The Cypress Interview
Days in the last two weeks have been some of the most diverse in my life, for I was busy most of the time (not doing useless things as I usually do), and some important events happened. Well, to begin with, there was Cypress campus interview, function in our native, Passport mela, Shabnur fair... what not?! Between all these, we have also started our project. Let me shed some light on each of these in brief. In this article I am going to write about the Cypress Interview process.
The first one was the Cypress campus interview. It was a long awaited one, for most of us. Although the company is rich, there are not too many workers in it. So, this was going to be a challenge for all of us to get into it. Everyone wanted to get selected, but no one wanted to open the book or prepare for it. Finally, they came on 13th of February, at 1:00 PM (one of those few companies, which came at the time they had told). We had the Pre-placement talk (PPT) which was, if not exhaustive, good enough to get the attention of all. SM, who delivered the talk, was pretty straight forward, and I liked it. Then we had the written test. 30 questions to be answered in 45 minutes. +1 for each correct answer, and -.25 for each negative answer. The test was a mixed bag and consisted of questions from both Computer Science as well as Electronics. It was sufficient for the students to blame that it had only the questions belonging to the other branch. But, in my opinion, it was well balanced, with aptitude questions, C questions, computer science related questions and also electronics questions. There was much time after the test, (they had to check the answer and give the results). So what should we do till then? Some of my friends started playing cricket. But some of us, didn't play, to keep our clothes clean, in case the interview was held on the same day. We sat there watching them play, and due to the afternoon heat, it was sufficient for me to get headache. They had told that they would announce the list at 6:00 PM, and they really had the time sense. A total of 15 students amont about 95 students were short-listed, and I was one among them. I had the interview on the next day, at 8:00 AM. We went home, and I slept. The headache was terrible and I was in no mood to read or even open the book.
I woke up the next day, a little early, but instead of reading, I sat in front of my computer surfing internet. Knowing nothing, what would I do there? Yeah, that was a serious question. But what is lost in trying? I went to the college at about 7:40 AM. These Cypress guys are really chronoholics.. They were there, exactly at 7:55 AM. But the interview started 10 minutes late, because no room was open at that time. (Our college follows Indian Standard Time). There I faced SM, and I was asked about a C question, a puzzle, and about my previous and current careers. The interview was purely based on the resume. I made blunders, one after the other, in that interview. I was sure to get kicked out. They told that they would announce the results afternoon. So we had to wait. So we sat in a room chatting and roamed here and there. We had our lunch and went to hear the results of the first round of interview. Only 3 out of the 15 were selected for the next round. By His grace, I was chosen for the next round too. Really, I could not believe how I was chosen, but it was true that I was chosen. We had another interview in the afternoon. There I faced 3 interviewers and a lot of questions on C and a few on other subjects, and I answered most of them. I was satisfied with this round of interview. We stood outside, waiting for the result of the round. All three of us, me, V1 and SR were called to Bangalore, for the next round. Without any preparations, I was there in the fourth round of Cypress interview. Aw, that is quite an achievement...
On Sunday, I had a small function to attend in our native, Manchale. It was an eventless event. It was announced on 19th that the interview will be on 21st in Bangalore at 9:00 AM. Bangalore, even though the capital of our state Karnataka, was (and is, and may be it will be) quite unfamiliar to all three of us. So we had to have double preparations for that. We booked Airavath to leave Davanagere on 20th night. It came about good 50 minutes late, and left Davanagere at 12:30 AM of 21st. I don't know why, but V1, who generally hates reading novels, was eager to read five point somone in the bus, and was adamant, not to switch off the lights early (Well, I can say, he is like Venkat, if you have read the book). Anyway, we were in Bangalore at 5:30 AM. Courtesy (good or bad?) of the driver, I couldn't have good sleep, even in that Volvo. We then went to Yatri Nivas and booked it for two hours to get freshened. We left it at 7:00 AM, had our breakfast and headed towards the destination. With my little knowledge about the buses and with V1's map, it wasn't difficult for us to reach Cypress.
It wasn't time yet. We roamed around the Cypress office for a while, and entered it around 8:00 AM. Eh, that was too early... Cypress people started coming at 8:30 onwards. We sat there reading newspapers. At 8:45 or so, SM came. He talked to us and went inside saying that the interview would start soon. At 9:10 SR was asked to come inside for the interview. After that we again waited there for some time, before we were taken inside. We sat in the canteen inside. After sometime, I was also asked to attend the interview. I was asked questions mostly on C, centred around Data Structures, by the same panel which had interviewed SR. Data structures! How can an EC guy know about that? Well, Since I had taken CS in PUC, I knew a little about them. So I tried to answer whatever I could. Finishing the interview, I came back to the canteen room. Then V1 went to the interview. He was first interviewed by the director, who had came from US. All three of us sat there after that, chatting and laughing. It was time for the next round of interviews. I and SR were interviewed by the director, and V1 by the panel which had interviewed us. Well, we still didn't know how many more interviews were going to be held before it finished.
The first one was the Cypress campus interview. It was a long awaited one, for most of us. Although the company is rich, there are not too many workers in it. So, this was going to be a challenge for all of us to get into it. Everyone wanted to get selected, but no one wanted to open the book or prepare for it. Finally, they came on 13th of February, at 1:00 PM (one of those few companies, which came at the time they had told). We had the Pre-placement talk (PPT) which was, if not exhaustive, good enough to get the attention of all. SM, who delivered the talk, was pretty straight forward, and I liked it. Then we had the written test. 30 questions to be answered in 45 minutes. +1 for each correct answer, and -.25 for each negative answer. The test was a mixed bag and consisted of questions from both Computer Science as well as Electronics. It was sufficient for the students to blame that it had only the questions belonging to the other branch. But, in my opinion, it was well balanced, with aptitude questions, C questions, computer science related questions and also electronics questions. There was much time after the test, (they had to check the answer and give the results). So what should we do till then? Some of my friends started playing cricket. But some of us, didn't play, to keep our clothes clean, in case the interview was held on the same day. We sat there watching them play, and due to the afternoon heat, it was sufficient for me to get headache. They had told that they would announce the list at 6:00 PM, and they really had the time sense. A total of 15 students amont about 95 students were short-listed, and I was one among them. I had the interview on the next day, at 8:00 AM. We went home, and I slept. The headache was terrible and I was in no mood to read or even open the book.
I woke up the next day, a little early, but instead of reading, I sat in front of my computer surfing internet. Knowing nothing, what would I do there? Yeah, that was a serious question. But what is lost in trying? I went to the college at about 7:40 AM. These Cypress guys are really chronoholics.. They were there, exactly at 7:55 AM. But the interview started 10 minutes late, because no room was open at that time. (Our college follows Indian Standard Time). There I faced SM, and I was asked about a C question, a puzzle, and about my previous and current careers. The interview was purely based on the resume. I made blunders, one after the other, in that interview. I was sure to get kicked out. They told that they would announce the results afternoon. So we had to wait. So we sat in a room chatting and roamed here and there. We had our lunch and went to hear the results of the first round of interview. Only 3 out of the 15 were selected for the next round. By His grace, I was chosen for the next round too. Really, I could not believe how I was chosen, but it was true that I was chosen. We had another interview in the afternoon. There I faced 3 interviewers and a lot of questions on C and a few on other subjects, and I answered most of them. I was satisfied with this round of interview. We stood outside, waiting for the result of the round. All three of us, me, V1 and SR were called to Bangalore, for the next round. Without any preparations, I was there in the fourth round of Cypress interview. Aw, that is quite an achievement...
On Sunday, I had a small function to attend in our native, Manchale. It was an eventless event. It was announced on 19th that the interview will be on 21st in Bangalore at 9:00 AM. Bangalore, even though the capital of our state Karnataka, was (and is, and may be it will be) quite unfamiliar to all three of us. So we had to have double preparations for that. We booked Airavath to leave Davanagere on 20th night. It came about good 50 minutes late, and left Davanagere at 12:30 AM of 21st. I don't know why, but V1, who generally hates reading novels, was eager to read five point somone in the bus, and was adamant, not to switch off the lights early (Well, I can say, he is like Venkat, if you have read the book). Anyway, we were in Bangalore at 5:30 AM. Courtesy (good or bad?) of the driver, I couldn't have good sleep, even in that Volvo. We then went to Yatri Nivas and booked it for two hours to get freshened. We left it at 7:00 AM, had our breakfast and headed towards the destination. With my little knowledge about the buses and with V1's map, it wasn't difficult for us to reach Cypress.
It wasn't time yet. We roamed around the Cypress office for a while, and entered it around 8:00 AM. Eh, that was too early... Cypress people started coming at 8:30 onwards. We sat there reading newspapers. At 8:45 or so, SM came. He talked to us and went inside saying that the interview would start soon. At 9:10 SR was asked to come inside for the interview. After that we again waited there for some time, before we were taken inside. We sat in the canteen inside. After sometime, I was also asked to attend the interview. I was asked questions mostly on C, centred around Data Structures, by the same panel which had interviewed SR. Data structures! How can an EC guy know about that? Well, Since I had taken CS in PUC, I knew a little about them. So I tried to answer whatever I could. Finishing the interview, I came back to the canteen room. Then V1 went to the interview. He was first interviewed by the director, who had came from US. All three of us sat there after that, chatting and laughing. It was time for the next round of interviews. I and SR were interviewed by the director, and V1 by the panel which had interviewed us. Well, we still didn't know how many more interviews were going to be held before it finished.
It was time for lunch. We had it in the top floor of the same building. After our lunch, we were back to the pavilion, sorry, to the canteen. We were given the Traveling Allowance. Already our friends from our college were eager to know the results, probably more than we three. We were getting calls one after the other. MRM was the topper in that. He was calling every 15 minutes or so. Finally, it was the time to announce the results. We were asked to come to the chamber of SM, where he announced the results. He didn't want to give shock treatment to any of us. So he told many other things, including the fact that only one was selected, before announcing the chosen one. Who was it? Well it was V1. We then all three of us got some feedbacks from SM, and were ready to leave. The Cypress Interview was finally over.
Well, I will leave it here, and will continue with the rest of the things in the forthcoming articles.
PS: I must say, it was a good experience, and certainly better than the interviews of most other companies, which want you to be smart outside, may you be having nothing inside.
Well, I will leave it here, and will continue with the rest of the things in the forthcoming articles.
PS: I must say, it was a good experience, and certainly better than the interviews of most other companies, which want you to be smart outside, may you be having nothing inside.
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1 comments:
please tell your experience inside the interview room.
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