My Day-1 Placement Story — A Rollercoaster That Landed Me in NVIDIA

Most top companies visit IIT campuses on Dec 1st for hiring fresh grads.
Our campus was no exception. And what happened that day deserves a proper write-up.

It’s a long post — but trust me, it’s worth the ride.

At 11:45 PM, I got a call from the placement office:

“Your Goldman Sachs interview is at 12:00 AM. Come immediately.”

I literally ran.

Round 1

After a quick intro, the interviewer asked why I didn’t ask him any questions.
(They had a GS campus connect PPT the previous day, and I missed it.)

We moved on.
He asked me Count and Say from LeetCode.
I explained the correct approach and he asked:

“Can you do it in linear time?”

I said No, that’s not possible.

He insisted it can.

I walked out depressed — only to later find out he wasn’t from tech.
More of an HR-ish interviewer. That explains it.
Round 2

The question was:

Given inequalities like p1 > p2, p2 > p3, p3 < p4 … form an array satisfying all constraints.

I immediately recognized it as a topological sort style problem.
Coded it fast — he was happy.

Then a variant of the Skyline Problem.
I had solved it earlier, so I answered quickly.

Selected for Round 3.

Round 3

He asked:

“Find first max and second max in one pass without using variables.”

I got confused.
He said:

“Use any data structure.”

So I said: set, map, priority queue…

He said:

“Okay, I got what I wanted. You may leave.”

Probably the strangest round of the day.

Results came: Not selected.
All rounds were 20–25 minutes. I genuinely didn’t understand what Round 3 was evaluating.

JPMorgan Chase (Data Analyst Role)
Round 1

He looked at my SDE-heavy resume and asked:

“Are you genuinely interested in this role?”

I said I don’t know much about Data Analyst work, but I’m a fast learner.

He then asked OOPs, OS (not sure why), and some probability.
I answered all correctly → moved to Round 2.

Round 2

Interviewer was very chill.

I asked him directly:

“Do you still have vacancies or are you just interviewing because you have to?”

He said they had 2 slots left.

But after scanning my resume:

“You’re not fit for this role. But if you solve some DSA, I’ll consider you.”

He asked NGE, Trapping Rain Water (with a twist).
I solved them.

Still rejected — because honestly the role mismatch was huge.

NVIDIA (The Game-Changer)

Only one technical round (90 minutes) + HR.

Two interviewers.
This round alone made my entire day worth it.

Internship Project (Adobe) Deep Dive — 30 minutes

They grilled every detail.
I handled it confidently.

DSA + Systems + C++ + Multithreading
1️⃣ Best sorting algorithm for 100 numbers in range 0–9

I coded counting sort immediately.
Explained why others aren’t optimal.
They were satisfied.

2️⃣ Custom free() in C++ that fills memory with 0s instead of deleting

Clarified the constraints → coded quickly.

3️⃣ Why does global memory allow larger allocations than stack?

Explained stack vs heap, memory limits → they nodded.

4️⃣ Thrashing, static vs dynamic linking

Standard OS questions → answered.

5️⃣ 10 threads, multiple shared pointers. How to manage?

I proposed locking + mapping pointer → thread sets.
Explained key-level vs whole-map locking.
They really liked the reasoning.

They smiled and said: “Great. HR will discuss the next steps.”

HR discussion → location preferences →
Selected.

I still attended Navi Round 1 just to test myself — cleared easily — but didn’t continue.

Looking Back

Not getting Goldman Sachs felt terrible in the moment.
But if GS hadn’t rejected me,
I wouldn’t have reached NVIDIA’s slot.

Sometimes the rejection is the redirection.

NVIDIA Compensation (India)

Base: ₹18.25 LPA

Sign-on Bonus: ₹2,00,000

Anniversary Bonus: ₹2,00,000

Equity: ₹20,00,000

Total CTC: ₹44,73,000
Final Thought

If you get rejected, don’t break.
There might be something better waiting for you — just like NVIDIA was waiting for me.