From Code to Conversations: How This IT Engineer Navigated the IIM Shillong Interview
Candidate Profile
- Background: Bachelor of Engineering in Information Technology
- Work Experience: ~2 years in IT services and solutions
- Academics:
- 10th: ~85%
- 12th: ~75%
- Undergraduate CGPA: ~7.8
Interview Panel
- Panel Composition: 2 Male Professors
- P1: Focus on Economics, Policy, and HR
- P2: Focus on Technical & Domain Knowledge
- Duration: ~20–25 minutes
Interview Questions & Candidate’s Approach
Breaking the Ice & Profile-Related Questions
🔵 P1: Tell me about yourself.
🔵 P1: How do you keep yourself updated on current affairs?
Economics, Policy & Budget Awareness (P1)
🔵 Q1: What is the GDP growth rate? How is it related to the budget?
🔵 Q2: Explain the concept of GDP.
🔵 Q3: What are the different types of expenditure in the budget?
🔵 Q4: How does a common man contribute to GDP?
🔵 Case Question: “If you are a contractor providing services to this hotel, how do you contribute to GDP? Also, if you and your employees don’t spend, how does your work still contribute to GDP?”
Technical & Engineering Knowledge (P2)
🔵 Q1: Tell me about your work experience.
🔵 Q2: What subjects did you learn in engineering?
🔵 Q3: What is SDLC?
🔵 Q4: Difference between CPM and PERT?
🔵 Q5: Practical application of a palindrome?
🔵 Q6: Practical application of Fibonacci series?
🔵 Q7: Suggest 3 ways to improve data privacy and security for your client.
Personal Interests & Wrap-Up
🔵 Q1: How do you spend your free time?
🔵 Q2: Ok, you can go now.
Key Takeaways for Future Aspirants
- Prepare for economics and budget-related questions even if from a technical background; they test your business awareness.
- Expect applied technical questions—not just definitions, but real-world examples of core concepts.
- Use structured answers for HR cross-questions; be flexible if they interrupt.
- For case-based GDP/business scenarios, apply circular economy principles and practical logic.
- Always link work experience to business impact, not just technical tasks.
The above interview experience is based on real candidate interactions collected from various sources. To ensure privacy, some details such as location, academic figures, and company names have been altered. However, the core questions and insights remain authentic. These stories are intended for educational purposes and do not claim to represent official views of any institution. Any resemblance to actual individuals is purely coincidental.
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