning questions. The paper was tough or so to say very unique. The programming questions were based on stacks and queues. One question was asked on circular queue. In logical section one of the questions that I remember was to derive numbers from 1 to 10 using only 4 four’s with the help of any of the mathematical operations. Other logical questions were more or less similar to this. There was also a general aptitude section which was comparatively simpler.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: This round was an H.R. interview round.He reviewed my resume and asked me some questions based on that. It was sort of a stress round as the interviewer was pushing me for answers.

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: In this they tested my programming and data structure knowledge. In data structure I was asked that, if there was a duplicate entry in a given link list then how would I find it. He also asked about the virtual functions and exception handling. He also inquired about the project that I had worked upon – I walked of a coding project in which I had used some unconventional algorithms.
Tips: Good knowledge of data structure and database management may prove helpful. They are more concerned about your knowledge. If you are good at web coding then it is always an added advantage.

College Name: IIT ROORKEE

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: I had a standard resume for this company as per our institute placement cell norms. For any software company in general, do mention all software projects you have done and languages/software packages you know.

Round: Test
Experience: The first round of the selection process was a written test which comprised of two sections. The first section had aptitude based/puzzle based problems. Questions were tricky and didn’t require any calculation. Some of the questions were
1) Form all numbers from 1 to 10 using four 4’s and the basic arithmetic operations +,–  ,* and /. 2) Pick the odd one out from a given series. 3) Complete the series (a series with the starting alphabet of days in a week was given). 4) How many knights can you place on a standard chess board so that no piece can attack any other piece? Subjective answers had to be given with proper explanation for the same.
 The second section was based on C/C++ programming. There were three questions. The first one required the candidate to write the output of a given program. The next question was based on simple if-else statements while the last question was based on circular queues. All questions in this section were easy if the candidate has decent enough programming skills.
Total time for both the sections was 1 hour. There was no marking scheme and short listing was done based on the overall response of the candidate. Some particular questions or parts of questions, however, were considered more important by the company, and candidates answering those questions and a few others correctly, were shortlisted for the next round.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: The first round was a 1 to 1 interview wherein the interviewer tried to put me under pressure by pointing out mistakes in my answers to written test and making me solve the questions which I had not attempted in the written test. He also asked me about my family background, why I think I should be shortlisted for the next round etc.

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: The interviewer asked me about the programming languages I had worked on. No question was asked from languages other than those I mentioned. There were some standard questions about data structures and their implementation using C++. As I had worked on a couple of websites, the interviewer asked me questions related to HTML/CSS/PHP/MySQL/JavaScript. I was also asked to show one of the websites I had designed on the internet and the interviewer asked me a few questions about it. Except for a few, questions were very basic and easy for someone with good programming skills.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: The final interview mostly had HR questions. The interviewer talked at length about my interest in sports, my favourite sportsman and why. He also questioned me regarding the websites I had worked on, other extracurricular activities and what did I learn from them, what do I know about eBay and how would I be able to contribute to it if I am selected.
Tips: Revise programming concepts. Do not panic even if the interviewer tries to put you under pressure.

College Name: IIT ROORKEE
Motivation: EBay is a renowned company. I didn’t have much idea about the job profile on offer. However I did know that it was in the field of website and software development. I also found a lot of information about the company through the company’s Wikipedia page.

Round: Test
Experience: There were 30 questions out of which 50% was based on java and c++, the rest from verbal and quantitative stuff.The key areas to focus on are:
· OOPS-all concepts, contructors etc
· Database-sql queries and normal basics stuff about schemas etc
· Networks- subnetting, various routing protocols, about mac address
· Probability ans Statistics
Duration: 30 minutes

Skills: Algorithm, OS, Data structure
College Name: Na

Round: Test
Experience: There were 30 questions out of which 50% was based on java and c++, the rest from verbal and quantitative stuff.The key areas to focus on are:



·         OOPS-all concepts, contructors etc



·         Database-sql queries and normal basics stuff about schemas etc



·         Networks- subnetting, various routing protocols, about mac address



·         Probability ans StatisticsMass elimination in this round only 10 cleared this
Total Questions: 30

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: (scary round this one)Me: May I come in sir?INTERVIEWER: Yeah, sure, have a seat. So John, tell me about yourself.Me: I am . My home town is New Delhi now and I have done my 10th and 12th from …… I have 2 sister …….
INTERVIEWER: So, how did you land up here?Me:Entrance exam , I got ……rankINTERVIEWER: Ok John, So let us start with some coding problems shall we ?Me: Sure sir (confidently).

INTERVIEWER: (Explaining on a sheet of paper) Let us assume there are 3 baskets with different number of balls say p,q and r. Every ball has a number written on it. Now, you have to take all those balls and put them back in baskets in sorted way.Me: Okay sir, like what is the data structure of these ‘baskets’, like is it an array or class?
INTERVIEWER:  Assume all the values.Me: So sir, like the same number of balls has to be put back again?
INTERVIEWER: Yeah.Me: Okay…. One way is to sort all numbers in basket 1, basket 2 and basket 3 and then apply merge sort.INTERVIEWER: hmm…. Okay ….. Can you code it for me?Me: let me write an easy program for start. ()public void sortnos (int arr[], int p, int q, int r){// wrote code for simple bubble sort and then put the first p element into basket 1 next q into 2 and r //into 3}INTERVIEWER: Hmm… okay …… Walk me through. (Discussed bubble sort working and complexity)….. hmm …… Okay John …….(seemed satisfied)( Always finish the easy stuff first , the simple code that you can explain for hours)INTERVIEWER: Can I have a copy of your resume? (have a few copies handy)INTERVIEWER: So I see you know JSP?…So what is the disadvantage in JSP?Me: Went at it with all the theory I knowINTERVIEWER: So, what other operating systems do you know about and use?Me: Hmm…. Windows 7, Windows XP, Ubuntu.INTERVIEWER: I mean conceptsMe : Oh…Sorry…. okay sir… hmm… Dead lock,  System calls, paging etc…INTERVIEWER: Ok so what is Mutual Exclusion?Me : (easy stuff)INTERVIEWER: what is multithreading and Difference between process and thread?Me :  threads are light weight…. A process can have many threads(told everything within a minute)INTERVIEWER: Okay ….. there are three threads have been assigned different work. Say,T1 takes 10 sec T2 takes 20sec t3 takes 15sec  Now you have to make sure that all threads merge into one and continue as a single thread. How will you wait and all?Me:we will chose the concept of wait(),notify(),sleep(),… etc and I also read the concept of BARRIER in system software, where in all threads will continue togetherINTERVIEWER: Okay….?….What is Semaphore.. can it be applied?Me : Ya Sir….. even like it is very simple terms acts as a flag when T1,T2,T3 have completed set it to flag and continue [somehow I was managing]INTERVIEWER: Okay John Lets solve another coding problemMe : [Feeling confident and happy to get rid of theory J] Sure Sir.INTERVIEWER: So you have ….. [Sketching on paper] Folder/Directory like structure on windows.Okay? ……… So, you have to ……. Traverse it and scan files for content 9__________ (which represents mobile no.) and change all such occurrences to +919_________.Me: Directory Structure…… hmmm…. [Problem seemed to be complex for the 1st 10 seconds then I figured it out]Okay sir…. 1st thing … a directory structure implies a TREE…. Maybe B+ Tree any such form.INTERVIEWER: [Gentle nod]Me: [continued…….] So sir, this problem can be broken into two modules.Module #1: Traversal of this tree structure given the root.Module #2: Job of parsing and editing → +91INTERVIEWER: Okay….. So, can you code it for me? April 16, 2012 [PLACEMENT PREPARATION BRIEFING]Me: Sure sir,….. [wrote two functions [public void Traversal( BTN root) { } and public void parsenedit(FILE *ptr) { } For every leafnode: File is traverse, paresnedit ()was called]INTERVIEWER: Okay….[Asked Complexity and few questions on it]……[90% convinced] TING…..TONG…..TING…..TONG….. His Mobile rang.Yeah, Just 5 minutes …… yeah, will be there in 5 minutes.Me: [thinking……..hmm….seems over]INTERVIEWER: John, so what about Databases? Good at it?Me: Not bad sir, JINTERVIEWER: Okay what about NESTED TABLES?Me: (not a clue!!!!)Maybe table1 having foreign key to some other table.INTERVIEWER: [Not convinced] hmm… okay can you write SQL Query for creating tables?Me : Sure sirCREATE TABLE()(………………..);INTERVIEWER: What are views?Me : easyINTERVIEWER: What are nested views?Me :View deriving information from various tables.INTERVIEWER: No no, as it is a ‘View’ can derive information from various tables .Me : SmilingINTERVIEWER: I am done. Do you have any questions (hand shake)Me : asked some stuff about the company.(Be ready with some questions always)INTERVIEWER: Okay john it was nice taking to you. (always make sure your hands are dry before  shaking hands else interviewer gonna get pissed)

Round: HR Interview
Experience: (1 hour 15minutes):INTERVIEWER: Hi JohnMe : Hello .INTERVIEWER: So John tell me about yourself? (always asked )Me: had a well prepared answerINTERVIEWER: Nice resume , tell me about itMe : Told him about my projects etc and my education (this is were you tell them about to string points clearly)INTERVIEWER: Let us do coding problem.Me : sureINTERVIEWER: you have been given a postfix expressions of a integers. You have to return the result as a stringMe : we can use stack to keep pushing…..started explaining a lot of theory and stuff.INTERVIEWER: Plz write the codeMe : started write awaypublic int evaluate(char *x){………….…………}INTERVIEWER: Hmmm,But there is an error in this code.Me: (3 minutesearch and found it )had to be case ‘-‘ op2-op1;instead of op1-op2INTERVIEWER: Okay I see in your resume that you seem to be lot involved with IBM TechnologiesMe :I’m not all that sure about the details but. Rather, most of my works (projects) based on Derby, Jsp and asp (open source)INTERVIEWER: hmm….. okay [smiling]INTERVIEWER: Lets see another questionme : sure sirINTERVIEWER: so there there is a function ‘sum’ which takes arguments, such that if both args are:int : does integer additionfloat : does float additionstring : concatenates themWrite a program in ‘C’ that does the sameme : (waited for 20 seconds) sir….. we can have float addition only because integer will also get done but  what about strings…..?INTERVIEWER:  (smiles)Me : ya… sir we can have ‘void pointer’ to accept any kind of inputINTERVIEWER: (Happy) okay, then?Me : so public void* sum(void* arg1,void* arg2){//Boxingreturn}But problem is, sir, how to identify what content inside itINTERVIEWER: ThinkMe : If it would been java, we could have used instanceof() method to check….INTERVIEWER: (Interrupting) But I have asked in ‘C’Me :  Yes sir what can be done(did a lot of thining to myself)?INTERVIEWER:  don’t think that hard… think simplyme : (total confusion still thinking …..)INTERVIEWER: Ok leaveMe : L(kinda felt bad leaving a questions)INTERVIEWER: okay. john….. with this, I am done. you have any questions[with false smile :P]Me : No sir actually most of the the questions were clarified in ppt the only questions right now in my mind is how to solve this question ![pointing at the previous question] of identifying the content inside void pointers].INTERVIEWER: (smiling) Think.. I’ll tell you at the end of the day.Me : Fine sir… (Rubbed my hand to dry it) (handshake).

Round: HR Interview
Experience: INTERVIEWER: Have a seat JohnMe : Thank you sir.INTERVIEWER: So John tell me about yourself… your passion…. How did you come this far?Me : Same things (He heard it partially and then moved on)INTERVIEWER: [Smiling] Ok Let us see a scenario problem.Me : Sure Sir.INTERVIEWER: You have an embedded system device. Okay? So you are given some numbers from 1-100 and unique. Okay?Me :  (Analyzing)INTERVIEWER:  Now you have to sort these numbers. That’s it.Me: (1st reaction) Sir, since you said it is to be done for embedded device so obviously we do not have the luxury of space.INTERVIEWER: (Happy) Ya… (Small Nod)…So let’s assume we have a very limited RAM and bringing all numbers together for sorting is a difficult option; also you have to consider access time.Me: (Confident now) yes sir so surely O(m^2) option of sort is out.INTERVIEWER: ok now?Me: So sir another option is hashing. We can keep reading the numbers & keep hashing them toArray index. E.g 24 -> arr[24-1]->arr[23].INTERVIEWER: ya so in the end you can parse through and get the answer. Okay but how much space will it take?Me: Sir, if int=2 bytes; arr[100]=200 bytes.INTERVIEWER: okay but what if all the 100 numbers don’t appear? Aren’t you wasting space?Me: [had already started nodding] yes sir, even I was thinking….so we can go for ‘hashmap’No extra space and time complexity is also O[log n] to parseINTERVIEWER: ok accepted, but what if I don’t give you even that much space?Me: Sir another option is sorting, but then (talking to myself) same space.. okay sir .. (struck me)Most space efficient way would be to use bits.INTERVIEWER: hmmm explain?Me: Sir a bit can be used to represent a number.E.g. 0->not available1-> availableSo to represent 100 numbers,100 bits are enough.INTERVIEWER: [happy from inside] Can you code it?Me: Sure sirfor(int x: number){Check|=1<} //Basic Code.With this 16 numbers can be represented similarly for 100 numbers int check[7] will be enoughINTERVIEWER: [Nodding] so , you reduced the space to?Me: Sir 7*2=14 Bytes onlyINTERVIEWER: Ok good. What if still, I say you have only say 8 bytes with you.Me: ( Damn how small do you want it ? Still feeling good). Okay sir, sir , basic thing is , 1 bit is the least space to represent a number. So the only option is doing the sort in two phases.Me : In first place I will select only those nos from desk which are less than 50 bring them to RAM…. hash using bits as I told and print themIn second pass take only elements greater than 50…….1 <<(val-51); and then print itINTERVIEWER: (gave appreciable Nods) ok. JOHN WE WOULD LIKE TO HAVE YOU INTHE TEAM!!  would you like to join us?Me : [stunned] Definitely sir!INTERVIEWER: Ok.. so you are in from my side…. now just complete the formalities with HR… ok?Me : (with the biggest smile) sure sir Thank you (Walking towards the door, opened it, gave a smile to my peers sitting on the chairs)… WOW!This is a new style we are following to present a step by step interview description, please give us your valuable feedback so we can decide whether to stick with style or change back to previous method . Thank You

College Name: NA