1
zubin10
5y

!rant

so, I somehow got an interview with NASDAQ for the summer internship this year. somehow it was the only company that had cleared my resume for the interview process, other companies didn't even scheduled one.

and I messed up the first technical interview.

the interviewer asked me to find the largest element in a nested list in python.

for ex [[3,4],[5,2,9],[1,7]] would return [4,9,7]

it was a verbal interview on call and he asked what would I use? Lambda function or list comprehension.

I said lambda function. (I knew it was list comprehension, if I had to code I wouldn't have got confused between the two)

later he asked a couple of questions about linux and boot processes, I could answer some of the basic ones but not after 3rd or 4th question.

now I don't think I have anything to do for summer, as it's a little too late for finding the internships.

any advice?

Comments
  • 4
    1. Write [max(i) for i in l] 10,000 times
    2. Recite the "bios, boot record, boot loader, kernel, init, run" mantra 10,000 times

    At that point you'll be so enraged, you'll change your major to polisci solely to become a politican and eventually outlaw technology altogether.

    Or, you could just write an application or contribute to open source.
  • 0
    @SortOfTested Oh I'm an open-source contributor.
    it's just this is my second last (jr.) year and I kinda need an internship to put on my resume.
  • 0
    @zubin10
    Find a family member to get you a fake intern, or scrape for what's left. Those are the options
  • 0
    @SortOfTested that's something I'm not really fond of, if rather not get an internship then faking one.
    and I'm guessing GSoC and imaginecup would be helpful
  • 0
    @SortOfTested also, internships in India are pretty shitty, they don't even pay $100/month Most of the times
  • 1
    I've had interviews like that, if they aren't assessing your skillset based on your previous projects and resorting to textbook questions it's because they already have someone lined up and just need an excuse to disqualify you. They know damn well normal people aren't a walking wikipedia
  • 2
    @mghrist but these are pretty easy questions, it's just I was kinda nervous.
    also, is there any chance of me hearing back.
    as the interview lasted for about an hour, he asked me about a bunch of projects, past achievements (GSoC and imaginecup Asia finalists top 10) and seemed interested. and I did answer approx 10 questions correctly.

    idk probably I'm overthinking. but this was supposed to be one of the best internship opportunities.
  • 1
    @zubin10 as an interviewer, both answers could be correct if you can justify them appropriately. I've learned a lot from interviewing candidates with views different than my own. I've hired candidates who gave wrong answers, because their character and style were desired over their programming knowledge.
  • 1
    @SortOfTested careful of mantras, my housemate once found me muttering "fetch, decode, execute, memory, write back" in my sleep (I'm doing a comp arch course this sem)
  • 2
    @zubin10 true, you may still get an offer but don't get discouraged if it doesn't happen on your first try, because NASDAQ is huge and there are plenty of opportunities.
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