ZS Associates Cloud Interview Experience for Platform Engineer (On-Campus) 2023

I appeared for the ZS Associates test + interview in August 2022 through college placement for a Cloud Platform Engineer role. A total of 3 rounds were conducted. The whole procedure was in virtual mode.

ZS Associates had come for 4 profiles in our college:

• Business Operations Associate (BOA) (Open to all branches).
• Business Technology Solutions Associate (BTSA) (Open to CS, IT, and circuit branches).
• Cloud Platform Engineer (Open to CS & IT).
• AWS Administrator (Open to CS & IT).

The procedure for Cloud Platform Engineer and AWS administrator was the same and conducted together.

Eligibility:

• SSC, HSC, Diploma: 70% & above
• Engineering: 6.50 CGPA & above

Round 1 Aptitude: The aptitude round consisted of multiple sections

• Logical reasoning
• Quantitative aptitude
• Verbal
• Data interpretation
• Image matching
• CS fundamental subjects

Surprisingly there were no guestimates also the aptitude round was quite easy only data interpretation questions were difficult.

Result: 13 students (Cloud Platform Engineer + AWS Administrator) were shortlisted after this round.

Round 2 Technical Interview: In the interview, two interviewers were there to take interview and it started with an introduction. The main focus of the interview was concepts of cloud and DevOps. I had done Microsoft Azure Fundamental(AZ-900) certification so I was able to answer the questions but I was unable to answer advanced level questions, so I informed my interviewer that my knowledge of cloud is beginner level and I primarily prepared for development profile and my working domain is data science and machine learning. My interviewers were very friendly and kind they decided to take my interview based on DSA and machine learning. After that, they asked questions based on OOPs, OS, CN, and DSA.

The following questions were asked me:
• First they started with an introduction.
• Then they moved on to the cloud and DevOps-related questions.
• He asked me questions based on my certification.
• Interviewer asked me about one of my projects which I mentioned in my introduction and also on my resume. I explained to him the whole project and while explaining I mentioned that my project gives 97% accurate prediction according to Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE). He was quite amazed at that high accuracy. He asked me to open and execute the project if possible. So I showed him my project, and he asked many questions related to the technicality and working of my project.
• After that he moved on to OOP and asked me the meaning of public static void main(String args[]), as I had mentioned to him that java is my coding language.
• All OOP concepts.
• Difference between call by value and call by reference.
• Linux commands. He asked me to tell him all the Linux commands that I know.
• TCP vs UDP
• DNS
• Which command is used to check the proper connection? I explained to him how I will use the ping command to check the connection and also told him that a network layer protocol Internet Connection Message Passing (ICMP) can be used for this purpose.
• How do you know that a site is secure?
• They asked me to write 3-4 codes on a notepad. The questions were about OOP and easy to the medium array, string questions. While coding I used proper coding norms.
The interview went on for around an hour and they were quite satisfied with my answers.

Result: 11 students (Cloud Platform Engineer + AWS Administrator) were shortlisted after this round.

Round 3 EBI + FIT: This round was a combination of technical plus managerial interviews. The purpose of this round was to check if you are a perfect fit for their job role. My interviewer was the director of the cloud from the Chicago office of ZS Associates. He was very friendly and he made me comfortable with small talk. He first gave his introduction and then asked for mine. Then I explained my project and asked some basic cloud questions. He then asked about my co-curricular activity. It seemed like he was genuinely interested in knowing me if I have the qualities to work under pressure and if I am a team player. He also asked some situation-based questions and standard HR questions like what is your greatest achievement? Overall the interview was pretty chill and he was just checking up on my personality and if I possess the required qualities to work in a team and my technical knowledge. In the end, he asked me why do I want to work in zs? To which I gave my prepared answer. He said your answer seemed like it is prepared but even if it is prepared it’s good to sign and he wrapped up the interview on that note.

Result: 4 students were selected 3 for AWS administrator and 1 for Cloud Platform Engineer.

Final verdict – Selected.

Tips:
1. Don’t boast about your resume because they will ask questions based on your resume.
2. AWS certification will give you a brownie point.
3. Be thorough with CS fundamental subjects.
4. Don’t be fake in EBI + FIT round.