It kicked off with a 40 minute, 35 Question long General Aptitude round with all the typical problems that companies ask, ranging from DI, LR, GA and a few questions checking your English Proficiency. My suggestion would be to navigate through the English part first to get a head-start and then go through the other parts. I prepared for such rounds through watching this 8-hour master lecture on Aptitude concepts (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UczkT7_O2ew&ab_channel=UnacademySemesterExams) and solving problems corresponding to a particular topic that I'd done through IndiaBix. There was also a 20 minute, 8 Question SQL round which tested your SQL proficiency. I'd learnt my SQL using w3schools.com platform, which does a fantastic job in breaking down any language into bitesize concepts. To put the w3schools knowledge into practice, I also practiced various problems in HackerRank in order to get a firsthand experience of SQL usage.

Honestly, when the first list came up without my name, I felt that I was rejected and had basically moved on. Surprisingly, I was shortlisted in the second list (which was completely unexpected) and was asked to give my Technical Interview on the very same day. So, I was unprepared. 'Difficult' would be an understatement to my interview because I was completely grilled. The interviewer kicked it off with a couple of tricky puzzles straight off the bat, which threw me off-guard a bit since I was expecting a little bit of easing-in.I explained them in a slightly jittery manner due to the aforementioned reason. It wasn't the best of starts to be honest. Those puzzles itself took a huge chunk of the interview time. Then, the interviewer dived into my CV and asked me how proficient was I with SQL and then asked 2 SQL queries based on a Table. I also mentioned that I knew R and hence he questioned me on the knowledge I had about R and where it could be extensively used. The interview ended with questions about o9 in general and what I knew about "Supply Chain". The interview ended with a typical 'Do you have any Questions?' and I took the opportunity to ask about the role being offered. While I introspected my performance, I felt that I answered the SQL and R part of the interview perfectly and partially answered the puzzles.

This HR round has to be one of the the most unique ones you'd have ever heard! I was asked personal questions like my intro, What are my traits and Give any one challenge in your life that you overcame and what did I do to overcome it? This part lasted for 8-9 minutes.

Then out of the blue, the HR started a 10 minute monologue about o9, such as the growth prospects, the CSR activities that o9 carries out, how o9 takes care of its employees and at the end, he said me he was looking forward for me to join the company. I was completely dumbfounded (as well as ecstatic) when he said that I pretty much knocked it out of the park.

The take-aways from my experience would be to NEVER GIVE UP NO MATTER WHAT! Even if you find yourself in muddy waters within the interview, keep your cool and answer what strikes in your head. Also, it is imperative that you "walk the talk" that you put in your CV. Don't hesitate to remove certifications that you do not remember at all doing since that could prove fatal in your interview. Before this interview, I actually had failed to convert Increff's interview due to a bit of 'jitteryness' in the way I spoke. I noted that and made sure I wasn't repeating the same mistake again. If you have anything to discuss on my experience, please feel free to text me on LinkedIn. I'm always open to discuss anything about o9.