Top seven qualities of an entry-level computer science student with a bachelor's degree applying for industrial jobs in India.
Preparing for interview as a computer science graduate can be quite exhausting. To not be overwhelmed,
I decide to put together a list of major focus points which I feel are very important in my opinion.
- Must have a LinkedIn account.
- Create a GitHub account and add at least one project showcasing the programming ability. Make sure that you understand every part of the project. If it is a group project, then you should know the bigger
picture, have a general idea of what is used throughout the project, and explain your contribution clearly. It is a good idea to add your course assignments as projects. DON'T PLAGIARIZE AT ANY COST.
If possible show stages of SDLC or maybe add a design of the project or at the very least, add a class diagram.
- Must know how to use the git/GitLab using command line interface. You can add some commands as an "additional" project in GitHub. This will be considered as a very small project but it demonstrates your ability
to do routine tasks easily once you are hired.
- Must have solid fundamental knowledge of basic data structures including but not limited to array, strings, hashmap, heap, linked lists, number, trees, stack, queue, etc. from scratch (not using built-in functions).
Add code for basic operations like insertion, deletion, append, delete wherever applicable. Use your favourite programming language as an "additional" project in GitHub.
- Practice problems from leetcode/hacker rank/geeksforgeeks. Pick one language. Highly recommended languages are C/C++ and Java to understand object-oriented programming concepts. Python works but is a less preferable choice
in my opinion.
- Profound understanding of searching and sorting algorithms along with time and space complexity with examples on how to apply them to solve a problem optimally.
- Prepare a one-page resume. Make it very concise by using optimal keywords.
Bonus:
Host your personal website on GitHub demonstrating your profile. Allowed one per user. Visit https://pages.github.com/ for more information on this.
I hope this is helpful to you, not as a comprehensive guide, but as a guide to various topics that you must know before you apply for interviews.
Thank you for reading! Good Luck!
-SP