HARMAN Principal Engineer Interview Questions and Answers

Round: Interview
Experience: A systematic approach is all what he expects from us. Our approach and our way of thinking is what he observes. An algorithm to solve a single face worked in my case. So called HR interview was more technical and a discussion about the projects mentioned in my resume.
Tips: An overview on problems like sudoku, rubik's cube, chess etc. A proper approach and a structure for solving the problem should be mentioned.

Round: Interview
Experience: Some questions on basic data structures, dynamic programming and recursion.
Tips: Recognize the problem(dp, recursion, etc.). Throw some algorithm.

General Tips: Be clear with basics.
Skill Tips: ""
Skills: Data structures, Data Processing, Recursion
College Name: IIT Madras
Motivation: SAMSUNG!
Funny Moments: A saviour for the leftover cse students especially b.tech and dual. It does not depend on whether your interview went well or not. Just basic cse stuff is enough.

Round: Test
Experience: Objective test in C(30 min),followed by a paper-based coding test.(1 hour, Written ).
Tips: There are old Samsung tests available online. The questions are based on the same fundamentals.Coding test focuses more on getting the pseudo code and logic right
Duration: 90 minutes

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: Interview questions were mostly based on projects and skills mentioned in the resume.Be sure to read up on your projects.They asked to explain the code.On the lines of how would I approach the problem of getting faster downloads in cellphones.

General Tips: I got selected because of my projects fit the profile they were looking for. They seemed to like the Olympiad ranks too.Data structures and algorithms basic fundaes, C coding and theory (asked in every profile), Revision of your electives (depending the core specialization)For any communication profile, do not ignore revision of courses and also it was necessary to read up
further as MTechs and MS students have an edge.
Skill Tips: Went through all the literature for all my projects.My courses and projects were all related to Communication Networks and Communication Systems. This background made the questions easier to answer. Majority of questions were about network protocols and network architecture.Started preparing DS&A at the beginning of seventh sem because I had never taken the course. The rest of it can be revised a couple of weeks before the tests start.
Skills: Algorithm, C Programming, Communication Networks, Communication Systems, Network protocols, Network architecture.
College Name: IIT Madras

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: Shortlisting done based on resume.
Tips: Create good resume highlighting projects and research work. Remain updated about the company's research work.

Round: Test
Experience: There are two written tests. One is based on C and algorithms.
Tips: Old Samsung tests that are available online.Knowledge of C is must.
Duration: 30 minutes

Round: Test
Experience: The second test is paper-based coding test.
Tips: Coding test is used to mainly gauge your logic applying abilities.
Duration: 60 minutes

Round: Interview
Experience: Personal Interview: one round lasting around 40 minutes.
 Interview questions were mostly straightforward, technical and based on projects and
research work mentioned in the resume.
 Previous day's code is also asked to explain.
 Couple of questions were about the company's on-going work. In-depth knowledge regarding courses related to the profile is necessary.
Tips: Revise courses, Project work. Additional reading is recommended.
Basics of core subjects.

College Name: IIT Madras

Round: Test
Experience: Only a few students will get shortlisted who do all the questions correctly.

Round: Other Interview
Experience: First 4 rounds on day 1 and this are just to shortlist for more rounds on some other day.
Tips: They will focus on almost all the concepts of computer science.You need to practice a lot and start it right now. Should be easy if you have prepared well enough. Use your holidays to start preparing for placements.

General Tips: Sooner you start, better your placement will be as lack of practice & last day study works only for exams but never for interviews. You'll get enough time to prepare for interviews once you get shortlisted. Focus on it even if you are placed already.
Skill Tips: They will focus on almost all the concepts of computer science.
Skills: C , Aptitude
College Name: NIT SURATHKAL

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: On-site interview (5 hours).

4 back-to-back 45-minute coding interviews, followed by a design interview, with a lunch break with a Googler in the middle.

The first coding interview was a set of (surprisingly) trivial (no algorithms needed) incremental coding questions.

The two next coding interviews were problems straight from the "Cracking the coding interview" book. Even though I divulged that I'd solved pretty much exactly the same problem before, they didn't give me an alternative problem and I quickly coded up a general and optimal solution for the problems. Follow-up in-depth questions were minimal and not hard.

The last coding question was a pure algorithm question related to search trees/tries. No coding required, spent the whole time reasoning about the most effective algorithm. This was a bit of a brain twister.

The design question was related to high-level system design (not OO design) for storage and search in geographic data. Focus was effective search as well as scalability both in traffic and data volumes.

Tips: Read "Cracking the coding interview" or other similar literature. Solve all the problems and you should be good to go. If you solve a bunch of problems at HackerRank (or similar) as well, you'll have the added bonus of training on how to generalize the algorithms.

Round: Test
Experience: The first consisted of an online test which had an aptitude section which was pretty simply and then a programming section consisting of three different programs. The programs were logical required basic knowledge of array, sorting and a little bit of data structures.

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: Around 13 of us were shortlisted for the interview round, B.Tech and M.Tech included. The interview round was mostly interactive, where we had to mention about the various interns that we went through. A few programming questions were asked based on topics which we were comfortable with.
Tips: Just get used to coding, data structures and basic aptitude. GRE preparation as such helped me.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: Finally there was a HR round in which I was asked as to why I would like to work in Samsung R&D and general things about interests and future plans. On the whole Samsung took 3 B.Tech students and 2 M.Tech students when they came for placements apart from PPOs.

General Tips: Personally I feel that one should apply in only those companies in which they are sure of having job satisfaction. So don't apply to companies which you are not interested in just for the sake of having a backup because once you are placed you do not have a second chance.
Do not get dejected if you do not get through in the first few tries. Keep your hopes up and be confident when ever you get to interview rounds. Try to be assertive when giving answers. It is some times exhausting to go through placements but the moment you get placed you will have the best feeling ever.
Skill Tips: Just chill and take the test. Once you clear the online test, irrespective of your pointer if you have a good profile you can convince the interviewers.
Skills:
College Name: NIT Surathkal