Blogs On Job Interview Questions

Yes, they do. Mock interviews offer a significant amount of positive contribution towards your job interview preparation. They are not only a great way to practice your answers, but also allow you to work on your body language, attitude, and your overall non-verbal communication skills. Here’s everything you need to know about how to arrange and prepare for mock interviews. 1. What is a mock interview? A mock interview denotes an interview-like set-up where you can practice interviewing as a means of preparation before your actual job interview. It simulates a real interview, giving candidates a chance to practice the interview process beforehand so that they know where their weaknesses lie and the potential stumbling blocks that need attention. A mock interview session usually lasts for around 30 minutes and can be in the form of an in-person interview, an over-the-phone interview, or an online interview. 2. Who offers mock interviews? Your institute might have mock interview facilities as a part of the grooming process. Ask the career office of your institution whether they provide mock interviews. Or, you can visit a career counselor who offers such training sessions. When you approach a mock interviewer and make an appointment, you’ll be asked to provide information on the company you are interviewing for or the career field as a whole. If you don’t feel comfortable with paid services such as career counselors and/or professional mock interviewers, you can also arrange one yourself by asking the senior members of your family or acquaintances, or even a friend who is well-experienced in interviewing. Today, there are software and programs like InterviewBuddy that offer online mock interviews, usually in the form of a video recording with a timed blank part for you to answer. Platforms like LinkedIn and Glassdoor provide lists of commonly-asked questions and sample answers given by professionals across fields. 3. How mock interviews can help you Mock interviews stimulate real interviews and give the candidate an opportunity to practice common questions and answers with confidence. After your mock interview session is over, take notes. Listen to every input your mock interviewer has to offer and write them down for future references. Your actual work starts after your mock interview is over, because, now that you know your weak points, you’ll need to work on them in order to improve. Some mock interviewers also record the mock interview session, so that you can watch the playback and see what you have done wrong (or right). 4. How do you prepare for a mock interview? Since the purpose of a mock interview is to rehearse before the actual interview, the preparation for a mock interview should also be similar. Imitating the actual preparation process as much as possible will help you get the most out of a mock interview. Here are some ground rules to follow, to prepare for a mock interview. “My real job interview is 3 weeks away. I will prepare later”- Tell yourself things like this and the whole purpose of attending a mock interview goes into the drain. Instead, start preparing well in advance. Dress in formals and groom yourself really well, just like you’d do in a real interview. Keep your phone in silent mode, or better, keep it switched off. Carry a few necessary items with you, like the hard copies of your resume, a pen, and a notebook. Appear 10-15 minutes early. Drink a glass of water and try to relax. Offer a firm and sweat-free handshake to the mock interviewer. Listen to the interviewer carefully and take your time before answering their questions. Try to remain calm and composed the whole time. 5. Benefits of a mock interview Studies and surveys have shown that mock interviews can help a candidate in the following ways: They give you a visual guide of the real interview setting and enrich your experience. As a result, you feel more confident during the actual job interview. They allow you to work on your overall presentation. You can recognize and rectify your mistakes well in advance and increase your chances of cracking the important job interviews. Mock interviews can bring about valuable feedback from the career coach or the experienced mock interviewer. Experienced mock interviewers might provide you with a bunch of relevant questions which you happened to overlook beforehand. Working on their feedback will not only improve your attitude and body language but also your overall study-related preparation too. Prepare your subject-related questions from special interview preparation books that are just a click away. Vibrant’s interview preparation books like Innovative Interview Questions You’ll Most Likely Be Asked and HR Interview Questions You’ll Most Likely Be Asked offer exactly the kind of interview simulation you need to do well on your interview day. Practice with friends or family members using the questions in the books to understand what the real interview will be like.   All the best for your interview preparation! We hope you enjoyed this series of blogs and feel equipped with the knowledge you need to perform well in your future interviews. Find the entire list of Interview Preparation Blogs here. Previous blog in this series: Top 10 tips for Acing Technical Interviews

Introduction Preparing for a technical interview is different from preparing for a normal interview. Technical interviews have an added layer to them, mainly, the coding round that tests whether your coding skills are up to the mark. In addition to being ready for the other interview rounds, aspirants have to ensure that their technical skills are able to withstand the pressure of the testing situation. That’s why, knowing what to expect and how to prepare can help you ace your technical interview, whether you are a newbie to the field or have significant job experience. In this blog, we’ll quickly run through the top 10 tried-and-tested tips that can help you perform well in your technical interview. So let’s start right away with the first tip, which is a pre-requisite for any interview—knowing what to expect. 1. Know What To Expect Technical interviews are different from typical interviews because they are more of a testing situation than the usual question-and-answer scenario found in non-technical job interviews. In technical interviews, you’ll be actually proving your expertise and skills in a particular domain rather than just displaying it on your resume. For the first tip, you’ll have to keep the following in mind: Is it a Virtual or an On-Site Interview? Most interview processes shifted online during the pandemic of 2020, and the technical interview process was no exception. The online interview process may be different from the on-site process, so make sure you are cognizant of all the details and requirements beforehand. Who Will Be Conducting the Interview? You don’t want to be in a situation where you are unaware of who is interviewing you. Research the company beforehand and read about the profiles of the people who will be interviewing you. If it’s a smaller company or a startup, for example, you may be interviewed by the engineering team.If it’s a larger company or a big corporation, you may be interviewed by the tech team or the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at different points in time. Know What Position You Are Applying For. It goes without saying that you need to know the ins and outs of the position you’re applying for. Research the post you’re aiming for and what it typically entails, including the type of work and the skills and requirements needed for the position. Knowing this will help you answer the question ‘Why will you be a good fit for this position?’ 2. Be Prepared for all 3 Stages Technical interviews contain three basic stages: The Screening Stage. If the executives like your resume and want to take the process ahead, they will invite you to a short 15-30 minute screening process to gauge your enthusiasm and interest in the job being offered. The Remote Coding Stage. This stage is like a preliminary round that briefly tests your coding skills. This stage is usually conducted over Zoom or Skype and lasts a few hours. If you pass this stage, you will receive an invitation for the actual technical interview. The On-Site Interview/Whiteboarding Stage. This is the last and most important interview stage, which consists of a ‘whiteboard’ interview where you will be asked to solve code and identify issues, and the rest of the normal interview process. This could take a few hours or even an entire day, so it’s best to be thoroughly mentally and physically prepared for this stage. It is important to perform well in all these stages, so keep in mind what each stage will require from you and prepare from that perspective. 3. Go Through Likely Questions You May Be Asked You can research the company on Glassdoor—you’ll gain information on what type of questions to expect and what types of questions you should be asking at the end. Some former employees may have even shared their experiences of what the interview process was like. Make lists of the typically asked coding interview questions and common as well as out-of-the-box interview questions and practice with friends or family in an interview-like situation. Besides technical questions, you will be asked various questions set in real-life scenarios, like behavioral and situational questions that ask you to solve problems. Vibrant Publishers has a range of Job Interview Preparation Books on technical topics such as Core Java interview questions, as well as books like HR Interview Questions and Innovative Interview Questions on non-technical interview aspects. 4. Practice, Practice, and Practice Code There’s no shortcut to practice. Practice will help you confidently solve the problems you are presented with. W3Schools is a good place to brush up on important concepts (like Fizzbuzz and the Fibonacci sequence, which are almost always asked) and watch tutorials to revise the fundamentals of code. Ideally, you should be practicing code all the time, even when you’re not preparing for an interview in the immediate future. Don’t leave the revision until the last minute; if there’s something you feel you’re not sure of, study it until you get it right. In the whiteboard coding challenge, you’ll be asked about typical computer science algorithms like reversing a binary tree or finding the shortest path in a graph, for example, which seem simple but are difficult to code on a physical board. Remember, writing these codes by hand is a completely different process from feeding them into a computer. So make sure to practice coding on paper. 5. Get Your Fundamentals Right We’ve mentioned earlier that technical interviews are more of a testing situation than a back-and-forth question-and-answer session. So, ensuring that your fundamentals are in the right place will save you from the embarrassment of not being able to answer relatively easy questions. Take time out before your interview to review the fundamental concepts and theorems, including concepts in data structures and algorithms, trees, sorting and search algorithms, and dynamic programming, to name a few areas. These are all areas in which you will be questioned in the interview, so keep these concepts on the top of your mind. 6. Ask Lots of Questions When you are not sure what the interviewer wants you to do, ask questions. You may assume that the coding has to be performed in a certain way, but there’s always another way—and the interviewer may fail you if you proceed with your wrong assumption and come up with a solution. So ask questions until you’re sure of what needs to be done. After all, the interviewers are not interested in whether you get the solution exactly right—they want to gauge your critical thinking skills in the process of approaching a problem. Rather than guessing what the interviewer wants you to do, clarify that first—and then start mapping out the problem. If your code isn’t returning the values you require, stay calm and work on debugging it—that’s another aspect interviewers will be evaluating you on. 7. Make Sure You Have All These Skills Interviewers not only look for individuals with strong technical skills, but a host of other skills like creativity, leadership, decision-making, problem-solving abilities, communication skills, and critical thinking skills. You should also know about the impact of your work in the larger context of infrastructure, analytical, and data systems as a whole. Don’t be afraid to showcase your knowledge when you have the opportunity to do it, but do it without coming across as overconfident or as though you’re rattling things off from memory. 8. Prepare a Portfolio of Your Work If you’ve worked on projects in the past, either personally or as part of an organization, you can showcase your work in the interview. It’s even better if you have projects in your portfolio that match the requirements of the role you’re applying to. Having a relevant project (or projects) to talk about will make you stand out in the interview and leave a good impression on the interviewer. This is another aspect of technical interviews that starts much before the actual interview process. As a software developer, you will need to keep honing your skills all the time—so start working on independent projects or contributing to open-source projects to give your resume that added layer of intrigue. 9. Dress Well and Act Confident—Even if You Don’t Feel Like It Never underestimate the power of neat and formal attire. The first impression you make on the interviewer will affect the rest of your interview. Dress well and project a confident aura, even when you feel nervous or intimidated. Part of the reason why interviews are conducted is to test how well you perform under pressure. So even if your brain is tingling with anxiety, try to remain outwardly calm. Remember that the interview is not the end of the world and giving your best is all you need to do in order to succeed. Maintaining an outward composure will translate into inner calm and you will be able to perform well in the interview—and you may end up even enjoying the process. 10. Follow Up After the Interview Many candidates are not aware of this little fact. It is considered good etiquette to send a thank-you email within 24 hours of your interview. If you were interviewed by many people, you could reach out to all of them with a thank-you email. If you haven’t heard back from the organization after a week, send a brief follow-up email requesting them to inform you of the status of your application. Your tone should not be demanding or come across as desperate but should be a reflection of your interest in the job. Extra Tip: Remember, just give your best performance and be prepared to accept the outcome. If you pass the interview, it will give you the confidence to do even better the next time you go for an interview. On the other hand, a failed interview is a learning process—you’ll know what to do and what not to do the next time. All the best for your technical interview! Next in this Series: Mock Interviews: Do They Help? Previous blog in this series: Top Tips for Cracking Your First Job Interview Note: Before you go, you can check out our Series of Interview Blogs for more tips and useful information to add that extra something to your interview.

Entering the adult world is intimidating. Standing up on your own feet and joining your first job is exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time. Sometimes, you might have to attend a bunch of interviews to crack one and finally get the job you desire. Rest assured, it’s totally normal to flub a few interviews when you are starting out. However, if you prepare yourself in just the right manner, your chances of cracking the interview at the very first attempt will increase dramatically. In the previous blog, we looked at what you should be doing before an interview. In this blog, we present to you our tried-and-tested top tips for cracking your very first job interview.   Before the Interview: 1. Spend time on building your resume: To attend your first job interview, you’ll have to get called for the interview. And for that, you need a well-written, ATS-compliant resume. Nowadays, most recruiters use some kind of ATS to screen online job applications. That’s why, even if you have all the necessary skills and qualifications needed for a job, if your resume is not correctly composed, your application will get rejected. 2. Learn about the job and the company: After getting a call for an interview, the first task at hand is to research the job description and the company. That means, visiting the company website and studying the “About” page thoroughly, and learning every important detail about the company. Next, search the web with your job title and company name, for example: “Accounting Assistant in XYZ Corporation”, and find insights from previous employees, if possible. If you can’t find anything, learn about the responsibilities of “Accounting Assistant” in general. 3. Study the core subjects well: The next part of your preparation is studying your subjects well, i.e. if you are interviewing for “Accounting Assistant”, study your accounting books well, and be prepared for subject-related questions well. Depending on your field of study and subject, there are lots of resources available online and offline, although nothing can beat the charm of real books, of course! Check out the interview special series of books from Vibrant Publishers to know what this means. Industry leaders from various fields have contributed their time, wisdom, and personal expertise to write each one of them. These books are the ultimate success mantra that you’re looking for. 4. Try mock interview sessions: Mock interviews help you visualize the actual interview scenarios well in advance. By asking your family or friends to set you up for a mock interview, you can practice every aspect of an interview, such as how to answer the questions, the tone and volume of your voice, body language, and more. During the Interview: 1. Dress appropriately:   Abiding by the interview dress code is an important aspect of the process. Nowadays, lots of organizations prefer semi-formal or work-casual dress codes. So, if you think dressing in formals is the most full-proof way of getting it right, you might need to think again. You might be overdressed for such companies. 2. Don’t be late: It’s obvious, isn’t it? Being late for an interview is the biggest blunder you can make. In fact, being exactly on time is also not desired. Be early instead. Reach the interview venue 5-10 minutes earlier, and wait patiently. That way, you can have some time to relax and calm your nerves. You also look sincere and genuinely interested in the job when you are a bit early. Interviewers prefer that. 3. Look confident: Acting confident is critical. Whatever you might be feeling inside, the interviewers don’t need to know that. So, do yourself a favor and leave your annoying habits of nail-biting, shaking legs, or fidgeting outside the interview room. Wear a nice smile on your face and offer a firm handshake. 4. Master the correct body language: Your body language gives away a lot of things that you try to hide. So, be extra careful about how you’re presenting yourself through non-verbal communication. Here are a few tips: Smile and greet every person on the interview board. Avoid sweaty palms and feeble handshakes. Maintain eye contact and always put a slight smile on your face. Sit up straight, but relaxed. Avoid looking like a robot by making your body stiff. After the Interview: 1. Thank the interviewer: Just like you greeted every person when you entered the interview room, maintain the same courtesy while leaving, and bid good-bye to everyone. 2. Follow-up with an email: Send in a follow-up email within 24 hours of the interview. Let them know that you had a great learning experience by attending the interview, and looking forward to a positive response from them. Conclude the mail by thanking them for their time. So, these are the most essential and important tips that you should follow to crack your very first job interview. However, it is also important to remember that success or failure doesn’t always depend on you fully, and there are some external factors to it. You might be good, but someone else might be better. The recruiters might select someone from internal recommendations, or the requirements for the candidates might change abruptly. So, even if you cannot crack it in your very first attempt, don’t lose hope. In the words of Winston Churchill: “Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm”   Next blog in this series: Top 10 Tips For Clearing Technical Interviews  Previous blog in this series: How to Do Your Homework Before an Interview

Interview preparations are tricky. No matter how much you study, it seems that the interviewer will ask you exactly the one question you haven’t prepared for. So, here’s a checklist for you that will make your interview homework easy. Make sure you don’t miss out on anything on this list! Study: 1. Your core subjects To prepare for an interview, the first and the most important thing to do is mugging up your textbooks. There’s nothing more off-putting than not knowing the answers of technical questions. Leave no stone unturned in your preparation and go through each and every important chapter in your textbooks. You can also try out books from our interview special editions. Take a look at our range of interview preparation books here. 2. General and common interview questions There are always some common questions asked in every interview which seem to be easy, but are actually pretty tough and tricky to answer, mostly because there are no fixed “correct answers” to them. Preparing for these questions beforehand will help you perform better in any interview. Take a look into some of these tricky questions: Tell me about yourself. What are your weaknesses? Why should we hire you? Why do you want to work with us? Why did you quit your last job? Here’s a book to help you further in your preparation. You can find all such commonly asked questions and suggested answers in the book. 3. Questions to ask the interviewer Another super-tricky part of an interview is where the interviewer asks you: “Do you have any questions?” If you are unprepared for this question, you’ll definitely end up saying, “No, thank you” because that seems to be the safest option. But that’s actually one of the biggest mistakes you can commit. Whenever you’re asked this question, you should always answer positively. Here are some examples of what you can ask the interviewer: Why is this post vacant? What according to you are some of the most important skills to succeed in this job? How did I perform in this interview? Research: To perform well in an interview, you need the joint force of study and research. Use your research skills to learn as many things about the company as you can. Here are some things that you must learn before stepping into the interview room: 1. Company’s background, vision, and mission Learn about the company’s background and the key people from the “About” page of their official website. Also learn about the company’s vision and mission to understand what values are important to the company, what their long-term and short-term goals are, and how you can fit into the company culture. 2. Company’s products and services Another very important thing to know about the company is its primary and secondary business areas. Knowing thoroughly about the company’s products and/or services will not only help you answer related questions in the interview, but will also give you an idea about your future job role. 3. Recent events and news about the company Has the company been the center of media attention lately? Is it for a good cause or a bad one? You need to know both.  If the company has been in the news for some great achievements lately, and you are unaware of it, then the interviewer will think that you are not interested enough in the company. Recruiters will much likely hire someone who is more updated than you. If the company has attracted negative publicity lately, you should be aware of that too, and make an informed decision whether to join them or not. 4. The person interviewing you And lastly, you need to gather some information about the person interviewing you. The name of the interviewer will most likely be mentioned in the interview call letter itself. But if it’s not there, you can write to them and request to divulge the information. Knowing about the person interviewing you will help you prepare in advance. You can find out about the person’s background and career records from LinkedIn, and knowing these things will help you converse with him better. If you are lucky enough, you can also find out about how that person is as an interviewer, and what kind of questions they ask, from websites like Glassdoor. When it comes to success in an interview, no amount of preparation is ‘too much’. If you follow these 7 tips, you will definitely increase your chances of cracking the interview. All the best for your interview! Next up in this series: Top Tips for Cracking Your First Job Interview Previous blog in this series: Understanding the Interview Process: Stages and Challenges

The recruitment process involves multiple stages. So far, we’ve discussed how the job applicant can search for suitable jobs, the job portals available for application, and the correct procedure for applying. We’ve also had a lengthy conversation on how to craft the perfect ATS-compliant resume. But what exactly happens after your resume crosses the ATS barrier, impresses the human recruiter, and gets shortlisted? What are the different stages of the interview that come after this stage? This is where the tough part starts and your real skills in your field of work are tested to the core. Since different organizations have different policies and methods for interviewing and recruiting, this might seem difficult and uncertain, especially for freshers. Here in this article, you’ll find an overview of the interview process, its stages, and challenges, to help freshers understand the recruitment scenario in general. Telephonic/Online Screening When your resume and application are shortlisted, most companies arrange for an initial screening session with the candidates. It can either be over the phone or online. Nowadays, advanced ATS systems are equipped with additional programming which helps the recruiter conduct online screening very easily. Some organizations also rely on AI and bots to conduct the screening process. The online screening test might contain technical questions related to your field or basic and common interview questions. The point of the screening call is to have a conversation with the candidate to gauge his personality, promptness, and attitude. Here are some examples of the questions asked during the basic screening round: Tell me about yourself. Why did you choose this career? What do you like most about this job? What are your expectations from our company? Do you have any questions for us? Note: Telephonic Screening at the early stages of recruitment is not the same as Telephonic Interviews. A phone interview is similar to an actual face-to-face interview, except for the fact that it happens over the phone. If your phone or online screening goes well, within a few days, they will follow up with a second call, setting a date for your on-site interview. The On-Site Interview Process The actual interview may be a short or lengthy process, depending upon the company and its rules. When you have a single round of interview: There may only be a single round of either a one-to-one interview or a panel interview, after which the recruiters  directly move on to the salary negotiations. Sometimes the salary negotiations also happen on the same day or even during the very first meeting. The single-round interviews generally happen in case of walk-in interviews, bulk recruitments, or when companies recruit for junior-level positions. In a one-to-one interview, as the name suggests, there is one interviewer and one interviewee. In a panel interview, a small group of recruiters will be interviewing you. While attending a panel interview, it is important to greet each member of the panel individually, paying attention to each one of them, and trying to answer all the different questions coming from each of them. When you have multiple rounds of interview: Alternatively, some companies have a lengthier interview process. There might be two rounds of interviews with a GD (Group Discussion) round in-between or preceding them, and a final negotiations meeting. As already mentioned, there are no fixed orders or fixed rules for the interview process. However, knowing what the interview rounds consist of is essential. A company might have a few, or all of the following rounds, depending on their internal policies. Group Discussion In a group discussion, a number of candidates will be placed together and the moderator will announce a topic. You have to engage with the other candidates in a meaningful discussion on the topic. Group discussions are a way for the recruiters to test the candidate's soft skills, i.e. communication skills, interpersonal skills, stress management skills, critical thinking abilities, & team spirit. The topic for group discussion varies from current affairs, moral dilemmas, questions on work ethics and politics, and technical topics related to your field. Here are some common GD topics that you can expect irrespective of your field: Impacts of Covid-19 on the global economy US-China Trade War and its impacts Marketing on Social Media The possibility and impact of Third World War Data localization: Benefits and Challenges Skill Test For technical job interviews, there is always a technical round. It may precede the interviews or may be in between the stages. Even for non-technical positions, there might be some forms of skill tests to ascertain how you go about your research and work in general. Sometimes, there might be an aptitude test instead of a skill test where you can expect questions on quant, logical reasoning, and languages. Interview with the HR The first round of interviews generally happens with the HR team. The discussion revolves around your skills, qualifications, and what you bring to the table for the company. This round is more like a personality test. It will give HR a good idea about whether you will be a suitable addition to the company’s workforce. Here are some examples of the questions asked in this round: Why do you want this position? What is your greatest weakness? How would you handle a negative coworker? How do you handle deadlines? Tell me about a time when you set a goal in your personal life and achieved it. Interview with the Hiring Manager The second round of interviews generally happens with the hiring managers. Hiring managers are people who are in charge of hiring for a particular department inside a company. Sometimes, the person who will be your immediate boss or the leader of your team executes this role. In this round, your in-depth knowledge of the work will be tested. So, expect more skill-based or experience-based questions in this round. The Negotiation Round The third and final round is generally another meeting with the HR team to discuss benefits and compensation. By this time, you might be certain that you’re going to get the job, and the only thing left to do is reach a middle ground between your expectations and the company’s offer. With the worldwide pandemic panic, well-known scenarios around the job market are changing for good. It is speculated that by 2025, almost every leading organization in the world is planning to shift at least 70% of their workforce to a remote working system. Naturally, we can expect that the interview process will also embrace these changes. Thanks to apps like Zoom and Google Meet, group discussions, and interview processes are held remotely with multiple participants. But even with the changes in the mode of communication, a candidate should prepare individually for all these rounds to crack these remote interviews. Interview process in some popular IT companies (For Software Engineer/Developer roles): Microsoft Microsoft has multiple rounds of telephonic and face-to-face interviews. Telephonic interview: The first round of telephonic interview might last for about 30 minutes and common technical questions are asked in this round. Sometimes this first round may be followed by a second round of telephonic interviews, but it depends on the interviewer/ recruiting team. On-site Interview Round 1: This is a technical round and questions are expected to revolve around your expertise in coding and designing. On-site Interview Round 2: This is a face-to-face conversation round with HR and questions can vary from your education, experience, and skills to your future plans and goals. On-site Interview Round 3: Round 3 with the hiring managers combines technical questions as well as situational analysis and problem-solving in a practical scenario. On-site Interview Round 4: This is the meet-up with the director which is probably the last hurdle that you’ll have to cross. You can expect a few technical as well as HR questions in this round. On-site Interview Round 5: The final round is not a question-answer session but the negotiation round for compensation and benefits. Oracle Oracle follows a comparatively simpler interview process which consists of 3 main rounds, viz. Written examination: The written examination contains questions on aptitude, general intelligence, quant, knowledge of the English language, and a number of technical questions. Technical interview: The technical interview tests your technical knowledge in different computer programming languages and applications such as Java, Oracle, SQL, DBMS, SAP, etc, in variable complexities. HR interview: The HR round is a face-to-face round where common HR questions about yourself, your background, technical knowledge, working style, situational questions, and questions about your future outlook are asked. HP HP also follows a multiple-round structure for recruiting freshers in their organization. It consists of almost 4-5 rounds depending on the recruiting team. The basic stages are as follows: Written Examination: The written examination consists of three parts: Verbal ability, General Aptitude (Including Quant and GI), and a few technical questions. Multiple stages of Technical Interview: The technical test follows next. The technical interview can be quite extensive, held across 2-3 different rounds. The topics include Data Structure and Algorithms, OOPs, Networking, Operating System, DBMS, and more. HR Round: If you qualify in the previous rounds, you’ll be called in for a face-to-face with the HR team. General questions about yourself, your background, and your future plans are asked in this round. TCS TCS follows a 4-step interview process to recruit freshers in their organization. These are: Written examination: The written test is divided into 4 sections viz. Quantitative Aptitude, Programming language efficiency, Coding test, and E-mail writing test. Technical interview: The written exam is followed by a technical interview where your technical knowledge will be extensively tested. Interview with the hiring manager: The next stage is the face-to-face interview with the hiring managers. Expect both technical questions and general questions about yourself to be asked. Interview with the HR: Lastly, you’ll be subjected to an interview with the HR where your personality and attitude will be tested with questions on situational analysis, problem-solving, critical thinking abilities, and work ethics. So, these are the stages and challenges of interviews that you’re likely to face in the pursuit of your dream job. Although the steps and procedures are different for each organization, still, preparing for these steps individually will help you crack any interview, irrespective of the process.   Books that Can Help With Technical Interview Preparation If you’re preparing for a technical interview and need informative yet concise resources, take a look at some of our Job Interview Preparation Books below. Core Java Interview Questions You’ll Most Likely Be Asked HR Interview Questions You’ll Most Likely Be Asked (Third Edition) Innovative Interview Questions You’ll Most Likely Be Asked Leadership Interview Questions You’ll Most Likely Be Asked All the best for your interview! Next up in this series: How to Do Your Homework Before an Interview Previous blog in this series: The Ultimate Guide to Writing an Impressive, ATS-Compliant Resume

Introduction As Covid-19 spread internationally, the world saw a decline in public health and the global economy. It is therefore not surprising that, as the pandemic wanes, researchers noticed a rising trend in unemployment with almost 48 million people quitting their jobs in 2021. This is popularly known as “The Great Resignation.” This phenomenon looks like a ‘tidal wave’ as numerous surges of labor market workers are changing their jobs and taking advantage of the economy’s re-emergence. Continuing in 2022, 44% of employees are now “job seekers.” Some choose to factor burnout or lifestyle changes into their decision, but most cite the rise of ample opportunities with higher pay or better benefits. LHH’s overview of this turnover tsunami highlights that there is a desire for career development among workers of all generations. As we adapt to this new era, it is critical that we take the opportunity to make the most of our prospects. Here are our tips for finding this “safe port” for career development: Maximize the transition period Time is of the utmost essence. It is imperative to organize and set everyday goals when transitioning to your next career. Sally Thornton, CEO and founder of Forshay, recommends taking two weeks off. This will allow you to catch your breath and properly prepare for your new position. Additionally, don’t be afraid to add vacationing to your list. This is a crucial step for de-stressing and mentally preparing for the next journey. Develop your skills Next, updating your skillset will greatly benefit any long-term career development. You can ascertain whether you’re the right fit for a certain industry by seeing if your skillset matches their needs. We also need to reflect on the growing value of soft skills. These skills — such as listening, communication, or time management — are now being recognized as non-negotiable skills for success in any field. It’s not too late to start developing these skills. Research shows that, through enough time and practice, soft skills can be learned by adults. Prepare properly for the job search Now that you have the mindset and the skills, it’s time to enter the job search. Try not to put all of your eggs in one basket: explore options. Make sure that you’ve researched the companies and whether their expectations meet yours. Lastly, read through manuals that detail the questions expected in job interviews. Ensure that these match the field of the occupation and practice your answers beforehand. This will help you build a positive impression with future employers. Give yourself time to adjust After the build-up, you’ve finally gotten a new job. However, a common concern is the ‘new job anxiety’ as you settle into an unfamiliar work environment. You may find yourself questioning whether you made the right decision. Manage your expectations wisely. Create short-term goals and assess the factors for when they are or aren’t achieved. Most importantly, don’t be afraid to communicate with your new team. The adjustment period for working relationships goes both ways. Conclusion The Great Resignation may not be for everyone. However, for workers who have been thinking of a career change, this is undoubtedly the best time to maximize their opportunities. Take the chance. With the above tips, you’ll have realized that the change doesn’t have to be scary. It is merely through thorough preparation that you can find success. That’s why we, at Vibrant Publishers, strive to provide the highest quality books to help working professionals transition into other fields.. With the “turnover tsunami” and our resources, it’s easier to turn your losses into professional gains. Check out our series of enriching, easy-to-understand books for professionals: Self-Learning Management Series Test Prep Series  Job Interview Questions Series You may also be interested in: Job Search in 2022- A Complete Guide For Freshers The Ultimate Guide to Writing an Impressive, ATS-Compliant Resume   

An entry-level Linux System Administrator with less than 1 year experience can expect to earn an average total compensation (includes tips, bonus, and overtime pay) of ₹243,259 based on 94 salaries. An early career Linux System Administrator with 1-4 years of experience earns an average total compensation of ₹373,622 based on 638 salaries. An experienced Linux System Administrator with 10-19 years of experience earns an average total compensation of ₹909,839 based on 67 salaries (As per Payscale.com). The average Linux Administrator salary in the United States is $95,019 as of August 27, 2020, but the range typically falls between $75,661 and $107,171. Salary ranges can vary widely depending on many important factors, including education, certifications, additional skills, the number of years you have spent in your profession (As per Salary.com)   Typical Linux System Administrator job roles include: Linux Administrator: Tomcat/Apache Server Senior System Administrator Senior Engineer (System) Infrastructure Administrator Senior Linux Administrator System Admin   Prepare for your next job interview with these top 10 Linux System Administrator Interview Questions highly asked in job interviews.    1: You see a process “./myApplication” with PID 44556, how can you know where the file was executed from? 2: How can you check how long is the system running since the last restart and the load average on it? 3: You want to save the mysql DB “mySQLDB” to a file “mySQLDB.sql”, how can you do it? 4: You want to run a binary file, you have permissions to it, but it gives you “Access Denied”, what do you need to do? 5: Explain the Zombie process. 6: What are the differences between Cron and Anacron? 7: How can you change your server time zone to a Europe/France time zone? 8: How can you check the mail queue of an exim mail server? 9: Using perl, write a command that will print all the IPs, Bcasts and Masks configured on the server line by line. 10: Explain how kernel modules are signed for secure system boot.   1: You see a process “./myApplication” with PID 44556, how can you know where the file was executed from? You can identify the path where the PID was executed by running pwdx 44556 and you will get the command executing path as an output.   2: How can you check how long is the system running since the last restart and the load average on it? The uptime command can show you the current time, how long the system has been running since the last restart, how many users are currently logged on to the system, and the system load averages in the resolution of the last 1, 5, and 15 minutes.   3:You want to save the mysql DB “mySQLDB” to a file “mySQLDB.sql”, how can you do it? You can use the mysqldump command to dump a database – mysqldump -u username -p mySQLDB>mySQLDB.sql   4: You want to run a binary file, you have permissions to it, but it gives you “Access Denied”, what do you need to do? In order to run an application in Linux you need to add executable permission to the file: in order to change a file mode, you need to use the chmod with the required parameters – chmod +x .   5: Explain the Zombie process. The Zombie process, also called a defunct process, is one that is already executed and still waiting in the process table. These are the child processes that are waiting for the parent to execute the system wait call. Remember that the zombie processes will not be killed by the kill call. It remains in the process table till the parent explicitly executes that system wait call.   6: What are the differences between Cron and Anacron? Cron is a job scheduled to be executed at a later time in a Linux server. One example could be scheduled backups of log files or databases. Anacron is Cron which is used on a workstation or client which is not expected to be always on or connected to a network. While Cron can be set on minute-basis, Anacron can be set on a day-basis at the minimum level. Any user can set the Cron, but Anacron can be set only by a super user. Since Cron is set on servers that are up all the time, it will be executed at the scheduled time. Anacron does not expect the machine to be set all the time and hence is executed whenever the system is up and available.   7: How can you change your server time zone to a Europe/France time zone? You need to link the file /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Paris to /etc/localtime.   8: How can you check the mail queue of an exim mail server? The exim mail server allows a quick and clean command to view the mail queue – mailq.   9: Using perl, write a command that will print all the IPs, Bcasts and Masks configured on the server line by line. You need to extract the IPs from the ifconfig first, then run on each line and get the required information – ifconfig -a | perl -n -l -e ‘/ addr:([^ ].+)/ and print $1’   10: Explain how kernel modules are signed for secure system boot. For Secure system boot, the Kernel modules will have a private key and public key. The modules are signed with private key and authenticated with public key. The Linux distribution by default includes signed kernels, signed boot loaders, and signed kernel modules. Also, the signed embedded keys allow the Linux distribution to boot, install, and authenticate with secure Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) thereby allowing secure system boot. Linux system administrator needs to be very analytical and be able to effectively troubleshoot and resolve a variety of problems. Read our books HR Interview Questions You’ll Most Likely Be Asked (Third Edition) and Leadership Interview Questions You’ll Most Likely Be Asked to get a comprehensive list of questions to help you crack the HR round of your interview.

The job duties of a PL/SQL developer are very much the same as programmers in non-database environments, but PL/SQL programmers must know more than the PL/SQL language syntax.  A PL/SQL programmer’s job duties may involve Oracle-centric concepts, such as writing triggers, Oracle-stored procedures, and advanced PL/SQL communications with Oracle.   Take help from these top 10 Oracle PL/SQL Interview Questions highly asked in job interviews.   1: Differentiate between Decode and Case. 2: How many rows will the following SQL return? 3: What are the Unnamed exceptions? Explain. 4: What is Collection in Oracle? 5: What are Pseudocolumns? 6: What is an Explicit cursor? 7: What is the use of AUTHID Clause in Create Procedure or Function? 8: What is the difference between Inner Join and Outer Join? 9: How to invoke a Trigger on demand? 10: What is the use of CACHE and NO CACHE while creating a sequence?     1: Differentiate between Decode and Case. Answer:   Decode and Case are two conditional statements used in PL/SQL.   To differentiate both case and Decode:   a) Case can work only with all other conditional operators except ‘=’, while Decode can only work with an equal conditional operator.   b) Case can work with searchable subqueries and predicates, while decode works only with scalar values.   c) A Case statement can be effectively substituted as an If-then-else statement as well as a parameter to any procedure call, but Decode can only be used inside the function.   d) Case and Decode handle Null values differently   e) Case is ANSI compatible while Decode is not.   f) Case cannot handle data type inconsistency.   g) Decode statements are easily readable as compared to Case.     2: How many rows will the following SQL return?     Select * from emp Where rownum < 10; Answer:   A maximum of 9 rows will be returned for the SQL Select * from emp Where rownum < 10. Rownum is the number of a particular row and it increases by one with each row selected. If there is an order by or another where condition or subquery based on which the rows are selected, the rownum applies to the selected number of rows as per the conditions and sequence. So even if the given query actually fetches more than 10 records, only the first 9 records are returned.     3: What are the Unnamed exceptions? Explain. Answer:   Unnamed exceptions are system errors that are not as common as the named exceptions. They have error codes but it might get difficult to remember specific error codes to handle them all. Instead, the ‘When Others’ section of Exception handling is used to handle such unnamed system errors. Or else, if you know the error code, you can create a user-defined exception and handle that with the help of the Pragma Exception_Init.     4: What is Collection in Oracle? Answer:   A collection is a Composite datatype in Oracle that stores multiple values of the same type. Collections can be used to store records from a dataset, strings, dates, etc. A Collection is always stored sequentially or will be ordered. You can access any element of a collection using its index. The main characteristics of a collection are:   a) It is an ordered list b) It contains the same datatypes c) Any element can be accessed using its index or position in the collection.     5: What are Pseudocolumns? Answer:   Pseudocolumns are actually system functions that can be used without arguments and hence they appear just like columns. You can include them in the SELECT statement just like a table column. Some examples of pseudocolumns are:   RowID – gives the unique RowID assigned by Oracle internally RowNum – gives the number of the record or row in the dataset NextVal – returns the next value from a sequence Sysdate – returns the system date     6: What is an Explicit cursor? Answer:   When you explicitly assign the resultset of a select statement into a variable, it is done using an explicit cursor. It is best used when your resultset is sure to contain many records. Otherwise, it will become a burden on the memory. To create an explicit cursor, you can use the Cursor – IS statement. This statement only defines the cursor which has to be explicitly opened, fetched, traversed, and closed.     7: What is the use of AUTHID Clause in Create Procedure or Function? Answer:   The AUTHID clause is added in a Create Procedure or Create Function command to authorize a particular user to execute the same. By default, the user who has created the Procedure or Function is only authorized to execute the same. If you want to authorize other users to execute the Procedure or Function you have created, you have to specify those users’ user id along with the AUTHID option.     8: What is the difference between Inner Join and Outer Join? Answer:   An Inner Join retrieves the records only where the join condition meets. The outer join does not require any join condition to be satisfied. Inner Join has only one type which specifies the related columns to join. Outer Joins can be done in three ways – Left Outer, Right Outer, and Full Outer. Left Outer Join retrieves all records from the first table and the related records in the second table. Right Outer Join retrieves all records from the second table and the related records from the first table. Full Outer Join retrieves all records from both tables irrespective of any relation.     9: How to invoke a Trigger on demand? Answer:   It is not possible to invoke a trigger on demand. They are automatically invoked by the Oracle server whenever the data in a table or view is changed. When we create a trigger, we specify which event is connected to the trigger like before or after insert / update or delete on a specific table, and whether it should be fired for every row or for the entire batch processed. Whenever that particular event happens on the table, the trigger is automatically invoked. Triggers are perfect for maintaining logs / audit data and to check for authorization on specific events on specific tables.     10: What is the use of CACHE and NO CACHE while creating a sequence? Answer:   The CACHE keyword instructs the database to keep the last ‘n’ number of sequential values in the cache memory so that they can be easily retrieved. So CACHE 20 would mean that the last 20 values of the sequence are in the cache memory which would make the job of NEXTVAL very simple. One issue with this option is that in case a memory crash occurs, the sequences that are not being used also will be lost resulting in a gap and inconsistent data. When the system recovers from the crash, Oracle will assign new values in the sequence based on the last committed sequence value in the database. When you specify NO CACHE, the system does not store any value in cache memory. This might make the particular program a little slow but it is definitely more reliable than having a gap if memory crashes.   Appearing for an interview well-prepared to take on any questions that may come can surely elevate your chances of being selected. Our books HR Interview Questions You’ll Most Likely Be Asked (Third Edition) and Leadership Interview Questions You’ll Most Likely Be Asked will guide you through the most likely asked HR questions and their answers to ace your next Oracle PL/SQL interview.   Good Luck!

While preparing for any job interview, we want to put our best foot forward and we make sure we have the technical knowledge that the job may require. We equip ourselves with all the appropriate answers to the technical questions that may come. But we often tend to forget that our soft skills will also be tested through the HR questions round.   Although the HR questions may seem very generic, answering them may not be too easy. These questions usually focus on the factors such as attitude, confidence, behavior and communication skills of the candidate.   In this blog, we have picked 10 HR Interview Questions that are uncommon and yet highly asked in job interviews by the HR. These questions and answers are from the 225 HR interview questions in the book, HR Interview Questions You’ll Most Likely Be Asked     1: Can you describe how you analyzed a workplace problem you have faced, and how your analysis led to the solution? Answer:   The correct answer should provide evidence of the candidate’s analytical skills, and the candidate’s ability to look at an issue from different angles and develop the best solution to a problem.   As an example:   The employer wanted to ramp up production to three shifts per day to meet increased demand for a product without hiring more than five new employees. I found a way to rearrange the existing employees’ schedules without creating significant dissatisfaction. Additionally; I was able to fit the five new employees into the schedule in such a way that they were able to work smoothly together to increase the production.’     2: Describe your creativity. Answer:   Try to keep this answer within the professional realm, but if you have an impressive background in something creative outside of your employment history, don’t be afraid to include it in your answer also. The best answers about creativity will relate problem-solving skills, goal-setting, and finding innovative ways to tackle a project or make a sale in the workplace. However, passions outside of the office are great, too (so long as they don’t cut into your work time or mental space).   As an example:   I participate in a volunteer group outside of work who provides meals for homeless people. The company I worked for was seeking connections to the community and ways for the employees to be involved in something bigger than their specific roles at work, so with permission from the company, I hosted a fundraising event put on by the company where the employees worked a spaghetti dinner to raise funds for the homeless charity. This boosted employee teamwork and comradery and a sense of purpose amongst them.     3: Tell me about a time when you led a team to successfully complete a project. Answer:   The correct answer should describe a situation where the candidate was able to act as a project manager of a project with a team involved. It should explain how the candidate analyzed what needed to be done, how they delegated the members of the team and oversaw the project, and what the outcome was.   As an example:   Last year my management team was assigned the task of finding a way to improve our company’s overall customer service rating. We were having trouble finding and retaining customer service representatives that were responsive to the needs of our customers. Through customer service surveys and close observation of customer service interactions, we were able to identify a number of customer service representatives that were providing outstanding service to our customers. We assigned these people as trainers and mentors for the purpose of motivating the entire staff to provide a high level of service to our customers.     4: Describe the greatest weakness in your leadership style. Answer:   The candidate should answer this question in an honest and open manner. It is hard for some people to admit any weakness, making this question a great indicator of the candidate’s willingness to be transparent. Having a solid answer shows the candidate is self aware, and whatever weakness is shared should be immediately followed by how the candidate works on bettering themselves to overcome said weakness.   As an example:   There are times I am not as observant as I should be. While working on a project earlier this year, I failed to see that an important element of the plan had been done incorrectly. My error caused us to miss an important deadline. I am working very hard to improve my observation skills.     5: When delegating tasks, how do you choose which tasks go to which team members? Answer:   The interviewer is looking to gain insight into your thought process with this question, so be sure to offer thorough reasoning behind your choice. Explain that you delegate tasks based on each individual’s personal strengths, or that you look at how many other projects each person is working on at the time, in order to create the best fit possible.   As an example:   I look at the workload of each staff member and see who is actually available to have more tasks added on. I may rearrange workloads to fit the right person into the right task. For example, if I feel there is someone with a large workload who is best suited for making the spreadsheets I need, I may re-delegate some of their work to another staff member to free up that person’s time to work on the spreadsheets. Additionally if there are members of the team who may not be a good fit for any of the tasks required for the project, I may fit them into a role anyway such as “project assistant” or “reviewer.”     6: Tell me about a time when you met a tough deadline, and how you were able to complete it. Answer:   Explain how you were able to prioritize tasks, or to delegate portions of assignments to other team members, in order to deal with a tough deadline. It may be beneficial to specify why the deadline was tough – make sure it’s clear that it was not a result of procrastination on your part. Finally, explain how you were able to successfully meet the deadline, and what it took to get there in the end.   As an example:   I was placed with the large task of submitting a state report I had never done before, due to my coworkers sudden absence. I researched the topic on my own downtime when I could, reached out to other companies to see how they were completing the project, and I found an online training I could take during business hours. With permission from my boss, I delegated my clerical duties to the department secretary until I was able to finish the state report. I was able to submit it ahead of schedule and it added value to my job and me as an employee, as I was asked to assist with other projects after that, received a great performance review and raise during the subsequent evaluation period.     7: What inspires you? Answer: You may find inspiration in nature, reading success stories, or mastering a difficult task, but it’s important that your inspiration is positively-based and that you’re able to listen and tune into it when it appears. Keep this answer generally based in the professional world, but where applicable, it may stretch a bit into creative exercises in your personal life that, in turn, help you in achieving career objectives. As an example: I am inspired by the success of others. When I see teammates around me succeeding, that motivates me to keep going and succeed in my own role. I enjoy being in a role where I am free to motivate and encourage others. When the team is all positive and working well together and succeeding in the company mission, it makes going to work a lot easier. Alternate response could be I am inspired by books. I read frequently and often find myself able to feel relaxed and at peace when I read. Reading helps me sleep better and wake up refreshed for work. I also find myself feeling more creative at work when I read more, and at times even drawing ideas from certain books I read, and implementing those ideas in to the workplace.     8: What would be the biggest challenge in this position for you? Answer:   Keep this answer positive and remain focused on the opportunities for growth and learning that the position can provide. Be sure that no matter what the challenge is, it’s obvious that you’re ready and enthusiastic to tackle it, and that you have a full awareness of what it will take to get the job done.   As an example:   The biggest challenge of this position would be that I have years of experience in engineering but for a public sector. Moving into the private sector would be an adjustment as there would be different rules and protocols to learn. With that said, I have a solid foundation and knowledge in the field and would be able to fully adjust and settle in to a new position in private sector.     9: When do you think a team can be involved in decision-making? Answer:   A problem which arises at the team level must be discussed by all the team members in order to identify a suitable solution for the problem. The manager’s experiences can be called for if necessary.   As an example:   When the topic of the decision is something that is totally outside of the realm of expertise and experience of any team member and would only confuse the individuals on the team, careful consideration needs to be made as to how to approach the team for input. Misunderstandings may cause confusion. It’s important to include the team if you have all information gathered and presented in a clear manner so an informed decision may be made. It is good to get input from team members for the best outcome so everyone feels they have a say. Ultimately the manager needs to oversee the process and be the final decision maker.     10.Why do you want this position? Answer:   Keep this answer focused positively on aspects of this specific job that will allow you to further your skills, offer new experience, or that will be an opportunity for you to do something that you particularly enjoy. Don’t tell the interviewer that you’ve been looking for a job for a long time, or that the pay is very appealing, or you will appear unmotivated and opportunistic.   As an example:   I want this position because it’s a great opportunity working for a growing company where I can see myself staying for many years. I feel I have reached the highest potential at my current employer and am seeking growth in a stable organization that has a positive mission. Your company is on trend to continue its growth, has great reviews, and many opportunities to work on larger scale projects in my field. I crave creativity and fast paced environments. I believe with your growing company that is constantly taking on new clients, I would be a huge asset and bring many great ideas to the table.   Hope this blog gives you some insight into the more creative and uncommon interview questions asked by the HR and guides you with the approach you can take to answer them.   Good luck with your job hunt!     HR Interview Questions You’ll Most Likely Be Asked is your one stop guide for a collection of many such questions that can be asked during an HR interview and ways to outsmart those questions!             GRAB YOUR COPY NOW  

The world has taken to digitalisation like fish to water. Computers are being relied on for every task and their interconnection has become highly significant. In this course, the persons who are its guardians in turn are very vital to any organization. The people who maintain hardware and software, recover lost data, and protect data software are sought by all the top IT companies. Job roles such as Cloud Administrator, Data Centre Manager, and Senior Network Analyst are up for those skilled in networking. The US Bureau of Labour Statistics reveals as of 2018 the growth rate for Network administrators is at 5% with a median salary of 82,000 USD which makes up a pretty good amount.   Companies having global presence such as Wipro, HCL technologies, and Accenture among numerous others look to appoint network engineers which widen the scope in this field. Being selected for such a post however is no walk in the garden, it requires great skill and aptitude along with confidence while attempting the interview. Being well prepared for the interview is a must.  Listed below are some questions that will help you ace a networking interview:     1) Describe how RAID configurations for hard drives work. RAID is short for Redundant Array of Independent Disks. RAID is a data storage strategy which involves using multiple hard drives. Depending on the RAID configuration, the outcome can be speed and capacity or high availability. The two basic forms of RAID are RAID 0 and RAID 1. With RAID 0, the data is stripped and stored across various drives. When you access data, all drives are at work to provide you with the data so that data can be retrieved faster. With RAID 1, data is mirrored on the various drives. Even if one of the drives fails, the other drive gives you access to the stored data.It is possible to make advanced RAID configurations such as RAID 5, RAID 6, and so on to get the benefits of speed, capacity, and high availability.     2) Describe how the DSL connection type works. DSL, also known as Digital Subscriber Line, is a type of connection that uses the high frequency range in telephone wires to transfer data. The data that DSL sends and receives over the telephone line does not interfere with the voice data. This is because the DSL service provider splits the DSL signals from the voice signals by using a ‘splitter’. This allows one to use the phone to make voice calls and browse the Internet at the same time. One drawback of the DSL connectivity is that the speed of the Internet depends on how far the user is from the service provider’s hub. Typically, the maximum allowed distance from the hub is 18,000 feet (3+ miles).     3) How does a Wi-Fi analyser work? Wi-Fi analysers are available as hardware devices and software. Although the features may vary based on hardware/ software and brand, most Wi-Fi analysers have the following capabilities:   Wi-Fi heatmap – a heatmap of the signal strength in the physical space around the access point. This can help identify dead zones and improve the coverage and strength of the Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi user inventory – view and manage the list of WiFi users on a dashboard. Add, boot out, or change the settings of the users. Connected Devices’ details – view the details of the devices connected to the Wi-Fi, the OS, IP address, signal strength, duration of the connection, data transfer rate Monitor bandwidth usage – monitor the bandwidth usage of devices and limit usage if required and so on.     4) Differentiate IPv4 from IPv6.     5) Differentiate POP3 from IMAP.     6) What are S.M.A.R.T errors? S.M.A.R.T is short for Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology. SMART is a monitoring mechanism included in hard drives. SMART detects the reliability of the drive by periodically performing tests. It then reports the outcomes of the tests as key indicators. This helps users get a sense of the state of the drive and helps anticipate imminent drive failures. If a computer displays a SMART error during bootup the user must consider backing up the data and replacing the hard drive.     7)What are some of the script files? .bat – a script file on DOS, OS/2, and Windows OSes. .ps1 – a script file used to run a sequence of commands on the Windows PowerShell. .vbs – a script file from a Visual Basic application, that contains the source code or program files. .sh – a Shell script file created on Linux OSes and executed on other OSes using third-party tools. .py – a script file written in the Python language to program Web servers and other admin systems. .js – a script file written using the JavaScript language, that contains source code for Web pages and Web apps.     8) What is BitLocker To Go? BitLocker To Go is the BitLocker Drive Encryption that can be used to encrypt data on the removable drives you connect to a computer. To encrypt data on removable drives, you connect a removable drive, turn on BitLocker To Go, specify a password, and specify whether the entire space on the removable drive must be encrypted or the portion that holds data. When new data is added to the drive, BitLocker To Go automatically encrypts it. Encrypting data secures it against unauthorized access.     9) What are HUB, Switch, and Router? The Hub operates in the Physical Layer of a network, allowing hosts to communicate with each other without bothering about what information is being passed on. It is a device that lets hosts connect to each other. When it receives a packet, it broadcasts it to all the hosts connected. The Switch also lets hosts communicate with each other like a Hub, but it ensures that the packet is sent only to the intended hosts. The Switch is more intelligent as it reads the data and determines the hosts. It works at the Data-link layer and makes the network more efficient by saving the bandwidth. The Router works at the Network layer and transmits the data outside the intranet or local network. While the Hub and Switch work within a local network, the Router connects you to the external network.     10) What is DHCP? DHCP or Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol assigns the dynamic IP to a workstation in a network. The server finds out the network address, subnet mask, and gateway using DHCP and assigns a dynamic IP address based on all these and the range of allowed IP addresses in a given network. DHCP renders a reliable dynamic IP address and also helps to maintain a trouble-free TCP/IP network. The centralized assignment of IP address makes it more or less flawless and efficient.       11) List characteristics of PPP. Multilink support for traffic load balance Support for both synchronous and asynchronous links. Looped link detection through the magic number Definition of a header and trailer that allows delivery of a data frame over the link It contains a protocol type field in the header, allowing multiple Layer 3 protocols to pass over the same link Support of CHAP and PAP authentication     12) What are the benefits of using Network Address Translation(NAT)?   The benefits of using Network Address Translation are: As private IP addresses can’t be used over the internet, NAT allows hosts assigned private IP addresses to access the internet by translating their private IP addresses to public IP addresses Lessens the need for additional globally routable address space for internal hosts Increases network security by hiding the company’s internal IP addresses     13) Explain the session layer with a real time example. The session layer is the one which is responsible for making up and ending a connection when a session is created. For example, in messenger like Google Talk, a session is created every time when we open a new window for the chat. In this case, the session layer creates the connection to the Google server and removes the connection when it is not needed.     14) How is Corruption of data prevented? Corruption of data is prevented through Encapsulation. Encapsulation adds control information at each layer. Data at each level is called the Protocol Data Unit (PDU). PDU is different at each layer. Layer 1 PDU is a bit while layer 2 PDU is a frame.     15) Describe about ‘Global’ and ‘Interface’ configuration mode. Global configuration mode: Systems’ configuration can be changed by the users when they are in the ‘global configuration mode’ Represented by ‘(config)#’   Interface configuration mode: Configuration of the interface can be changed by the user when they are in the ‘Interface Configuration Mode’ Represented by ‘(config-in)#’     Get one step closer to your dream job! Subject matter knowledge is not the only requirement to crack a job interview. To successfully ace an interview, you need to qualify for the HR rounds as well. Here, your soft skills such as leadership, adaptability, teamwork, etc. will be tested. Get an all-around preparation for your interview with the HR Interview Questions You’ll Most Likely Be Asked (Third Edition) and Innovative Interview Questions You’ll Most Likely Be Asked. With topics spanning a range of domains, this book will help you anticipate the interview questions most likely to be asked and give a flair to your answers that will leave an impression.  

Operating Systems have revolutionized the world in its entirety and have made computing one of the most simplified tasks. Having an in-depth knowledge of Operating Systems can land you a well-paying job. While the demand for hardware keeps increasing with time, developments in software will be needed hence widening the scope in the study of Operating Systems.   Companies like Microsoft, Google, Samsung, and Blackberry welcome the very best software developers with open arms who are flexible enough to adapt to the latest trends and can compete with the speed of development.   To make a mark in the interview, one needs to understand the interview questions asked and competently answer them.    Below are the most frequently asked top 20 operating systems interview questions & answers:     1) What are the types of multiprocessor computer systems? There are two types of multiprocessor computer systems:Asymmetric multiprocessor computer system – In this multiprocessor computer system, each processor is assigned a specific task Symmetric multiprocessor computer system – In this multiprocessor computer system, each processor can perform all tasks within the operating system     2) What are the advantages and disadvantages of symmetric clustering system?   Advantages: Symmetric clustering system utilizes hardware resources efficiently because all machines are used to run user applications Symmetric clustering system is more cost effective Disadvantages: When a machine takes the additional work of another failed machine, it may cause the machine to fail   3) What are the responsibilities of operating system in file management?   The responsibilities of operating system in file management are: Operating system is responsible for creating and deleting files Operating system is responsible for creating and deleting directories in order to organize files Operating system is responsible for mapping files to secondary storage Operating system is responsible for maintaining back upon secondary storage such as magnetic disk, magnetic tape etc. Operating system is responsible for supporting basic operations in order to manipulate files     4) What are the types of operating system services? There are two types of operating system services: Function-based: This type of operating system services provide functions that which are helpful for users Efficiency-based: This type of operating system services provide functions which ensure efficient operation of a computer system   5) Explain layered approach to design an operating system. In layered approach, the operating system is divided into number of layers or levels. The hardware of the computer represents bottom most layer or level 0 and user interface represents the highest level or level N.     6) What is the main function of microkernel? The microkernel acts as a communication channel between the client and server programs run by the user. When the client wants to access a file or information from the database, the microkernel communicates with the server to take this information from the file-system or database and pass it on to the requesting client.     7) What are the various states of a process? A process may be in any of the following states at any time: New – It is defined as a state where a new process is created Running – It is defined as a state where process is being executed Waiting – It is defined as a state where a process waits for some event to happen such as completion of I/O operation Ready – It is defined as a state where a process is waiting to be allocated to a processor Terminated – It is defined as a state where a process has completed its execution     8) Explain the difference between blocking and non-blocking message passing technique.   Blocking message passing – In blocking message passing, sender is refrained from sending another message until first message is received by receiver or mailbox. Similarly, receiver is refrained from receiving the message until the message is available. Non-blocking message passing – In non-blocking message passing, sending process continuously sends the message. Similarly, receiving process receives either a valid message or a null.     9) Explain Remote Method Invocation (RMI). Remote Method Invocation is a feature of Java which is similar to Remote Procedure Call (RPC) and is used to invoke a method on the remote object. Two objects are called remote if both are present in a different Java virtual Machine (JVM). Therefore, a remote object may reside on the same machine but in a different Java virtual Machine (JVM).     10) What are the types of available thread libraries? The types of available thread libraries are: POSIX Pthreads – Pthreads is a POSIX (Portable Operating System Interface) standard which defines an API (Application Programming Interface) for thread creation and synchronization. It is provided as either user or kernel level library Win32 – It is a kernel level library which is provided for Windows systems Java – Java thread API(Application Programming Interface) is implemented using a thread library on host operating system. Therefore, on Windows systems, it is implemented using Win32 API (Application Programming Interface)     11) What are the disadvantages of a multithreaded server? Even though multithreading is considered to improve processing time, here are some disadvantages to consider: For every request, there’s a time lag to create, manage and terminate a new thread. Once created, it should be tracked consistently so that it can be terminated as soon as the process ends. When more requests come, more threads have to be created which results in larger time lag. Further, every thread takes up some CPU time and system memory, which may get exhausted after a while.     12) What are the components of a thread? The components of a thread are: Thread ID – A thread ID uniquely identifies a thread Register Set – It represents status of the processor Stack – It employs a user stack when it is running in user mode and employs kernel stack when it is running in kernel mode Private storage area – This area is used by run time libraries and dynamic link libraries (DLLs)     13) What are the criteria to compare scheduling algorithms? The criteria to compare scheduling algorithms are: CPU utilization – It measures amount of usage of CPU Throughput – It measures number of process completed in a given amount of time Turnaround time – It measures the time of completion of a process Waiting time – It measures amount of time spent in the ready queue Response time – It measures the time taken to start responding     14) What is the solution of indefinite blocking or starvation of a process?   The priority of processes in waiting can be increased with time. This is called aging. For example, if a low priority process has been waiting for 2 hours, the priority increases by 1 for every 20 minutes of waiting. We can set the interval at which the priority can be increased. Thus, a low-priority process can overcome indefinite blocking through aging.     15) Explain implementation method to evaluate a scheduling algorithm.   In this method, the algorithm is coded in a programming language and it is run on the computer system in order to determine its performance. The advantage of this approach is that it provides an accurate way to measure the performance. The disadvantage is that it is costly because the algorithm needs to be coded and changes to the operating system are required.     16) Explain deadlock avoidance. Deadlocks can be avoided by obtaining additional information about the resources which a process will request and use during its lifetime. For example, in a computer system with only one tape drive and one printer, the operating system may need to know that a process P will first request a printer and then a tape drive and another process Q will first request a tape drive and then printer before releasing both the resources. Using this information, operating system considers available resources, resources which are already allocated to processes and then decides for each request whether a process should wait or not in order to avoid a deadlock.     17) When can address binding be performed? Address binding can be performed at: Compile time – If the location where the process will reside in main memory is known at compile time then address binding is performed at compile time and compiler generates the executable code containing absolute addresses Load time – If the location where the process will reside in main memory is not known at compile time then address binding is performed at load time and compiler generates the resulting code containing re-locatable addresses Execution time – If the process can be moved from one memory segment to another during its execution then address binding is performed at execution time     18) Explain some of the core features of Windows 10. The Windows 10 OS comes with some outstanding features that support the following: The personal voice-controlled assistant Cortana DirectX 12 The latest windows browser Microsoft Edge Biometric authentication Support for Virtual Desktop Better Command Prompt     19) Explain the classes of IP addresses. IP addresses are classified into five categories: Class A that corresponds to the range 0 – 126 Class B that corresponds to the range 128 – 191 Class C that corresponds to the range 192 – 223 Class D that corresponds to the range 224 – 239 Class E that corresponds to the range 240 – 255   You may have noticed that 127 is missing in the classification. It is reserved for the local host. Class D is reserved for the multicast groups and Class E is reserved for R&D purposes and future use.     20) Differentiate between Mac OS X and Windows. Windows 10 and Mac OS X have been often compared. Though they both enjoy their own spaces, here are some marked differences many users have observed:   Cortana Vs Siri – Windows’ Cortana is more preferred over Apple’s Siri because it is easier to use and offers more details. For Android users too, Cortana would offer more relevant information. Writing Vs Typing – Windows is offering a stylus to write (as in the traditional writing) which adds zing to your boring typing in Apple. Utility Apps – Windows come with many interesting utilities and apps such as sticky notes which are used regularly by the users in the real world to the desktop. It also lets you add the sticky note to your calendar. Games – It’s no news that there are more games available for Windows than Mac! The new Game Mode in Windows 10 makes your gaming experience much smoother.   To ace the interview, understanding the ideology behind questions is important and that knowledge can be imparted with the help of books, which guide you thoroughly over the type of questions to be posed in front of you in an interview for such a job.   Reading the complete book for in-depth guidance can help you emerge victorious in your interview!

Having command over a language bolsters up the efficiency of a person, but as a programmer, being learned in the language is everything and Python forms one of the most crucial programming languages. As a web developer or app developer being versed in Python brings you in contention to apply at NASA, CERN, Wikipedia, and Yahoo among top companies that prefer Python. These companies require constant upgrades to their websites and applications which makes them always on the lookout for young geniuses in Python, hence widening your scope largely while you search for a job.   Although learning does bring you closer to the job, holding the appointment letter calls for a successful interview by having apt answers to all questions. These companies recruit only the best and to be one of them knowing their questions becomes of utmost importance.   While vying for such competitive jobs, being prepped with questions for the interview gives you the upper hand. Listed below are some questions that will help you prepare for the interview:     1) How are Python blocks defined?   Python blocks are defined by indents or tabs. This is different from most other languages which use symbols to define blocks. Indents in Python are significant.     2) What constitutes ‚True‛ in Python?   A true expression is any expression that does not evaluate to 0, the empty list [], tuple (), dictionary {} or the objects None or False.     3) When comparing two dates, what method is used?   Date.toordinal()   Otherwise, Python would compare the dates by their object address.     4) When are dictionaries considered equal?   Dictionaries are considered equal if and only if their sorted lists compare equally.     5) Explain sets and frozensets in Python.   Python allows two types of sets – set and frozenset. Generally a Set is a collection of static values which is unordered. But in Python, a normal set is mutable, meaning you can add or remove the elements. It can be considered just like a dictionary with no hash value. But a frozenset is an immutable set which has hash value which remains static once created. A set cannot be an element of another list or a dictionary. A frozenset can be an element of another list and also a dictionary.     6) Can you update a Tuple? Explain.   No, you cannot update a Tuple as tuples are immutable. Lists can be updated since they are mutable. So if you want to use an updatable collection, the best option is to use a list instead of a Tuple. With a Tuple, you will have to create a new Tuple and get rid of the earlier one which may have some consequences on your program performance. Moreover, if your data keeps changing, it will not be desirable to use a Tuple at all. They are best to store static data.     7) How is the buffer size specified in file opening?   It is an optional parameter to the open function. A 0 indicates the file is unbuffered and 1 indicates line by line buffering. Any other positive number is the actual buffer size to be allocated.     8) How are threads synchronized, to prevent race and deadlock conditions?   This is achieved using the .Lock() method of the threading module to create a lock object, then using .acquire() and .release() on that lock.     9) What is the Queue module and when is it used?   The Queue module is a device to handle multithreaded prioritized queue of processing tasks. It is useful when there are a number of incoming requests, with different priorities that need to be allocated processing resources.     10) What is the shelve module, and how is it different from pickle?   Shelving an object is a higher level operation than pickle, in that the shelve module provides its own open method, and pickles objects behind the scene. Shelve also allows storage of more complex Python objects.     11) How are databases and tables created in MySQL from Python?   Databases and tables are created using a database connection and cursor to execute the appropriate CREATE DATABASE and CREATE TABLE SQL commands.     12) Illustrate retrieving cookies from a URL.     Import urllib2 Import cookielib myJar= cookielib.LWPCookieJar() myOpener = urllib2.build_opener( urllib2.HTTPCookieProcessor(myJar)) urllib2.install_opener(myOpener) myRequest =urllib2. Request(‚http://www.example.org/‛) myHTML = urllib2.urlopen(myRequest) for cookie in enumerate(myJar) print cookie     13) Illustrate opening an xml document.     fromxml.dom import minidom myTree = minidom.parse(‘myXML.xml’) printmyTree.toxml()     14) What exception is raised when a negative index is used to access a list?   Tricky question: Negative indexes are allowed in Python, it accesses the list from the bottom rather than the top. An index of -1 accesses the last item in the list, -2 the second to last and so on.     15) What does a zip () function do?   The zip () function renders a tuple out of two lists passed as parameters to the function. If you have two lists listA and listB with different values, the zip function will create a tuple using the corresponding values of each list in the same index. The following example will explain it:     listA = *‘A1’, ‘A2’, ‘A3’+ listB = [1, 2, 3, 4] zip (listA, listB)     This would result in a Tuple – *(‘A1’, 1), (‘A2’, 2), (‘A3’, 3)+ The zip () function will end creating tuples after the last element in the first list.   Referring to all questions in the book, will increase your subject prowess, boost your confidence, and impress the interviewer.   Wish you good luck!  

With modern programming languages like Java, Python, and PHP being used for most applications, C/C++ programming languages sound outdated.   But being outdated doesn’t mean it is not important!   C/C++ forms the basis of other languages and learning them is a prerequisite for understanding and efficiently coding in any other modern programming language. Remember, the interpreters and compilers of modern programming languages are written in C/C++.   C tackles all types of system software while C++ facilitates real-time simulation hence creating huge demand for them in areas such as game development or for quick access to codes to improve application efficiency as these codes work closely with the performance of the hardware.   Companies such as Gameloft, Accenture, Wipro are always on the lookout for skilled enthusiasts in C/C++ and provide for attractive job conditions.   No matter which programming language is used for developing applications, Interviewers always ask questions on C/C++ Programming as they want to hire the most knowledgeable and updated candidates who are well-versed with the latest changes and trends in programming languages. The questions may come from a wide range of topics like complex functions, data models, arrays, and general logic-based questions, and at times they can be very tricky too.   So how do you know what kind of questions to prepare for?   Below are some questions interviewers may ask during an interview.     1) What are Bit Fields? Bit fields in C let the programmer specify the actual data size allowed for the particular member. Even if an unsigned int type is declared, the memory allocated is 4 bytes irrespective of whether or not the data will occupy that much space in memory. Bit fields let you specify the maximum size to be allocated in the memory which optimizes the program. The bit fields also can be used to force alignment of memory allocated. Bit fields cannot be assigned to pointers. It can be used to implement a boundary to the value assigned during the runtime.     2) What is a nested structure? A structure declaration can contain a structure along with other data types, and this is called nesting structures. There are two ways this can be achieved. One is to put the structure declaration inside another structure declaration along with other data types. The second is to first declare the structure that is going to be embedded and then simply declare the already created structure inside the newly created structure along with other data types.     3) Explain the output of the following program.   void main () {    struct student    {          int roll_No= 06123;          char student_name = ‘Xyz’;          char section = ‚A‛ ;    }; }   The above program will give a compilation error since inside a structure or class declaration the variables can’t be initialized. Only through structure variables can the members of a structure be initialized.     4) What is function overloading in C++ and how does it differ from function overriding?   When more than one function in a module has the same name but they differ in their signature, then it is called function overloading. The Signature of a function includes type of arguments passed to a function as well as number of arguments passed. In C++, return type of a function can’t be considered as a way to implement function overloading in a program, but in C it is possible. Function overriding is seen in inheritance, when two classes are defined and one is inherited from the other and both carry the same function name including same signature and return type. The logic implemented inside those functions may vary, though it is not mandatory.     5) Write a program to print the Fibonacci series using recursive function. The program prints the first 15 numbers in the Fibonacci series.     #include <stdio.h> int fnFibonacci(int num) {   if(num == 0) return 0;    if(num == 1) return 1;    return fnFibonacci(num-1) + fnFibonacci(num-2); } int main() {    for (int num = 0; num < 15; num++) {          printf(“%d\n”, fnFibonacci(num));    }    return 0; }     6) What are the advantages and disadvantages of using recursion? An advantage of using recursion is the simplicity. The complex coding using iterative statements can be solved in a simple way using recursion.   The disadvantage of using recursion is that every time it is required to save the return address, function parameters, etc., are in the stack for each function call.     7) Explain Multiple Indirection in C++. Having a pointer to a pointer in C++ is possible. This is called Multiple Indirection. Normally a pointer contains the address of the variable that it points to. But in Multiple Indirection, one pointer contains the address of another pointer that contains the address of the variable. Even though, multiple indirection can be implemented upto any levels, a pointer to pointer is enough to handle most of the situations. When you have multiple levels of multiple indirections it becomes very difficult to track. A pointer to a pointer must be declared as <datatype> **<pointername>. When you declare a pointer to a pointer as int **pptr, it means that pptr is a pointer to an int pointer rather than pointer to an int.     8) Why do we need templates in C++? Templates in C++ can be used for many important purposes. Since they are generic functions, they can be used to create type-safe stacks. Templates reduce the code. Since Templates can handle all data types, you can create any type of collection class using a Template. They are also used to implement smart pointers to hide the operator overriding techniques. Templates being classes, encapsulate the operator overriding details. You can also implements extra type-checking with templates. Even though these functionalities can be implemented in many other ways also, Templates are much preferred as it is a write-once-work-with-all-datatypes method. They are easier to understand and help encapsulation. Since the compiler can determine the data type during compile time, Templates are more typesafe.     9) What is the role of linker in C? After the compiler produces files containing machine understandable object code, the linker takes those object files along with predefined library functions used in the program and produces the final executable file. Now the executable file can be executed using loader.     10) What is a register variable and when it can be used? A register variable is a special type of variable where memory is allocated in the CPU registers. It can be declared by using the keyword ‘register’.   The advantage of declaring a register for a frequently employed variable is to speed up the execution of the program. The number of register variables in a program is limited. When compiler cannot allocate a register variable due to limited availability of CPU registers, then the variable is allocated as auto variable.     11) What is the difference between the way variables are defined in C and C++?   It is compulsory that local variables have to be defined at the start of a block or a function or a program in C, where as in C++, the local variables can be defined at any point inside a block or a function giving the flexibility to the programmer to declare and use the variable at any point.     12) Why are variables declared? Declaring a variable serves two main purposes: During declaration of a variable the type of data the variable is going to hold is known to the compiler A name is associated to the variable so that variable can be easily accessed using this name     13) What is operator precedence? Operator precedence defines the order operators are used in an expression, and it follows typical algebraic precedence. For example, the expression ‘a+b*c’ is evaluated as ‘a+(b*c)’ according to the operator precedence rule (since multiplication takes precedence over addition).     14) What is the difference between exit() and abort() functions in C?   The exit() function systematically exits the program after closing all the open files, flushing the buffer clear, removing any temporary files and also returns an exit status whether or not the exit was successful. When you call an exit() function, it performs any instructions specified in the at exit() function. The exit() is an elegant way of exiting the program. The abort() abruptly ends the program. It does not bother to close the open files or delete the temporary files created by the program. It will not perform the instructions given in the at exit() function. In fact, it will just abort the program. The only way to handle an abort() is to include a SIGABRT signal handler.     15) What is the use of heap in C program? Heap refers to a memory area where variables created dynamically are stored. Generally, a pointer is declared to track the dynamic memory location of a variable. Apart from these, global and static variables are also created in the heap area of main memory.     16) What is a constructor and what is its primary function? A constructor is a special type of method that can be defined inside a class and this is the first method to be called while an object is created for a class. It is of two types, default constructor and parameterized constructor.   The primary function of a constructor is to initialize the data members when an object of a class is instantiated. If arguments are passed to the constructor, then it is called a parameterized constructor. If the constructor doesn’t take any parameters, then it is called a default constructor. Also, another type of constructor is the dummy constructor, which is not defined inside the class. It is the responsibility of the complier to call a dummy constructor.     17) What is Multiple inheritance and how does it differ from Hierarchical inheritance?   Multiple inheritance is a form of inheritance where a child class is derived from more than one base class; for example a child class can have more than one parent class. But in case of Hierarchical inheritance, more than one child class is derived from a single parent class. Therefore Multiple and Hierarchical are the two opposite forms of inheritance.     18) When do static members can come in handy while coding in C++?   When the programmer wants to keep track of a variable for all the objects of a class (like calculating how many objects are still alive or how many total objects have been created so far), it is accomplished by implementing static members for a class.     19) What is dynamic object in C++? Like dynamic memory allocation for data variables at run time, a class can also be initialized or instantiated at run time by using the ‘new’ operator and those objects are called ‘dynamic objects’. Like dynamic memory allocation for normal data variables, dynamic objects also allocate memory from heap.     20) What is constructor overloading in C++? A class can have a member function whose name matches the name of the class itself, and that member function is called constructor. A class can have more than one such function that differs only in terms of their signature, i.e. types of arguments accepted by those functions or number of arguments being accepted by them or both.   Always remember the more questions you solve in practice, the better will be your chances for clearing the interview. These interview questions are sure to fill you with confidence to help you land your dream job!    All the best!

According to Burning Glass, occupations that leverage the Cloud are expected to rise by 14.7% in the next 10 years. Candidates aspiring for cloud computing jobs need to have the right skills and knowledge to prove they can seamlessly implement and maintain a cloud environment in their organization.   Following are some of the job roles that demand Cloud Computing skills: Software Developer/Engineer Computer Systems Engineer/Architect Network Engineer/Architect Cyber/Information Security Engineer/Analyst Web Developer Database Architect Data Engineer Network/Systems Administrator Business Intelligence Architect/Developer   If you dream of being in any of the above secure and high-paid job roles, you need to be well-prepared before you go for the job interview.    Here are 15 Important Cloud Computing Interview questions & their answers for your reference:     1) What are the six major benefits of Cloud Computing? You get access to a big range of applications without having to actually own them Advantage of mobility – Excess anything, anywhere Cost efficient Effective resource sharing Pay for what you use, rather than paying for what you own On-demand scalability at any instance     2) What are the disadvantages of using public Internet for Cloud Computing?   Lack of end-to-end QOS (quality of service) Service-level agreements (SLAs) are difficult to reach Latency problems are widespread Downtime is out of your control     3) What factors determine the amount of bandwidth required by a Cloud?   The Internet bandwidth between the cloud and your organization The round-trip time between the cloud and your organization The actual response time of the cloud     4) What factors can be used to valuate a SaaS setup? The following factors are important as applied to SaaS: Time to value Trial period – How long is the trial period of the service? Low entry costs Offered Service – What is the level of service required? Total Investment – How much investment is required in your choice of Cloud? Security – How secure is your data? Reduced Capital Expense – How much you save when you switch to another service     5) What are some advantages of Software Plus Services in SaaS?   The software associated with Software Plus Services is usually smaller and sleeker than a full-scale deployment. The deployment model comes in handy when the cloud is down or the cloud vendor has technical problems he needs to fix. Software plus Services periodically checks and updates the local software with current information.     6) What are the critical network variables that must be considered to choose a Cloud Service Provider?   Some network variables important in the selection of a Cloud Service Provider include: Connection speed Lag time – General network latency Deployment latency – Lag time faced during a fresh cloud deployment Datastore delete time – How quickly data is deleted from the cloud Datastore read time – Speed at which data is read from the data store     7) What is an IPS? An IPS or Intrusion Prevention System is a device or software that analyzes the network traffic to the Cloud, to detect and prevent malicious activities or security policy violations. An IPS is placed in the direct communication path between end users of the Cloud and the Cloud to actively analyze and take automated actions on all traffic to and from the Cloud. An IPS typically sends alarms to the administrative team, dropping malicious traffic, blocks traffic from the malicious sources, and terminates the malicious connections.     8) What is SAML? SAML is short for Security Assertion Markup Language. SAML is a widely used standard where Service Providers (SP) receive authorization credentials from Cloud Identity Providers (CIdPs). SAML enables Single-Sign On (SSO), which means, once you have logged in the first time SAML uses the same credentials to automatically log in and access multiple portals/resources on the Cloud. SAML uses Extensible Markup Language or XML for communication between the identity provider and service providers. SAML is the link between the authentication of a user’s identity and the authorization to use a service.     9) When should a service provider go for a Hybrid Cloud? Service providers going for private clouds as well as public clouds may consider a hybrid cloud. Rendering services of another cloud for their public cloud may seem like a good idea if they want to adopt a fail-safe strategy and maintain both clouds.     10) Describe the APEX platform. Apex is a development platform that is meant for creating SaaS applications that can serve as an add-on to Salesforce.com’s CRM (Customer Relationship Management) functionality. Developers can actually go ahead and create SaaS applications by using Salesforce.com’s client-server interface and its back-end database.     11) In the context of Cloud Computing, what is a CDN? A Content Delivery Network, or CDN is made of a geographically distributed group of servers that deliver content quickly to users. CDN providers mirror the content on the servers and place them strategically around the globe. The servers in the CDN setup are called edge servers because they are at the edge of the CDN Cloud. Users’ requests for content originating from all over the world are algorithmically directed to the servers that are optimal. Optimality is determined by either fewest network hops to reach the origin server, the least number of network seconds from the origin server, or the degree of availability of the servers. CDNs can improve the user experience by quickly transferring HTML pages, JavaScript files, stylesheets, images, and videos. Benefits for the CDN provide include, reduced bandwidth costs, improved page load times, and increased global availability of the content.     12) What are the different deployment models that can be used to run a Cloud database? Virtual Machine Image – In this variation, users can buy virtual machine instances for a certain period of time. The database can then be run on these virtual machines by the user. Database as a Service – Rather than offering virtual machines, some providers offer readymade databases. The databases are installed and maintained by the providers.     13) What is the difference between Cloud’ and ‘Hosted’ services? The major difference between these entities is the mode of billing. In a hosted service, a fixed rate is paid for the used services whereas in the case of cloud services, you pay according to usage. A good example of a hosted service is buying a domain. You pay a fixed price for the domain regardless of the usage. On the other hand, a good example of a Cloud service is Google Apps where you pay per usage.     14) When should one opt for a private cloud? You should go for a private cloud if you need to: test and develop application code have SaaS applications from a vendor with security concerns go for scalability do a collaboration project develop software using PaaS     15) What is a Cloud Bridge? Cloud Bridge is the act of running an application in order to integrate it with multiple Cloud environments. The multiple Cloud environments can be public, private, or hybrid clouds. For more tips on how to ace other aspects of your interview, do check out our book HR Interview Questions You’ll Most Likely Be Asked (Third Edition).

Being ‘Tech-savvy’ was something that just sounded cool once, but now has become the need of the hour. This environment now claims giant leaps in the development of technology, and to cater to this need, mastery of Data Structures & Algorithms becomes highly significant. Leading companies such as Amazon, Flipkart, Google, and Facebook need software developers skilled in efficient coding and that’s where Algorithms take command. With e-commerce picking up pace, the roles of software developers skilled in programming increase manifold.   Six-figure salary packages await those with proficiency in this skill. However, this reward comes by bagging the job which a large number of aspirants aim for and to emerge better than the best while at the interview their questions need to be understood with proper clarity.   With eyes on the coveted job position, backing yourself up with the plethora of possible questions becomes vital. And stocking up this armory can be done with the guidance of our book, HR Interview Questions You’ll Most Likely Be sked, which can prepare you out for the pathway to success with over 200 well researched questions for guidance!   Here are the Top 20 Data Structures & Algorithms Interview Questions from the book for your reference:     1) What are the different types of Data Structures? Data Structures can be categorized in many ways, though broadly, they can be categorized as Linear and Non-linear data structures. Linear data structures are those that are sequential, like lists, arrays, stacks and queues. They are stored and can be accessed sequentially. Non-Linear data structures are objects or information that is not stored in an order. Graphs and trees are best example of non-linear data structures. While sequential data is easier to manage, non-linear data is not so easy. But many real-time solutions require non-linear data structures to be implemented such as hierarchical data, geographical positioning and games.     2) What is an iterator? An iterator is a variable or object used to traverse through a list or an array. While some programming languages such as Java contain an iterator object, in other languages, a pointer is used instead. An iterator has 2 basic functions – to reference an element of the array at the given position and to move to the next position as required by the program. Iterators can be implicit or explicit. Implicit iterators are when the program traverses the array for each element in the array without worrying about the index or position. Explicit iterator uses the position or index of the array to point to a particular element and has to be directed to the next element.     3) Write the basic algorithm to implement the push function for a stack.   The Push operation is used to insert an element on to the top of a stack. To insert an element into a stack, first the current last position has to be checked for overflow. If the maximum size allowed for the stack has run out, you have to exit the program. If otherwise, find the last element’s address and increment the pointer to move to the next position and insert the element there. Now this position will be considered as the top of the stack. To insert the next element or for the next push, the same steps are repeated.     4) Explain three practical applications of Stacks in software. Stacks are extensively used for memory management. If you take most of the programming languages and platforms, memory management depends on stacks. That’s one reason you may have come across Stack Overflow error in Java and C. Most of the programs use stacks for managing the function call, parameters and other programming requirements. If your program requires some kind of backtracking to be done, you can implement stacks for the same. The undo / redo option available in MS Office is one example for stack implementation. Syntax parsing and expression evaluation also uses the stack implementation. Even compilers use the stack implementation to parse the code. The concept of stack is so basic and simple that it is used in many places in real-time implementation of various software and business logics.     5) Explain how to implement a queue using an array. Every queue has a head and a tail. The head is the first element of the queue from where elements have to be popped out. Tail is the last element of the queue where elements can be pushed We can easily implement a queue using an array. In an empty queue, the head and tail will be the same element. As new elements are inserted into the queue, the tail is pushed to the next space available, to store more values and to denote the last element. As elements are popped out, the head is pushed to the next address to denote that the first element is released and the next element is the current first element.     6) List out the disadvantages of linked lists. While Linked lists allow dynamic implementation of arrays, they also come with many disadvantages. One main disadvantage is that linked lists take up additional memory since it stores the address to the next node or the pointer to the next node. Another issue with a linked list is that, none of the elements can be randomly accessed. It has to be sequentially accessed by traversing through each node to get the address of the next node. When it comes to singly linked list, there’s no way you can move to the previous node or element.     7) What are the common uses of hash tables? Hash tables store data in key-value pairs and are indexed. Indexing makes searches faster and hence, hash tables are used when there’s a large volume of key-value pairs to be stored which has to be easier to search. Hash tables also lets you work around the four basic functions of collections – put, which works with a set of key, value pair and get, contains and remove that works with a key. Caching is a common usage that implements hash tables in the real time. Sometimes hash tables also let you store relational data without disturbing the original objects.     8) What are the problems with hash tables? Even though hash tables are considered good for implementing caching, hash tables take a lot of time performing the hash functions. Since the data stored in the slots are distributed randomly in the memory, it takes up more time in allocation and seeking information. First the index has to be searched for the next address and then the data in the address is accessed. Hash functions are quite complex and prone to errors. Since there are many hash functions used along with each hash table, it can be quite difficult to manage the hash functions. Moreover, a poorly written hash function can result in unwarranted collisions which affect the program performance adversely.     9) Explain a Spanning Tree. A spanning tree is related to a network graph where every node appears at least once in the tree. Even though the minimum spanning tree or MST does not assure the shortest distance between 2 nodes, it assures that the total weight of the tree remains minimal. It is organized such that the total weight between the nodes remains minimal throughout the tree. A spanning tree, especially the MST can be used to implement the best network graph for a computer network, telecommunications, transportation and electrical grids.     10) How do you find the height of a node in a tree? The height of a node in a tree is the length of the longest path from it to its outermost leaf. To find the height x of a node in the tree t, a recursive function height is used which finds the distance from x to its last leaf in the subtree and 1 is added to it. So it is height (x) = 1 + height(x, t). If x is a leaf, then its height is 0. Otherwise, for each node in tree t that comes after x, a counter is incremented which counts the height till x becomes the leaf.     11) Explain the Bit Vector representation of sets. Sometimes the information required to be stored is only like a flag value or bit values 0 or 1, like the Boolean true or false. In such cases, a BitArray or Bit Vector representation is used which requires very little storage compared to any other data type. If the requirement is for a set that contains information on whether the particular student is above 18 years or not, a bit array representation will be the better choice. A bit array with values {0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0} means that out of 7 students, the 1st record corresponds to a student who is not yet 18 years old. The second student is also aged less than 18 years. The 3rd and 5th students are 18 or above and the rest of them are less than 18 years old.     12) What do you mean by cost of a graph? The cost of a graph determines the cost involved in terms of the distance travelled or time taken to traverse through the graph Depth First or Breadth First. When a vertex is connected to another through an edge, the path will carry a cost for traversal which can be measured in terms of speed, distance, time or any other ‘weight’ as relevant to the graph representation. For example, when you have a network of computers, the time for response might be the weight or the amount of information transferred can be another weightage. But in the case of a location map, the distance covered or the time taken to reach might be the weightage. The cost of a graph is basically that total weightage to traverse through the graph by DSF or BSF.     13) Explain Divide-and-Conquer Algorithm. In the Divide and Conquer algorithm, the entire problem is divided into smaller, reusable processes or procedures. These procedures or smaller chunks of processes are repeatedly used to solve the problem. Finally, the processes and iterations are combined appropriately to arrive at the desired solution. Recursion and iterative function calling are the usual methods adopted in this algorithm. The search and sort algorithms are best examples of implementations of divide and conquer algorithms.     14) Explain the algorithm for generating a random password of fixed length.   Create a function which generates the password. The function will take in the length of the password. Inside the function, declare and assign a string, say strChars, with all possible alpha-numeric characters that can be a part of the password. Typically password contains the alphabets in small and capital letters and all digits. Store the length of the string into another variable say lenStrChars Have another empty string variable strRandPWD to store the randomly created password Start a loop that runs through the length of password required (as passed to the function from main) Within the loop, take random characters from the string strChars (the string with all possible values) and push it into the desired password string strRandPWD. Take rand() % lenStrChars to make sure the array index stays below lenStrChars or the length of the string. Once out of the loop, return strRandPWD The main function will call this function with the number of digits’ password it wants to generate.     15) How do you check for stability in sorting algorithms? Any sorting algorithm can be made stable by making sure that the equal keys are coming in the same order as before sorting. While checking for the stability in the sorting algorithm being used, multiple conditions are checked that includes its keys before and after sorting. If you have a set of elements that are identical but appear more than once in a list, if their order is maintained after the sort is completed, it is said to be a stable sorting algorithm.     16) Explain the algorithm for binary search. Binary search involves searching in a sorted array. The value to be searched is checked against the middle-most item of the array. If the middle element is equal to the search element, the element is found. Otherwise, if the element is less than the middle element, only the first half of the array is searched for. If the element is greater than the middle element, only the second half is searched. The steps are repeated until the entire array has been searched.     17) Explain why a Binary search is better than a Ternary search A Binary search involves splitting the array into half and searching each half separately. A ternary search involves splitting the array into 3 parts and searching each separately. So when a binary search will involve 2 searches in each level, the ternary will involve 3 searches in each level. Technically, a binary search takes log2 (x) + O(1) comparisons to complete whereas a ternary search involves 2log3 (x) + O(1) comparisons. This means that a ternary search will require more comparisons to search than a binary search and hence, binary search is a better option.     18) Explain Huffman Template Algorithm. In Huffman coding, the frequencies are usually used as weights to encode the symbols or data. In Huffman Template Algorithm, we can use any weight or combination of weights that forms the basis of sorting. Weight can be cost, occurrence, or any other weight which can even be non-numerical. The only requirement is that the symbol needs to be weighted. Such implementations tend to solve some minimization problems that usually comes up during encoding.     19) What are the applications of Huffman Coding? Huffman coding is used for coding and decoding information. Arithmetic coding is a standard implementation of Huffman coding. Arithmetic coding, in fact, is a better implementation since it includes alphabets and numbers for coding as against the binary coding implemented by Huffman coding. Huffman coding is used as a backend to widely used encoding methods. Multimedia codecs such as MP3s and JPEGs use Huffman coding along with other methods.     20) How will you search in an almost sorted array? When we need to search in an almost sorted array, it means that the array is more or less sorted, except for a few elements here and there. So we can start searching for the key from the middle as usual. The only difference being, we search for the 3 middle numbers first and then decide on whether to continue with a binary search for left array or right array. The advantage of doing this is that, when we consider 3 elements in the middle, we get an idea of how well-sorted the array is. Sometimes the key to be searched is in the middle, or the very next elements before or after it, and the search ends with single pass. Otherwise, if the key is less than mid value, search the left subarray or else, search the right subarray with the same steps.   With a plethora of applications lying in front of the recruiters for any open position, standing out amongst the rest is the key to land into your dream job and that is where the need to refer to Interview Q/A books arise.     Get one step closer to your dream job!   Prepare for your programming interview with our book HR Interview Questions You’ll Most Likely Be Asked (Third Edition). This book has a comprehensive list of questions to help you crack your interview, no matter what field you’re applying to.

Introduction This tutorial will help you to understand the basics of Core Java. The content has been designed to keep students in mind. A separate link is provided for each basic Core Java sub-topic. We highly recommend you to take the quizzes at the end of the tutorial to assess your understanding of the subject.Followed by the quiz are the Top 10 Core Java Interview Questions You’ll Most Likely Be Asked to ensure your readiness for an Interview. These questions will help you get an idea of the most common questions that interviewers ask and the answers you’re expected to give. Follow the below links to access the tutorial of each topic:       Tutorial: Flow Control and Assertion Wrapper Classes, Garbage Collection, and Exception Handling Threads Object Oriented Programming Concepts Declarations and Access Controls Java Assignments Java Operators Inner Classes and String Handling Streams Collections     Quiz: Take these Java quizzes to assess your understanding of the subject. Quiz 1 Quiz 2       Top 10 Core Java Interview Questions: These Interview Questions are answered in a crisp and concise way requiring minimum time to understand the most important concepts in CORE JAVA. The Questions and Answers have been crafted by professionals around the globe with years of industry experience and are on quite a few interview panels.       1) What is an assertion in Java? How is it different from if - else conditions?   An assertion is a Boolean expression that is assumed by the programme. If true it executes the next statement and if false, the program throws an exception and ends. If–else conditions are different from assertions— if the if condition is false then the else part takes over, but in the case of an assertion if the assert expression is false, the program ends up throwing an error but will execute the second expression in the assert statement.     Example:     {   int var = 0;   System.out.println(“Enter a value bigger than 20 : ”);   var = in.nextLine();   assert var / 2 >5 : System.out.println(“Please try again and enter the   correct value”); System.out.println(“Good Choice!”);   }     Case 1: Enter a value bigger than 20: 10 Exception in thread “main” java.lang.AssertionError: Please try again and enter the correct value     Case 2: Enter a value bigger than 20: 30 Good Choice!     When Case 1 executes, the output will be – Exception in thread “main” java.lang.AssertionError: Please try again and enter the correct value. Case 2 will not throw any exception as the assumption or assertion is true and hence the next line in program will execute and the output is Good Choice!       2) What is a Wrapper class in Java? What are the special properties of Wrapper class objects?​   Java is completely Object-oriented programming. So, everything in Java should correspond to an object. But the primitives in Java are not objects. So, the wrapper classes convert Java Primitives to corresponding objects so that they can be utilized in the programs. Each primitive has a corresponding wrapper class and you can create an object of that type. In the same way, you can convert a wrapper object to the primitive type too. If you have an integer variable in Java, you can convert it into an Integer object using a wrapper class. Similarly, you can convert an Integer object to an int primitive type also. All wrapper objects are final. So, you cannot extend the wrapper classes.       3) What are the different types of Thread? Explain? Threads are of 2 types – Daemon Threads and Non-Daemon Threads.   All user-defined threads are Non-Daemon Threads unless they are explicitly set to be a Daemon thread. Daemon threads are usually used for background processes such as Garbage Collection. As soon as all Non-Daemon threads stop running, the JVM stops running and does not wait for the Daemon threads to stop.       4) What is an Object in software and what are the benefits of Objects?​   Software objects consist of state and their behavior. State of an object is stored in its fields and the behavior is exposed through the methods. Object-oriented programming helps to hide the internal characteristics of an object and this is called encapsulation. The main advantages of Objects are:   Independent: An Object’s definition can be kept separate from other objects and passed on to other programs. Encapsulation: The object’s fields and characteristics are hidden from the outer world. The only way to access the object’s characteristics are through the methods they provide. So the programmer can decide what to hide and what to expose. Reuse Code: Existing objects can be reused in many programs by creating an instance of extending its functionality. Easy to debug: Problematic objects can be traced out and debugged easily without affecting or touching any other portion of the code.       5) What is the benefit of declaring a class as final? By declaring a class as final, we ensure that the class is secured thereby no one can change its existing implementation. Also, the final class is thread-safe thereby restricting interaction between multiple threads.   Example:     final class MyClass {}     By making the class ‘MyClass’ as final, it is not possible for us to extend this class and use its implementation.Also, inter-thread communication is not possible when we declare the class as final.       6) Give an example for implicit cast? The below line of code is an example for implicit cast:     int iValue = 250;   long lValue = iValue;     The above code explains that an int value can always be assigned to a long variable without casting and the conversion happens by default.       7) State the use of instance of operator. Give an example? The use of instanceof operator is to check if an object belongs to a particular type. So, it is used only with object reference variables.   Example:       String name = “This is Java”;   if (name instanceof String)   {     System.out.println(name);   }     The above code checks if the variable ‘name’ is of type String. Since the condition is true, it will print the result “This is Java” when you execute the above code.       8) Explain about anonymous inner class? The anonymous inner class can be better explained with the below example.   Example:       Runnable runnable = new   Runnable() { //Line 1   public void run() { } //Line 2   }; //Line 3     Anonymous inner class can either extend a subclass or implement one interface but not both. In the above code, we have used the Runnable interface as an anonymous inner class. This inner class has a closed curly brace followed by a semicolon as coded in Line 3. This is the syntax of declaring an anonymous inner class. This inner class can have a method which is from its reference sub-class or interface. In the above code, we have used the run() method which belongs to the Runnable interface.       9) What is the difference between streams and collections? Though Streams and Collections look similar, their functionality is very different. The major differences between Streams and Collections are:   Collection holds an array of values whereas streams do not hold any value. They only help us carry the source value through a pipeline of computations. As they do not hold any value, they perform the function and do not change the value at the source. Collections are finite whereas strings are infinite. Streams perform mapping and other computations lazily which is more efficient.       10) What are the four interfaces of Java collections?​ Collection is the root of the collection hierarchy. A collection incorporates a multitude of objects cited as its elements. The Java platform doesn’t give any direct implementations of this interface.   Set can be a collection that contains distinctive elements. This interface is used to represent data similar to the deck of cards.   List is a collection that is ordered and it allows duplicate elements too. You may be able to access any part from its index. List is more like an array with variable length.   Queue is a collection in Java that works on the First In First Out principle. The elements that are added first will be removed first from the queue.   Map matches keys to values. A map will not contain duplicate keys: every key can map to at the most one value.     End note: In this blog, we took a look at the different types of questions asked in Java interviews. We also briefly glanced at various Java concepts that are commonly tested in interviews.      Get one step closer to your dream job!   Prepare for your Java programming interview with Core Java Questions You’ll Most Likely Be Asked. This book has a whopping 290 technical interview questions on Java Collections: List, queues, stacks, and Declarations and access control in Java, Exceptional Handling, Wrapper class, Java Operators, Java 8 and Java 9, etc. and 77 behavioral interview questions crafted by industry experts and interviewers from various interview panels.     We’ve updated our blogs to reflect the latest changes in Java technologies. This blog was previously uploaded on March 24th, 2020, and has been updated on January 3rd, 2022.

Here’s a List of TOP 13 Data Structures & Algorithms Interview Questions that you will most likely be asked in your next Data Structures & Algorithms Interview. We cover a range of the most important Data Structures & Algorithms Topics with these 13 Questions. Topics covered in the Blog are:   Data Structures: Introduction to Data Structures Arrays Stacks Queues Lists Hash Data Structures Trees Sets Graphs Algorithms   Algorithms: General Concepts of Algorithms Sorting Algorithms Search Algorithms Huffman Coding       1) What are Data Structures? (Learn more: Introduction to Data Structures) Data Structures are a method of structured or organized data storage that is easier to manage. Data usually has 2 aspects – the definition and its implementation. Data structures make sure they keep both aspects separate. The definition is made available for different implementations for different programs or usages. A data structure, as the name suggests, stores the information in a structured way so that it can be easily created, viewed, and managed. This involves creating complex data types which are a combination of various basic data types. One example can be a customer data type which will have a CustomerId of type Integer, Customer Name of type String and Address of type String.     2) What is an Array? (Learn more: Arrays) An array is a set of values represented by a single variable. Arrays are usually stored sequentially which makes it possible to access each element by its index. An array will have a fixed number of elements that are accessible with their index. An array can store any type of data as allowed by the programming language or the platform used. You can have integer arrays or string arrays and even arrays of objects and structures. The maximum number of elements allowed in an array is mentioned in the array declaration so that the memory can be allocated together. This makes sure that the array elements are sequentially accessible using the index or pointer dynamically. In some languages like C, a string is represented by a character array.     Example:   int arr[5] = {2, 4, 6, 8, 10};   char alphabets[10] = {‘a’, ‘b’, ‘c’, ‘x’, ‘y’, ‘z’, ‘1’, ‘2’, ‘h’, ‘i’};   string names[3] = {“Smitha”, “Allen”, “Ritik”};       3) Why are stacks used to perform recursion? (Learn more: Stacks) A Recursive function will call itself repeatedly. It is important to know who called the function with what value so that accordingly it will return the value to the right caller. Stacks function in the concept of LIFO or Last In First Out. For the same reason, it will recognize the last caller of the function that called it and will return the corresponding value to it. Recursion usually functions by stacking the caller addresses in the order in which the function is called. Hence, it is important to use a separate stack every time the recursive function is called explicitly in the program. For example, if factorial(n) is a recursive function that is called twice in a program, for each call, a separate stack should be used. To be more specific, in the same program that calls factorial(x) and factorial(y), separate stacks should be used.     4) What are the basic features of a Queue? (Learn more: Queues) Queues implement data structures that follow the First-In-First-Out concept. What is inserted first comes out first. This means that the push operation happens at one end of the queue while the pop operation happens at the other end. Even though the queue and stack operations are similar, in contrast to a stack which is open only at one end, the queue is open at both ends.           5) What are the advantages of Linked Lists? (Learn more: Linked List) Linked lists are a sequence of nodes connected by a link to the next and or previous node. Linked lists are used to implement many real-time application requirements. One basic application of a linked list is to create arrays dynamically. Since the linked lists contain the memory address to the next node, it need not be sequentially allocated. Each node will contain the address to the next node using which you can move to the next node. Linked lists allow easier implementation of stacks and queues. You implement insert and delete operations easily with linked lists.     6) What is a hashing? (Learn more: Hash Data Structures) Hashing is converting a set of key-value pairs into indexed information or an array that is easier to handle and retrieve. The information is always stored in key-value pairs with an index supporting a faster search. The size of the hash table is used for hashing the index. Hashing is done by the method of the key % size where key is the key of a particular element in the key-value pair and the size is the size of the hash table. It is basically mapping where a particular item is stored in the hash table.     7) Explain the Tree data structure. (Learn more: Trees) A tree has a root element with 1 or 2 nodes attached to each node. It is a hierarchical data structure used to store information in an ordered way. A binary tree can have zero to a maximum of 2 child nodes. The uppermost element or node is called the root, and the lowermost element or node that has no child node is called a leaf node. The number of elements that connect a particular node from the root to that node determines the depth of a node. The height of a node is determined by the length of the node to its deepest leaf. A tree’s height is determined by the height of its root.     8) What is a set? (Learn more: Sets) A set is a collection of unique elements, related to each other in some way, which need not be in any order. You can consider it akin to football players of a team where none of the names are repeated and the names need not be stored in any order. But they are all related as players of the same team. We cannot add any other member or element in this set. A set of students who belong to a class is also another implementation. We cannot add another class student in one class set.     9) What is a Graph data structure? (Learn more: Graphs) A Graph data structure contains a set of arrays called vertices and a set of edges. Every edge will have 2 vertices that point to a location of the edge. Graphs are used to implement images or networks wherein the edges or elements are related to each other in some way or the other. Every graph will have edges, vertices, paths, and adjacency. A graph can be represented as a tree data structure. The Vertex is the node. The Edge determines the path or the order in which other nodes are linked in the tree. Adjacency determines the nodes directly linked to another node by a path. A Path is a series of edges to traverse to reach a particular node.     10) What do you mean by Algorithm? An algorithm is basically the step-by-step procedure involved in solving a computer problem. Once you have the login in place, clearly specified with the loops and ifs, you can easily implement it in any programming language. It is based on this algorithm that a more refined Flowchart is prepared which is used by the programmers to write it in a particular programming language. You can develop algorithms for the simplest processes to very complex procedures such as database programming. To understand an algorithm, it can be followed step by step simulating with possible values of input.     11) How do you classify sorting algorithms? (Learn more: sorting algorithms) Sorting algorithms can be broadly classified comparison-based & counting-based, and in-place & not-in-place algorithms. Most of the sorting algorithms are based on comparison. The basic idea is to compare 2 elements and swap them or rearrange them based on the particular type of algorithm used. Examples of comparison-based algorithms are bubble sort, heap sort, selection sort, quick sort etc. The counting-based algorithms like bucket sort and radix sort use the divide and rule algorithms to divide the entire collection and then sort the elements. The in-place algorithms are carried out without using any additional array or data structure. Examples of in-place algorithms are quick sort and heap sort. The not-in-place algorithms use an additional array or data structure for sorting. Examples of not-in-place algorithms are bucket sort and merge sort.     12) Explain the algorithm for linear search. (Learn more: Search Algorithm) (Learn more: Search Algorithm) The linear search is the simplest of all search algorithms. The entire array is searched from the very first element until the element is found or until the end of the array. The element is compared with all elements of the array until a match is found. Linear search can be done on a sorted or unsorted array.     13) What is Huffman Coding? (Learn more: Huffman Coding) Huffman coding uses prefixes or weights to assign a code to the data being transmitted. More frequent codes get less weight and the rarely transmitted codes get more weight. These codes are bit sequences assigned to the data, which makes it a unique stream of data that can be easily decoded by the receiver without any vagueness. The codes or bit strings are assigned based on their probability or occurrence in the stream. This involves building a Huffman tree from the given data and to traversing the tree to assign the bit streams to the data. Start Learning all the important concepts of Data Structures & Algorithms from an Interview Perspective with our Blog Series starting with Introduction to Data Structures. Here is a list of some more questions that could be asked in your interview or written exam. Can you implement a queue using a stack? How to implement a queue using an array? How do you delete an element from an array? Explain collision resolution What is the difference between Chaining and Open addressing? Why is quicksort is preferred for arrays and merge sort for the linked list? How to find the length of a linked list? How do you convert a binary tree into a doubly-linked list? How to check if the given tree is a binary heap? What do you mean by shuffling?     Get one step closer to your dream job!   Prepare for all aspects of your interview with our Job Interview Questions book series, which includes books like HR Interview Questions You’ll Most Likely Be Asked (Third Edition) and Innovative Interview Questions You’ll Most Likely Be Asked. These include a myriad of questions that are helpful in cracking any interview, no matter what field you are in.

Interviewer: You have 50 minutes to design Google Maps.You: I just realized I should head back home right now.Most projects that you worked on in college and at work already had an established team in place and you were involved in writing features for a very specific component.So, how do you perform this seemingly absurd task single handedly under an hour?Understand what the interviewer is asking for.Draw a box on the (on the white board/laptop screen provided for the interview) that represents the system. Add 5 – 6 major components within this box. Briefly discuss each component to give the interviewer an idea of your thinking process.So even though your interviewer is not really expecting you to design Google Maps from scratch when you meet him, he wants to understand if you will be a good fit for his team which is working on a similar project. This exercise will give him a good idea of your technical skills.Don’t pretend to be an expert in an area which is not yours and don’t rush to give an answer. Keeping these small things in mind will help you for your technology interviews.You can also brush up on your domain knowledge on various IT technologies with the Job Interview Questions Series books by Vibrant Publishers.

I have always dreaded being told, “ We’ll get back to you.”   Did they not like me?   How many more people are they going to meet for this profile?   Why did they even conduct the interview if they already have someone in mind for this profile?   All these questions ran through my mind whenever an interview ended on this note. On the other hand, when I am told that I will have to attend another round on a particular day or asked to wait back, I know that something positive is coming my way.   Everyone needs help in acing a job interview. The uncertain economic conditions, downsizing due to automation and the need to move up the job ladder make the interview even more crucial. A good prep before the interview will help to avoid the interview day nightmares. Most successful people prepare for a job interview even before they get an actual call.       So how does one prepare for an interview? The first and the most important thing that you should do is go through the company website and understand the job description that you are applying for.   Interviews generally have two types of questions – behavioral and technical, especially if you are applying for jobs in the technology industry.   For the behavioral questions, keep a list of your past work experiences and skills handy. You can talk about how you worked with your team to deliver on a project which had deadlines that looked impossible to begin with. These questions help the company understand your work style and abilities. It is okay to ask questions during the interview if you have genuine queries about the organization or the profile. It shows that you have taken time out to prepare for the interview.   The next important part that you have to tackle are the technical questions. You may be applying for a senior manager or a team leader profile in an area where you are already working like SAS or Android. Or you may want to shift to a newer technology platform. The interviewer here wants to assess your knowledge, ability to think laterally, problem-solving strategies and get a sense of your industry knowledge.   You have studied these subjects in college as well as worked in the area for a couple of years but there will be a lot of new trends which may be out of your purview of work.     How do you quickly brush up the entire subject in a short time? There is a lot of material available online. But how much of it is relevant, written by subject matter experts or reviewed by industry professionals? Also how easily can you get access to all of it in one go without wasting much time?   The Job Interview Questions series by Vibrant Publishers provides accurate and authoritative information on the questions that you will be asked in an interview. A quick reading of these books will help you crack your interview.   Rather than going through big fat college reference books, the Job Interview Questions Series gives you all the information that you need in a question-answer format for the specific technology area that you are applying e.g. Oracle, Python, SAP, SAS, SQL, UNIX or Software Testing.   General HR questions are also covered in the books so all aspects of your interview are taken care of. Real-Life scenario-based examples will give a case study touch to your conceptual base. These books are concise and well written and will give you a great idea about your strengths as well as the level of preparation.   These can be ordered online here or you can pick them up at your nearest bookstore. Try and relate specific work examples to what you are reading in the book. It will help you grasp the topic quickly.   During the technical interview, make sure you clear your doubts and assumptions with the interviewer. It is okay to think aloud when you are trying to arrive at a solution. It gives the interviewer an insight in the way you think. It is important to remember that the interviewer may be more interested in your approach and thought process rather than the actual answer.   At the end of it all, make sure that the questions don’t get to you and keep in mind that making eye contact and a firm handshake with the interviewers is the last impression that you make before exiting the room.

Gartner predicts over 50 percent of new business systems will be use continuous intelligence by 2022. Leading companies such as Morgan Stanley, Standard Chartered, J-P Morgan, etc, are calling upon aspiring candidates to apply for positions like Analytics Professional, Data Management Professionals and Big Data Engineer. This brings a bright future to those skilled in Big data. Yet acing the interview where high-level questions are put forth remains a big hurdle. Take help from these top 10 Big Data Interview Questions highly asked in job interviews.   1) How important is Big data to e-commerce? E-commerce is one of the biggest beneficiaries of Big data processing and analytics. A lot of critical information is gathered from social media sites and search engines that ecommerce companies use to predict better and offer a more effective customer experience. Predictive analysis plays an important role in retaining customers longer on the websites and this is made smoother with Big data. It also helps to fine-tune customer interactions through better personalization. Big data has proven to reduce the cart abandonment rate through prediction and personalization. 2) Describe Operational Big Data. Operational Big data involves real-time data that is instantly analyzed and presented without the help of advanced coding or data scientists. These include interactive systems where data is captured, processed and reported instantly without involving data scientists. NoSQL Big data systems use advanced cloud computing techniques that run complex computations involving such real-time data without having to invest in additional infrastructure. They can manage large volumes of varied data and process them quickly using easy-to-implement technology. 3) Explain the HDFS Architecture. The HDFS architecture consists of nodes and blocks. The Namenode comprises commodity hardware that manages that operating system which is typically Linux and the namenode software. It manages the file system providing access to the file system namespace and data. It allows opening, closing and renaming of files and directories. The datanode consists of hardware, an operating system, and datanode software. The datanode performs the reading and writing of data as per the client’s request. The datanode manages the data blocks including creation, deletion, and replication based on the directions of the namenode. The data is stored in files and each file is divided into different segments and stored in different data nodes. Block is the smallest section of data that’s stored in the HDFS. 4) Explain ls, lsr, du and cat commands in HDFS. The ls, lsr, du and cat commands are used in HDFS to access the file system. ls: This HDFS command is used along with the path to list out the contents of the directory specified in the path. It shows the file names, owner, permissions and modification date for each file in the directory. lsr: This command is used to display all files within the subdirectories in the mentioned path along with the filename, owner, permissions and modification date for each file in each subdirectory. du: This command takes in the path and displays the full HDFS prefixed file names along with the space occupied by each file in the given path. cat: This command takes in a filename and displays the content of the file on the console screen. 5) What is the difference between Hadoop and RDBMS? Hadoop is not a database. Basically, it is a distributed system that lets you store the data in large amounts on cloud machines. An RDBMS is a distributed database system that stores the interrelated data and its dependencies. RDBMS uses relational data and stores it in rows and columns. Hadoop provides various ways to span the data across various mediums and reach out to the data. The storage is spread across multiple local servers. The Hadoop has efficient fault-tolerance, to detect and manage the defect in nodes. As Java is used in Hadoop, it is platform-independent. Hadoop has high scalability as compared to RDBMS. 6) Explain Repartition Join in MapReduce. In Repartition Join, each map works on an input split on the table on either the Left or Right of the join. Each record is tagged with the table to identify. So the key becomes the key and value is the record. These key-value pairs are then partitioned, sorted, and combined. The reducer takes in the key-value pairs and the table tags. For every key in the Right table, all matching records in the Left tables will be fetched. 7) Explain what Flatten does in Pig. Flatten is an operator or modifier that un-nests the tuples and bags in Pig. It is like simplifying the data of unnecessary complications, making data plain. When Flatten is used with bags, the data is simplified into tuples. When tuples are flattened, they are turned into plain data. It works like a ForEach loop where data is cross-joined with each element to relate it to the main key. 8) Does Impala use Caching? Yes Impala uses caching to provide quicker results. In fact, Impala works better with HDFS rather than Hadoop. It caches some of the frequently accessed data so that the database or HDFS does not have to be accessed every time data is requested. You can set up the cache pool and cache limit for the same user as the ImpalaD. Once caching is enabled, for every schema object you have created with the said cache pool will be available in the cache so that it is loaded only once. Thus all frequently accessed tables and partitions can be stored in the cache for quicker access. 9) What are the attributes of AVRO Schemas? AVRO schemas contain four attributes – type of the schema, its namespace, schema name, and the fields in it. The type of the schema determines whether it is a record, map, array or any other primitive or complex data type supported by AVRO. The namespace is where we can find the schema object. Name is the identifier of the schema and the field is an array that contains the name and datatype of the fields used in the schema. 10) Explain the Fork and Join control node in Workflow. A Fork is used when there’s parallel processing required. In the end, the fork consolidates the results that are fed into another job. This consolidation is done by the Join. So every fork ends with a join. After the start node, the forks run parallel to each other and process the jobs that are consolidated by a join. The join passes on the data to the next node only when all nodes connected complete their tasks. Pave the route to your dream job by preparing for your interview with the questions we discussed, along with more questions from our books HR Interview Questions You’ll Most Likely Be Asked (Third Edition) and Leadership Interview Questions You’ll Most Likely Be Asked. These provide a comprehensive list of questions for your interview regardless of your area of expertise. Good luck with your job hunt!