Mentor Graphics visited our campus in Spetember for 2 profiles - SDE, and QA. I applied for the SDE profile.

The first screening test was scheduled on 26th September at 6:30 pm.

Assesment 1: There were approx 20 MCQs and 2 coding questions. The MCQs were technical - theory based & data structures, and aptitude. I do not exactly remember the questions. But, both the coding questions were a bit mathematical based and were of LC medium or hard difficulty level. I did the MCQs well, but couldn't make the code pass all the test cases.

Interview Round 1: I was shortlisted for the interview. The interview started with intoduction. After this, I was asked 2 questions:

1. Given a number, find square root of the number. - Ofcourse, library function was not expected. This question could be solved using binary search.
2. In a stream of integer inputs, get the fourth largest integer - I solved this using min priority queue.

The interviewer seemed happy with my performance. Also, After the first question, he said if I could do the next question, I will be called for the next round. I did that, and so I was called for the next round.

Interview Round 2: This was a techno-managerial round.

1. Experience from Round 1 , he asked what was the learning from that round.
2. Asked to introduce using about points which were not mentioned in resume.
3. Discussed on how I learnt Spanish (it was under university curriculum)
4. Algorithm Paradigms and their applications. I clarified this question. I was expected to answer DP, Greedy, Divide & Conquer, etc.
5. Which web technologies I am aware of and have used in my projects.
6. ACID properties
7. DBMS Joins advantages
8. OOPS vs Procedural Programming.
9. A puzzle
10. Why should I hire you over other candidates
11. Why Mentor Graphics.