I recently had the opportunity to appear for the IBM recruitment process. The journey started with an online assessment that consisted of three sections – 12 MCQs, 3 coding questions, and one more section (I don’t clearly recall). I was happy to get shortlisted for the interview after clearing the test. Before the technical round, I was a little nervous, but the interviewers were polite and professional, which made me comfortable. During the technical round, they asked me about: ● My project details and the programming languages I am proficient in ● The process of DNS ● The AI tools I am familiar with ● Some Operating System and Networking concepts ● A DSA question: finding the second largest element in an array The interview went well overall, but since I wasn’t very confident in computer networks concepts, I could not make it to the next round. In preparation, I mainly focused on easy to medium DSA questions, OOPs, and Java concepts. This experience helped me realize the importance of covering all core subjects along with coding, as interviews often test a balance of both. Though I didn’t clear the final round, it was a valuable learning experience and motivated me to work on my weaker areas to be better prepared for upcoming opportunities.