SAP Labs | Scholar@SAP | Off Campus | India | September 2021 [Offer]
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Late post but hope this helps for anyone interested in applying for this unique program. Beneficial for someone who wants to pursue higher studies alongside a job from a reputed college.
Basically Scholar@SAP is an integrated MTech (Software Engineering) + Job program where you get a Masters degree from BITS, Pilani (all educational costs handled by the company) alongside a good package.
You get converted to a FTE once you complete your masters, after a Managerial Interview with the HR and Technical Leads of the Organisation.

FULL INTERVIEW PROCESS EXPERIENCE

STAGE 1: Online Assessment (September 3, 2021)

Section 1

  • 15 Java and 15 C++ Pseudo Code, OOPS, Output-based MCQ questions.
  • 15 Java MCQ questions in 15 minutes with navigation allowed (can change the answers before submission)
  • 15 C++ MCQ questions in 20 minutes with no navigation allowed (have to submit every answer to proceed to next question)

Section 2

  • 2 basic coding questions on String, Arrays, and Math operations. (Time: 1 hour)
  • I had one simple substring based problem and a Math operation on Integer Array problem. Solved both under 15 minutes using Java.

(Note: You have to be good at the basic concepts and OOPS for C++ and Java and the inner workings of the pre-defined functions and keywords to be able to easily solve the questions. No need to be a pro competitive coder for this online test. Or atleast I wasn't :P )

3 students including me got selected for technical interview round on 4th September from the college.

STAGE 2: Technical Round 1 (September 8, 2021)

The interview took place on Microsoft Teams at 9:15 am (I was too sleepy because I used to wake up at 11:00 am :P)
We greeted each other and he asked me a logical puzzle which goes like:
If you have two candles that take an hour to burn completely, how will you measure half an hour by lighting and observing the candles in any manner. No other method allowed.

I was stuck for like 20 seconds but answered it. (Try to think of the answer yourself guys, it's a fun little puzzle)

Follow up: How will you measure 15 minutes?

Couldn't answer it. I said to him and he moved to the next question. If anyone knows the answer please comment below.

Next he asked me some OOPS related questions and asked me to demonstrate encapsulation in any language of my choice. I used Java. Pretty textbook question you can find on GFG, Javatpoint, etc.

Next, he asked me to write the program for Longest Common Prefix-Leetcode Problem 14

https://leetcode.com/problems/longest-common-prefix/

Solved it after 2 3 hints from him. He was satisfied with the approach. Also discussed with me some follow up questions on the problem just for checking my problem solving skills.

Then, he asked some Java specific questions on Classes, Inheritance and Strings. If you have a thorough understanding of OOPS, you will sail through these questions.

This was the question I got stammering and thought I blew it.

Describe the approach you will take as a freelance web developer to make a website for a client. Like suppose you have a Food Corp Client needing a dashboard to manage seller data.

I answered the most generic stuff related to client briefing, requirements and basic coding stuff. Since, I was learning web development at that time, I told him that and he guided me in some areas to help me give the answer and understand the process.

Finally, he asked me if I had any questions for him. I had 2 regarding the work I would be given in the job. We ended the call after some casual discussions regarding the work culture.

Total time: 45 minutes.

Overall an awesome experience for a first time interview. The interviewer was very helpful and interactive.

I got email at 1pm for next round to be held at 2pm same day.

STAGE 2: Technical Round 2 (September 8, 2021)

Formal greetings and straight to questions.

He asked me a SQL database question:

How will you find the maximum value in a row of a different table whose primary key is minimum in another table. All values in the tables are integer types

I couldn't answer correctly but after some hints I gave the satisfied approach. I realised it was much simple than I thought it was.

Next, he asked me about Polymorphism and its types and their respective usage and properties. Asked how to implement multiple inheritance in Java.
(Yet again pretty textbook OOPS questions you can find anywhere.)

Lastly, he gave me 2 OOPS based programs and asked the output by dry-running them.

I gave the answers and they were correct.

Finally, he asked me if I had any questions for him. We had a pretty long discussion on technical avenues in the industry. He was really into telling me the different experiences he had while working in the IT industry.

Time taken: 50 minutes

I got the mail at 6pm for the HR interview on 9th September.

STAGE 3: HR Interview (September 9, 2021)

Pretty discussion based interview with discussions on the company values, questions on my future plans, thoughts about SAP.

One specific question:
How will you describe SAP Labs to a client who is unaware of the organisation and the technologies?

To be honest, I didn't expect the interviewer to be so much impressed by my answer.

I knew I was selected at that moment.

Some more typical HR questions and we were done with the call.

Got my selection mail at 6pm in the evening.

It was my first ever placement experience in the first month of my final year semester and I was the only student to be selected from the whole college. The joy was immense for me.

I just want to tell that apart from competitive programming, I suggest everyone to have an insight on the working of the language they code on, and have the knowledge of OOPS, classes and objects.
For all the interview experiences I read about them while preparing for technical interview from GFG, they all had the questions from OOPS more than the competitive programming stuff. So, never ignore this side of the programming!

Hopefully, this may help anyone who wants to learn more about the interview process at scholar@SAP program.
I would try to answer all the comments.

Good day everyone :)))

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