Founder & CTO @SMERGERS & @wealthrox
Past - Dev Infra @Google · RF @NI · CS @USC

Currently
Founder & CTO @SMERGERS & @wealthrox
Previously
Dev Infra Intern @Google NYC RF @NI-WCDMA
Computer Science @USC
Contact
hey [at] krishnabharadwaj.info
05-Aug-2008

Today ( yesterday) was a great day in my life. I got placed in National Instruments. One of the companies I had in my mind for quite sometime.. I'm very happy about it. ๐Ÿ˜Š

The recruitment process of NI was simply the best. I had heard this from many of my seniors, I just saw that myself today. The process had a written round (subjective, basically code snippets), followed by 2 rounds of technical interview.

NI has 65 employees in India (Bangalore) office. 12 of them had come for the recruitment process(around 20% of NI's strength in India was in BMSCE ๐Ÿ˜‰ ). The ppt began at around 9:30 and lasted for around 30 - 45 minutes. Many of us were happy to know about the products NI has developed over a period of time. We all were very happy to look at the way NI guys interacted with themselves and with others too. Many of them were BMSCE pass outs. This was something which we could hear quite often " I would love to work with those guys", Even I said that a couple of times ๐Ÿ˜Š

The written round started, I saw the question paper. I found it way too difficult. There were 16 questions, numbered from 0000 to 1111 (yes, binary) and there were many questions where logical AND (&&) were also used to indicate that the answer of question no 'X' is considered if answer of question 'X-1' is correct. I just went through the questions quickly. The first question which i could solve was the 13th question i guess. Time limit was 45 minutes. There was enough time for us to think. Some of the problems were very interesting. I took my time to analyze the code snippets by taking certain inputs and considering some cases. The part B considered a problem statement. We had to write code for that. It was a simple problem. I took a lot of time. I wanted to make sure that I don't go wrong in this, because this code had a lot of value when compared to other problem previously solved. I had left 3 questions unanswered.

After I come out of the room.. I see others discussing the answers. This is when i started feeling low. Everyone comes up with a different solution and tries to prove that others have done it wrong ๐Ÿ˜› I had left 3 questions already, over that all this.. I was really depressed. Went to kamat with subramanyam (colleague now ๐Ÿ˜‰ ), had some juice.. and came back. The number of wrong answers were ever increasing. I gave up. This is the best part, I started playing tennis in formals!!

The results were out by around 1. I went near the placement office from the tennis court, Just to see if i was lucky enough. 28 were shortlisted for the interview and I was one among them. We had interviews from 2. First round of interview got over at 2:45.. Then we had to wait till everyone finishes their interview. It was 6 by the time all 28 were done with it. The results of first technical interview was announced at 7. All the shortlisted candidates were asked if we would like to have the interview today itself or the next day. Most of us were ready for today. Then came one twist. We were told that each interview will last for 1 and half hour. Half of them said tomorrow, while the other half including me were stressing it on having it today itself. After sometime, everyone agreed upon having it today itself.

Girls and those who stay far off were given priority. I just realized that my interview will be from 11 to 12:30. I was excited about it. In the mean time, Pizza's were ordered for all of us. First batch students had pizza's during their interview ๐Ÿ˜› while the rest of us had it before we went for the interview.

My turn came, I was confident because of my previous interview which went really well. This time it was a different story. I was asked questions on permutations and some array related problems. I was very slow in doing it and i did a lot of mistakes. They asked me to use a better approach for solving the problem. After the interview, I realized how good it is to have a mentor who is technically very good. Basically, the interview was spoon feeding, which was the same for most of us. Even a complex problem seemed simple after they taught us how to do it. I liked it a lot. I was asked how i'll be going home. I replied "bike". They asked me to leave since it was very late and I was told that the results will be announced the next day. But thankfully, it was announced on the very same day. I was one among the 6 who were selected. Subramanyam Shastri and Chetan G were also selected. I'm very happy today though I'm finding it hard to believe the fact. I'm very proud to be a part of NI. I just wanted to write all this today itself. Its 3:31 AM. Microsoft GTSC will be visiting our campus tomorrow at 8:30am. I better sleep now ๐Ÿ˜Š

Keerthi 28 Nov. 8, 2017

Hi sir..

Nice to read your experience.
Iam going attend NI interview on November or December. But I didn't get about interview process.. Can you tell that what are all the rounds will be there. So that I can prepare according to that. It is my dream company.. I hope I'll be a part of NI. And Iam from IT department.

Robin Singh Sept. 27, 2015

Hi Krishna,
Your interview experience is really interesting. I'm also aiming for NI. Me being from mechanical background, can u please suggest some key areas to focus and prepare for the interview. I'll be applying for application engineer post. Thanks in advance.

nikhil singhi Aug. 20, 2014

hello krishna (sir),
I would like to know the various areas in programming where ni ocusses in coding around,do they ask data structure. Ni is visiting our campus on 22nd august so can you please take the trouble to reply soon

jayanth Aug. 4, 2013

Can u tell us about the questions asked in the interview and 1st round.

pooja July 21, 2013

Hi,I am a final year ENTC student, I wanted to know the eligibility for us, do they accept fresher's.
Also I am doing my project on data acquisition so I want to do a NI certified course.Will that be useful for me further for recruitment in a good company.

Anand Baskaran July 12, 2013

Hi Krishna,

A very nice post! Great to hear that you got placed in National Instruments. I guess you are 5 years experienced person in National Instruments.
National Instruments is going to visit our campus probably by this month end. Hope I'l be a part of NI family and meet you soon.

Kashif Sami Feb. 8, 2012

Hi Krishna.

That was a very interesting post.ย 

I am an entrepreneur and a final year engineering student (Instrumentation). I am passionate about sales and would love to join NI in a sales position.

Could you share any info on the work culture in the sales arena and what NI looks for in a candidate for a sales position. Perhaps a colleague of yours could be of help.ย 
Thanks!

Gayathri Jan. 27, 2012

Hi, I'm doing EIE final year in Chennai. Can u give me some details about recuritment process for Instrumentation graduates and aboutย  NI's expectations from me???

Krishna Bharadwaj Jan. 28, 2012

Hi Gayathri, The process will be the same for Instrumentation grads as well. Just that your interview will be focused more on your core subjects. All positions at National Instruments expect you to be fairly strong with programming. All the best.

Anitha Sept. 6, 2011

its fun to read this after ย 2 years!!

Krishna Bharadwaj Sept. 6, 2011

3 Years :)

Ami1pa1el Aug. 16, 2011

hi ,i am from EE ,by now you would be having some experience about how things are done at ni ,i want to know what EE(communictaions ) people do at ni ,and what kind of questions they would be expecting from us during technical interviewย 

Krishna Bharadwaj Aug. 17, 2011

There is a RF group which works on Wireless standards like Mobile WiMax, CDMA, WCDMA, LTE , WLAN etc.ย 
In the technical round, you will be quizzed on signals and systems, signal processing etc.. along with programming.