How he got selected in Oracle & Amazon | Complete Oracle Hiring Process for Software Engineers

Main ideas, concepts, and lessons

Student journey & balancing responsibilities

• The student explains that a student must juggle many things simultaneously: DSA practice, internships, hackathons, development work, building projects, exams, and assignments.
• This “juggling” makes staying focused and consistent especially important.

Impact of AI on cheating and fairness

• After AI tools became common, cheating increased significantly.
• Due to leaked solutions and new cheating techniques (including social media leaks and screen-sharing/AI tab tricks), the speaker and their circle reduced contest usage.
• Cheating reduces the confidence students gain from solving problems legitimately, and it unfairly increases competition by setting unrealistic expectations.

Oracle hiring process (round-by-round)

Initial shortlisting

• Based on CGPA criteria (given as 7.5 for CSE).

OA (Online Assessment) round

Includes:

• 60 MCQs
  • Mostly DSA topics and CS fundamentals
  • No quant/logical reasoning style questions
• 2 coding questions
  • One easy (string/stack type)
  • One medium-to-hard (tree-related)

Summary:

• Total: 62 questions in under 90 minutes
• Shortlisting rule: candidates who passed all test cases and solved both coding questions were shortlisted.

Interview rounds after OA

• After OA shortlisting, there are ~50–60 candidates.
• Interviews are scheduled as:
  • Two technical interviews
  • One managerial interview
  • One HR round

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Technical interview #1 themes

• The first technical interview felt challenging because the interviewer asked C/C++-focused questions, even though the candidate’s resume listed Java.
• Example questions mentioned:
  • Memory concepts: where global variables are stored (heap vs stack concept; candidate couldn’t answer one)
  • Operator overloading (candidate noted it’s C++-specific, not implemented in Java)

Candidate experience:

• They felt temporarily “out of the competition.”
• They improved in the next round due partly to:
  • Communication and confidence
  • When they couldn’t answer, they:
    • stated they could do better with time
    • explained their limitation honestly

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Technical interview #2 themes

• Focused on both:
  • projects/system understanding
  • coding/system design

Example questions mentioned:

• Project architecture
  • Explaining hierarchy, files, and workflow
• Scalability / system design
  • How to serve thousands of users without crashing
  • Example approaches: increase resources, use pagination/chunked data instead of loading everything
• Coding (LeetCode: Valid BST)
  • Candidate wrote the solution quickly from prior practice
  • Follow-up asked about implementing in “log n” terms; candidate didn’t initially understand
  • Interviewer clarified there wasn’t a straightforward “login” solution for the case
  • The interviewer was essentially testing patience and reasoning, including what the candidate would do if an optimal solution isn’t available (e.g., fallback approaches)

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Managerial interview themes

• No coding questions
• Discussion covered:
  • Projects and internships: what they learned and their impact
  • Strengths/weaknesses and parental support
  • Operating Systems: page replacement algorithms
  • Team interests for Oracle (candidate expressed interest in the Cloud team)

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HR round

• HR primarily covered logistics/administrative topics:
  • locations
  • team-related information
• Results were communicated after the HR call.

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How selection was achieved (top factors)

• The candidate identifies communication as the biggest factor:
  • They believe they were previously rejected elsewhere (example: Accenture) due to weak communication style in large-company interviews.
  • They improved by practicing explaining solutions aloud, as if teaching the interviewer:
    • “If I can write it but can’t explain it… I practice explaining the workflow and reasoning.”
• Confidence + honest assessment also helped:
  • asking for time
  • acknowledging gaps
  • showing an improvement mindset

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Advice for students preparing in the last 2–3 months

Learning strategy

• Don’t try to finish the entire syllabus if you’re behind.
• If you haven’t started DSA:
  • Start grinding DSA from zero (focus on steady practice).

Resume/projects strategy

• Avoid only “making projects.”
• Build solutions to real problem statements.
• Be ready to explain:
  • the workflow
  • how the code operates
  • the impact of the solution
• Use hackathon-style problem statements (example: Adobe hackathon involving a PDF-related problem).

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Changing expectations about placements

• Initially, the candidate had high expectations from news of very high packages (e.g., mentions of 1.2 CR / 1 CR stories).
• Over time they realized:
  • those figures are CTC and often not equal to cash-in-hand
  • packages may be international/US-related with different cost structures
  • top companies select only a small number of students, making competition sharper by 3rd/4th year

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Role of “Alpha batch” / coaching

• “Alpha batch” is credited with introducing them to DSA and improving consistency.
• They mention learning from videos and realizing DSA knowledge provides long-term advantage.

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Earlier internship / teaching assistant experience (UPNA)

• HR called them after they applied for a teaching assistant intern position at UPNA College.
• They were asked about DSA/OOPs and CS fundamentals.
• They describe it as their first step into the corporate world, building confidence in explaining and teaching others.

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Parental reaction

• When the placement came (while they were on campus), friends celebrated, and then they informed parents.
• Mother, father, and grandmother were very happy and proud.

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Using AI in Oracle work

• They use AI tools, but with emphasis on:
  • AI used to reduce repetitive work, not to generate random code
  • providing context/workflow via prompts so AI generates the correct files/scripts/workflows
  • reviewing and correcting outputs before final use
• Overall outcome: time saving and convenience, as long as prompts are detailed and verification is done.

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Methodology / instructions presented (bullet format)

Interview preparation and communication practice (implied method)

• When solving a problem:
  • If you can solve but can’t explain (or vice versa), practice explaining aloud.
  • Pretend you are explaining the solution to the interviewer:
    • describe how it works
    • describe the workflow
    • describe the reasoning
• When you don’t know an answer during interviews:
  • Communicate honestly that you need more time
  • Ask for a chance to revisit (or explain you’ll do better with another attempt)

DSA preparation strategy for the last 2–3 months

• If you haven’t started DSA:
  • Start DSA grinding from zero
• Avoid:
  • trying to finish the entire syllabus quickly without a base

Project strategy for resume/interviews

• Do not only “make projects.”
• Instead:
  • build solutions to real-world problem statements
  • use hackathon problem statements as practice inputs
• Be able to explain during interviews:
  • workflow
  • code structure
  • what impact the project provides

AI usage approach at work (how to use it effectively)

• Provide AI with:
  • the task
  • the workflow context
  • detailed prompts so nothing important is missing
• After AI generates code/files:
  • review and correct
• Use AI primarily for:
  • reducing repetitive work
  • speeding up workflow/code generation, not replacing understanding

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Speakers / sources featured (identified)

• Primary speaker/interviewee:
  • The software engineer candidate (selected at Oracle)
  • They discuss Oracle hiring process, cheating/AI impacts, preparation advice, and AI usage at work.
• HR interviewer(s) mentioned:
  • An HR person who contacted them for UPNA teaching assistant intern interview and later for an HR call for Oracle (no names provided).
• Oracle interviewers:
  • A technical interviewer (mentioned as C/C++-oriented)
  • A second technical interviewer (system/coding questions; mentioned testing patience)
  • A managerial interviewer (projects, internships, teams, OS page replacement algorithms)
• External organizations/brands referenced (not interviewed speakers):
  • Oracle
  • Amazon
  • Google
  • JP Morgan & Chase
  • Accenture
  • UPNA college
  • Oracle teams (e.g., Cloud team)
  • Adobe (hackathon example)
  • Telegram (leaks mentioned)
  • LeetCode (Valid BST problem reference)
  • AI platforms (general references)
  • Zumato / Blinkit (mentioned in passing)
  • X (social media) referenced generally (no specific creator)