JP Morgan Chase was the first company to visit our campus for a summer internship targeting 2nd-year students. Top performers would be offered full-time roles with a CTC of up to 20 LPA. I had heard about this opportunity early and was confident in my full-stack development skills, especially for the final Hackathon round. Unfortunately, I underestimated the importance of the earlier rounds, particularly the DSA assessments.

What Went Wrong
I focused too much on the final Hackathon round and neglected DSA and interview practice.

The DSA round included two LeetCode medium-to-hard problems, and I was able to solve only one due to lack of preparation.

In the automated video interview, I struggled to communicate my thought process effectively, despite knowing the concepts.

As a result, I didn’t make it to the final Hackathon round where my core strength (development) could’ve made a difference.

Question 1: Anagram Filter
Remove all strings that are anagrams of previously seen strings. Return the remaining array in sorted order.

Input: ["code", "doce", "ecod", "framer", "frame"]

Output: ["code", "frame", "framer"]

Tags: String manipulation, Hashing

Difficulty: LeetCode Medium

Question 2: Server Resource Allocation
Calculate the resources for each server based on performance ranks using a formula involving inc and dec values.

Input:
inc = 500, dec = 100, performance = [3, 2, 4, 3, 5, 5]

Output: [1800, 1400, 2400, 1800, 2800, 2800]

Tags: Sorting, Hash Map, Counting

Difficulty: LeetCode Medium-Hard

My Suggestion for my Jr's
DSA preparation is critical — not just conceptually, but under time pressure. Practicing medium to hard problems on LeetCode daily makes a big difference.

Don’t neglect early rounds — resume shortlisting, online assessments, and interviews are filters you must clear before reaching the final project-based stages.

Communication matters — clear articulation of your approach is just as important as writing code that works.

I missed out on an incredible opportunity due to misplaced focus. If you're aiming for top internships or full-time offers, ensure your DSA, communication, and interview skills are solid from day one. Opportunities like these are rare — don’t let lack of preparation be the reason you miss them.