Ericsson GAIA Data Science 6M Intern Interview Experience 2021
In July 2021, I got an internship offer from Ericsson GAIA (Global AI Accelerator, Bangalore). It’s a different unit at Ericsson especially for Artificial Intelligence in Bangalore.
Let me walk you through the step-by-step for the complete process which I followed.
How did I apply?
I applied through Linkedin (Off-Campus).
One day I saw a post from a Director of Data Science at Ericsson GAIA. There was a need for 6-Months interns from premium institutes (IITs, NITs, IIITs, BITS only. Yes It’s sad but it was mentioned in the post). After seeing the post, I immediately messaged him showing interest in joining. He replied regarding some queries and shared my resume with HR.
After two days I got a call from HR if I am interested. Then she shared the format of the complete recruitment process.
ROUND-1 (Online Test- Aptitude):
1. Test is of duration 45 mins. Total 45 questions. 15 questions for each section.
2. There were 3 sections (English, Quant & Reasoning) & there was a sectional cut-off which we need to clear in each section. Please divide your time per section accordingly as you need to pass in all 3 sections. We can also switch between sections if required. Please give appropriate time to each section.
In this test questions were easy to medium level.
After one day, I got a call from HR saying that I have cleared the online assessment. Now she wanted to schedule an interview. So after getting confirmation from me she scheduled my interview post two days.
ROUND-2 (Technical Interview-I) :
My first interview round was scheduled for Monday 28 Jun 2021 from 12 PM to 1 PM. The official meeting platform was Microsoft Teams. I joined the meeting 10 minutes prior just to avoid last-minute chaos. I would also suggest you do the same in every meeting or test.
The interviewer joined on time. He was a Senior Data Scientist at Ericsson GAIA. As usually he started with his formal introduction and asked me to do the same. I gave my introduction including my hometown, under-graduation college, post-graduation college, branch, hobbies etc.
After this, he started from SVM (Support Vector Machine). I explained about SVM whatever I knew at that time. Then he asked so many follow up questions on the same. He asked me to derive the optimization function of SVM also. He was not expecting me to remember any kind of formula because I said clearly to him that I don’t remember the optimization function but I can derive. Then I tried on my notebook, I was not able to achieve it, but I was going in the right direction so he was satisfied with my mathematics that time.
Then, he asked about a coding problem. He asked me if I am comfortable in Python or not. As I was very much comfortable, I said Yes. He wanted me to code in Python only. He also said to me that Python is a must for this role as most of the work revolve around Python only. He asked me to open an online editor. So I opened OnlineGDB editor.
He gave me an array and a Target value. He wants me to find any pair which is having a sum equal to the Target value. It is a famous Two Sum problem. I gave him a Brute-force O(n²) Solution using two loops. As I was on the online editor, so I had to run the code every time on the test case given by him. Brute-force was working properly. Now he wanted me to improve the time complexity. To be very honest, I had never done this famous problem before that time. Also, as I was doing in Python, it was quite hard for me to recall every data structure. After thinking, I got the solution of hashing. I told him the complete solution. But I was not able to implement it in Python.
He was satisfied with my logical skills.
After this, he asked me if I am aware of the Probability Distributions. I said Yes. Then he asked me about Bernoulli & Binomial distributions in brief.
In the end, he asked me a probability problem. That problem is also a standard problem. But unfortunately, I was not aware of it. He explained Monty-Hall Problem. I tried something, but I think that was not a satisfactory answer.
In the end, he asked if I have any questions for him. I asked about the ongoing projects. He explained me in a brief way. Then I asked about what kind of tasks I can expect if I get this opportunity. He answered politely that I will be assisting the Senior Data Scientists in the ongoing projects. At that time he was not sure about that.
After this, my interview was ended. It was a 1 hour 10 minutes long interview. 10 minutes extra as we were having an interesting discussion in the end. The overall interview experience was good. The interviewer was very supportive and kind.
On the same evening of the day, I got a call from HR saying that I have received positive feedback from my technical round. Now she wanted me to have another discussion with the manager for the discussions of the project. She scheduled my next discussion on the next day with the manager.
ROUND -3 (Managerial Round):
The interview started at 12 PM again. This time interviewer was a Director of Data Science. He started with his introduction and asked me to do the same. Then he started with my projects. I explained completely about one of my projects which I did as a part of an e-Yantra competition.
After this, he asked me to share my data science journey. I explained my complete journey in a nutshell.
Then he shared about the current technologies which they were using. I was not much comfortable with those technologies. In the end, he asked if I have any questions. Then I asked some questions related to the projects.
That is how this round was ended. It was not more than 30 minutes interview.
One day later, I got a call from HR saying that I have been referred to another team as I was not matching the expectation with the previous team. I was scared after this. I was wondering whether I should be happy or not. I was not sure at all about the selection or rejection. But I was glad that I got another opportunity. I really liked this thing from Ericsson.
ROUND-4 (Managerial Round) :
This time another manager joined on time. He was also a Director of Data Science. He gave an introduction of himself. Then I gave mine.
He explained about the projects which they were working on. I really liked the idea of the problems. These projects were not involving any new technology, which I was not aware of.
Then he asked about my experience in the Data Science domain and a little bit about my certifications in competitive coding.
In the end, he asked if I have any questions. Then, I asked some questions about the interns and all. He answered all of them.
That’s it.
After two days of the last interview discussion, I got a mail saying that they have selected me for a Six-Months intern as a Data Science Intern.
That time I was on top of the world. This was going to be my first industry exposure. ✌
Conclusion:
Finally, I will be interning at Ericcson GAIA for 6 months. I am very happy to join the industry with such a big MNC.
Thank you for reading my complete internship interview experience. I hope it will help you in some way.
Thank you for being a patient reader and if you like my experience, please clap.
