How I got into Goldman Sachs as Software Analyst!
#100Stories is a series of transformational stories of courage and indomitable will to excel, picked from the lives of tech students, particularly in India. Initiative by Programming Pathshala.
Hi everyone,
My name is Shalini Thebaria, and I am from Chattisgarh. I have completed my Bachelors in Computer Science and Engineering from Lovely Professional University, Punjab and recently bagged an offer from The Goldman Sachs as their Software Analyst.
My journey to Goldman Sachs:
I started giving interviews aggressively about 7–8 months back. I applied to 15–20 companies but constantly faced rejection. Then I got placed with ZestMoney and after joining that, in a few days, I got a call from Goldman Sachs for the interview. I did not know how to react as this was a big milestone for me. I didn’t even know how many rounds were gonna be there, so after each round I felt excited and satisfied about clearing that round.
My Interview Experience with Goldman Sachs:
It is a great feeling to be a Software Analyst at Goldman Sachs. Everyone in my family is happy and that makes me very happy. My experience with Goldman Sachs’s Interview was great and very challenging. I did not know how many rounds were gonna be there. Not knowing about the number of rounds worked as an advantage for me as If I had known from before, I would have gotten nervous.
There were in total 6 rounds. After completing and getting selected into each round, I felt motivated. The first round was an online coding round which mainly consisted of mathematical and logical questions. The second and third round were interview rounds which were completely based on Data Structures and Algorithms. The questions varied from basic to advanced. The questions were very challenging. The next rounds were about hiring rounds which mainly consisted of system design questions. These rounds were very difficult and challenging for me as my system design was a little weak.
The whole process took one and a half weeks. It was very tiring but also very challenging.
Preparation for Goldman Sachs:
I was involved with Programming Pathshala from my third year itself. They helped me learn a lot of Programming/coding related stuff and gave very good content. I did not do a lot of coding before enrolling into Programming Pathshala’s course. I joined their 6 month program and gained a lot of good experience. After completing the course, I joined Zestmoney in January 2022 as SDE 1 and got a call from Goldman Sachs soon after that.
For my Resume preparation, I made sure that my resume was in a single page format. I believe having Good projects and technical skills can take your resume a long way, it should be in a well structured manner, I personally believe that it should be in a single column and all the achievements, projects, skills etc shall be mentioned in a very structured manner.
Special Memory with Programming Pathshala:
For me, a special memory with Programming Pathshala is of a summer course in college. This was the second time that I had the opportunity to interact with Programming Pathshala and this time I got properly involved with coding. Vivek and Bharat Bhaiya helped a lot in getting better at coding. We all sat together and did coding for hours which has made this a very special memory for me.
My key to motivation:
What kept me motivated throughout were my friends. We used to practice coding together and mentor each other whenever anyone faced any difficulties. My preparation had a lot of Gaps initially but when I joined Programming Pathshala, I could fill those gaps through their well structured videos. What helped me the most for my Interview preparations are my rejections from different companies, I kept giving more and more Interviews and eventually it helped me fill the voids and get better with my Interview Preparation skills.
Key to Success:
For me, my key to success has been Patience and Confidence. If you know an answer to a question but are not confident enough, then you can get confused and may commit a mistake so being confident with your skills is very important. And patience, as I said, I gave interviews for 12–15 companies and got rejected from all of them but I did not give up and kept going so keeping Patience and believing that you are meant for all good things and they will soon fall into your favor is again very important. Hence, for me Patience and Confidence are very important to keep in mind when taking the pathway to success.
A word of Advice:
As a piece of advice to my fellow coders I would like to say that instead of focusing only on DSA, you should also do projects. It is equally important. I would also like to say that the guidance we get is very important. If we don’t have correct guidance and a nudge in the right direction then it becomes really difficult. For me, what kept me motivated was the dream of getting into a good company. Even after getting rejected from so many companies, I stayed motivated and Renaissance helped me in it!
Renaissance helped me a lot and I am very grateful to it.
You can also start your journey with Programming Pathshala now. Log on to www.programmingpathshala.com and take a free trial.
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