Who is this article for?
If you're currently an engineering student who is looking forward to participating in the upcoming Code for Good, then this article should provide you with some insight on what to expect and some tips which help you prepare for the same.
If you came across this by accident, do give it a read :P
Who am I?
Hi there :D
I'm Pradyoth P, a Final year Engineering student at The National Institute of Engineering, Mysuru, and a SEP Intern at JPMorgan Chase and Co. I got this role through my performance in last years Code for Good, which was also the 10th edition of the hackathon.
The Process, Explained!
JPMorgan Chase and Co. follows a slightly different procedure to recruit the best candidates from various colleges all over India.
The selection list for Code for Good is prepared based on the best candidates found in the first two rounds. So, read the following points below carefully and prepare well for the same.
Initially, there will be a presentation that will briefly cover information regarding JPMC and Code for Good, and what to expect. It will also cover information regarding the role you're applying for and the procedure through which recruitment will be done.
Coding Round:
The coding round will consist of 2 questions on the Hackerrank platform. The questions will be similar to easy/medium questions on Leetcode, GFG, or Hackerrank. The time provided was around one hour. If you've not been an active coder, do not worry, the questions are based on DSA concepts you would've encountered during your engineering like Arrays, Linked Lists, Stacks, Queues, Trees, or some Algorithms like searching, sorting, etc.
Tips from my side:
Look at the question like a Logical problem rather than a coding question initially. Figure out the logic part based on the question and test cases. Once you're good with that, then start coding in your preferred language. This way, you are clear with the solution and can convert it to code. If you start coding immediately, it might work but this approach works better, at least for me.Video Interview (Recorded)
This also had two questions and lasted for 5 minutes. It is a virtual interview that will be recorded i.e without an interviewer asking you questions on the HireVue platform. You're to speak for 2 minutes about each question and 30 seconds are allotted to prepare. Fret not, if your first attempt goes bad, a second attempt will be there. The questions will not be technical and is situational/behavioral. The questions given to me were:
1. Tell us about a recent Learning Experience you had while working on a project and the Outcome of it.2. What are your specific career goals?
Tips from my side:
Be clear and fluent.
Dress professionally.
Do not talk a lot because you are given just two minutes and you need to conclude within that time.
If you've been a part of clubs or done any internship, do talk about it if it's relevant to the question you are given.
Be honest, be confident, and at your best self.
Speaking in front of a camera is different from speaking in front of interviewers or a crowd for that matter. No one is listening at that moment so you should be prepared for how you would speak to a camera. You can practice on the HireVue platform to be prepared beforehand.
Most people manage to clear Round 1 easily but struggle to do well in Round 2. The Virtual Interview is very crucial and majorly decides whether you will qualify for Code for Good or not. It is insufficient if you do the coding round in 10 minutes but do not do well in the Interview. I would suggest to work a lot on your Soft Skills, not just for Code for Good but also to progress as an individual.
Code for Good - The Hackathon
Suppose you clear both the above rounds, you will be eligible to participate in Code for Good. There will be multiple Code for Good hackathons and a separate one for Summer Interns as well, so all the other participants will be your peers, and you will definitely have an equal chance at it. This is a huge event where one hackathon will have around 600-700 students participating who are divided into around 100 teams. You will receive a handbook and there will be a few sessions conducted to prepare you for the hackathon. I would suggest you attend it without fail as it will be really helpful. They will be on topics like Git which is really important for this hackathon. Many sessions will also be there to help you understand more about JPMC and Code for Good.
Code for Good is a series of hackathons hosted by JPMCs global technology centers, either in the office or virtually. During this event, participants are to spend 12-24 hours with Non-profit organizations and JPMC employees, in order to develop creative solutions to help nonprofits tackle real-world problems. The non-profit organizations' representatives will be there to describe their organization’s challenges and answer any questions you have. You’ll discover that many nonprofits have a distinct need for technology resources that could improve their operations or directly impact their work in the field. You get a chance to help them with that need, as well as an opportunity to get an offer to work at JPMC under their SEP, Software Engineer Program.
Who will you work with?
Teammates: 6-7 people apart from you from different colleges across India. They are also competing for the same job, but teamwork matters a lot so do get to know them and work as a team despite any differences you may come across. I personally bonded well with my team and we had a great time working with each other.
Team Mentors: Two Manager level JPMC Employees will be allotted to each team who will monitor and grade each team member, as well as guide and help your team. Do note that they are there to guide you, and help you with anything you need and they are also the ones who will interview you and decide whether you get an offer or not. They are senior employees with a lot of experience and knowledge, which can be a great asset to your team if their guidance is used well. I am personally grateful to both my mentors who helped me a lot, and stayed connected with me post midnight as well when I was working on the project.
SMEs: SME stands for Subject Matter Experts. You will be working on various different technologies, and there will be many JPMC employees skilled in each of those since JPMC is a huge firm where the latest technologies are used. They will always be there and ready to help you with any problems you face or advice you need. Always take their help when you feel so without thinking twice as time matters in any hackathon.
Program Managers: There are program managers who are the brains behind conducting such events. If you face any issues, you can contact them. They are super kind and helpful.
Non-profit representatives: They are the ones who provide the project and specify the requirements. There will be a Q&A session with them where you can find out more details apart from the problem statement document which will be provided.
These are the people you come in direct contact with during the hackathon. Apart from them, you are free to use any resources available online, to help you learn more and make progress on your project.
What will you work with?
Git and GitHub
BeMyApp - JPMC portal for code for good project submission and other resources.
Slack - Code for Good communication
Zoom
Preferred code editor, video editor, or any other technology you might need.
Now, let me start from the beginning and lay out the actual flow of the hackathon.
I participated in the Code for Good held on the 11th and 12th of June, 2022.
We had a few sessions before the hackathon. I don't think more explanation on that is required so let's proceed to the next step.
Around 2 days before the hackathon you will be informed about your team and team mentors. Slack will be the medium used for all Code for Good related communication. You can create groups with them and connect. There will also be a Mentor-Team huddle session. Make sure to first bond well with them. Get to know them a bit and become friends as you've to work together during the weekend. After that, discuss your technical strengths and the tech stack you might use for the event. The problem statements usually require a web development-based solution so you can determine who will work on what part of the application. I worked on the backend and database part while my teammates worked on the front end. We also integrated an AR-based feature which made our project unique.
At around 9 AM, the Opening ceremony was there which kickstarted the two days event. All the problem statements were released, and after an hour of discussion with the team and our mentors, we decided the order of our preferences, there were a total of 10 problem statements and we had to choose our preferred ones which would be allotted to teams on a first come first serve basis. You need to be really fast and choose the problem your team feels comfortable and confident to solve. Later, there were presentations by the non-profits followed by a Q&A session with them. I attended this to get more details while my team worked on a strategy and roadmap to the problem statement at hand.
Now, with everything set and the idea ready on what kind of solution we wanted to come up with, we started the development. To briefly explain the same, we were given the problem statement by Bangalore Food Bank. You can find out more information about them on their website. They wanted to redesign their website and automate receipt generation for their donors as soon as payments were processed through Razorpay. They also wanted to find a way through which the donors would spread the word and hence, reach prospective donors who might donate to the cause. We were all not "Pro Developers" or anything so we decide on the tech stack based on the teams understanding and knowledge. We used flask on the backend since I was familiar with it, and MySQL for the database. Frontend was done using HTML, CSS, JS, and Bootstrap. We also integrated a PDF Generator, Twilio API, Razorpay portal, and an Instagram AR Filter. Personally, the biggest challenge for me and my team was working with flask and MySQL because we spent a lot of time debugging errors we faced during that. SMEs helped us a lot to resolve this. My team mentors were amazing and they also helped with a lot of helpful suggestions on the development side.
There were a few fun sessions here and there at night to keep us engaged with scribble, which was a good touch considering how much of a stress buster it was. We were also encouraged to go sleep for a while but me being me preferred to finish development. After that as well, I couldn't sleep thinking of Day 2. The coding cutoff was 10 AM (12 hours after we started coding) and we had to make a video presentation of 7 minutes and upload all our files. We were given one hour post 10 AM to do so. Now, this concludes the hackathon process and then we proceed to the judging rounds. To watch our presentation, check out the video below :)
PS: All 4 of us in the presentation are now working at JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Major Challenges we faced:
Two of our teammates left before the hackathon began due to personal issues.
No highly skilled frontend developer on our team.
Flask integration with MySQL💀
There were two judging rounds for each non-profit problem statement.
First, the Technical Judging Round will be there where your application will be judged based on the tech you've used and the UI. The judges were senior JPMC employees. We probably lost points here because our UI was basic although the judges were impressed with other parts of our application.
The top two teams for each problem statement would then qualify to the Final presentation round with the judges being from JPMC and Non-profit representatives. Here, they will assess the solution with respect to the actual problem statement which was given.
Finally, at 3 PM the awards ceremony was there wherein the winner for each problem statement was announced and the event was finally concluded.
What about the Job Interview?
This happened during the 12 hours when we worked on the application. The interviewers were the mentors we had in our teams. They conducted 1 on 1 interviews with each of us and assessed us there, as well as throughout the hackathon. So I had two interviews with each mentor. These were Technical + Managerial Interviews with very tricky questions I must say.
Never had I thought a subject ignored by everyone in college, Microprocessors would be asked in my interview, but one question was asked based on that. Other technical topics touched upon were DBMS, DSA, Python, Java, C++, Networks, Unix, Cloud, AR and VR, ML, Theory of Computation, and a few other topics. This was a mix of my interests as well as the college curriculum. We also talked about Photography, Music, Mysore, My Projects, My College, JPMC, and so on. It felt more like a discussion with a friend as both the mentors were super friendly. Finally, we discussed the project and the tech stack we used as well as my experience during these two days. So, each interview lasted around 20-30 minutes. I also connected 1 on 1 with my mentors multiple times where they might've assessed me.
I'm repeating this again, your soft skills matter a lot. Even during the interview, you'll be judged based on that as well but the Technical Part will be more focused upon this time. The interviews depend vastly based on the interviewer so your experience might be different from mine.
Final Thoughts
This was a whole new experience for me as it was my first Hackathon experience. It was also the first company I appeared for during placement season. My seniors from NIE who had previously attended Code for Good guided me a lot on what to expect and hence, I was well prepared for the Event. Also, everything I learned from my first year did make a difference and it all came together on this day, which helped me perform my best during the event. I was sure of my performance at the end and was confident about getting in. So much so that I did not attend any other company's recruitment which occurred after Code for Good and waited to see my name on the selected list. I hope so that if you've read this far patiently, then you will also be well prepared to participate in Code for Good and perform your best.
If you're going to begin your preparation after reading this much, let me just suggest a few things again.
Solve easy-medium problems on Leetcode, Hackerrank, GFG etc. Think logically first before starting to code.
Practice speaking in front of a camera and work on your soft skills
Get started with development and become skilled at either frontend or backend. If possible, get familiar with full-stack development.
Network and make friends during the event. You guys might have it offline which will be even more fun.
Have fun, take adequate rest, and eat properly during the event.
Focus on the learnings and takeaways from the event so that you progress technically.
Brush up on Computer Science concepts and be prepared to explain about your resume and projects.
ALL THE BEST :D
If you still have any doubts or want to know more, do feel free to reach out to me. Happy to help :)