Wells Fargo — Software Developer
Name: Vivek Dubey
1. Which company have you been placed in and what’s the job description?
>> I got an internship at Wells Fargo in my third year and the job description was something related to software engineering intern. That basically involved working on a full-scale software development life cycle. I secured a PPO from them but after several off-campus interviews; I got FTE offers from Xiaomi and Microsoft as well.
I also gave interviews for companies like Google, Facebook, Bloomberg, Intuit, Cred and Uber.
2. Tell us something about your college life and experiences. Were you a part of any club or society throughout your college life and how did they help you?
>> What I heard in the first year was that if you are not in a club, you won’t get a placement. I was very much affected by that myth. I tried applying to all the clubs, but I was not selected in any of the clubs in my first year. It was very disappointing and I was very much disheartened.
I was a member of EEESoc. It was very helpful. The seniors assisted me with a lot of extracurricular work which helped me to grow personally and professionally.
3. What message would you give to the first and second-year undergraduates on effectively using their time and maintaining their academic as well as social life?
>> I would point out correctly if someone wants to pursue software development, then he should have a crystal-clear idea that Competitive Programming (CP) is actually important. My suggestions would be to use time squeezing strategies like don’t rest a single moment. If you have free time and if your mood is correct, then don’t waste your time roaming here and there and doing nothing. Just open your phone and try to solve the problems.
Also, don’t get too stressed. Take breaks. When I used to get stressed, I would watch anime and then again return to CP. Basically, keep a balanced life but give a lot of focus on CP.
4. You have an extensive background in computer programming, so what are the dos and don’ts you would like to share?
>> Take it as a sport, like you’re playing chess or badminton or whatever, don’t take it too seriously. Don’t stick to the failures for a long time and don’t stick to your wins also for a long time, because both of them are pretty dangerous. If you stick with your failures for a long time, you may end up self-berating, and it will ultimately affect your problem-solving. It will not help you in your growth at all and if you stick too much with your success like, let’s say, you achieve three-star, and all your friends are struggling; you might become vain. So don’t restrict yourself to a limit, I would suggest being limitless.
5. What are the projects you have done in four years and how did they help you with your placement?
>> I didn’t do a lot of projects, one project that I did was during the SPP by EEESoc. It was a basic project. However, the application was very innovative. I just used that project on my resume. There was another project on the database, but it was very ridiculous. It could only fetch me negative points, which I learned later. So, I removed it. Basically you should know that whatever project you do, don’t plagiarise and keep it deep. Like when you are asked any questions about it you are able to answer them.
6. How early one should start preparing for internships and how important an internship is, and also what if you don’t get an internship?
>> Okay, so there’s never a right time for a start. Like whenever you have made up your mind that is it. You should not waste any more time thinking about different stuffs. Worrying about and asking ten different people won’t solve your issue. I will only be talking about software sector. You can just start preparing from YouTube; it will be very much helpful. There are a lot of resources. If you have time, then you can also prepare for computer core subjects like DBMS, OS, and computer networks. Interviewers are mostly looking for problem-solving skills.
If you did not do an internship, you will get lots of free time and during those two months, you can manage your time to do college coursework preparation and placement preparation.
One thing you can do is practice more interviews with your friends because that’s the most realistic thing. So, try to do as much more interviews. Ask seniors to take your interview. I remember being helped by EEESoc seniors for the interview prep.
7. What was the selection procedure of your company? Can you repeat some of the important questions from each round of your interview?
>> It had three rounds: the first round was debugging which was easy, the second round was coding, and they gave seventy minutes for two questions. The first question was based on trees. I had an adequate practice of trees and I was able to solve it. The second question was a very weirdly difficult question, which I assume was from dynamic programming. The third round was an IQ based round.
The interview was totally technical, like DBMS, some graphs questions, OS, etc.
8. What are your future plans and would you like to go for higher studies?
>> My future plans are to try and explore the software industry a little bit more like trying to see all the life cycles of a project. Right from how big tech companies try to understand the requirements of the customers, how they come up with new products, how they sell it and earn profits. I want to be a part of all this process, and definitely higher studies are always a quite attractive option for me.