Hi Everyone! 

This is Anmol Garg, I got a GATE CSE score of 749 (AIR 343) in 2022 and 742 (AIR 447) in 2021. I applied to IIT Bombay MS By Research program in CSE with my 2022 score, as I am a General candidate and knew I won’t be getting a direct offer from any top IIT.

The admission process is available here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vShA2OZKqslk08AYc7C5_Y-4rTMtQET5MddL0YtHnUA86wT2a2-3BBT0G2RM3LOXXUph778c-oHJMAO/pub

The process consisted of 2 rounds, 1st round being a written test on Codetantra (pen-and-paper based) and 2nd round being an Interview. I had chosen Computing Systems (CS) Stream for my test and interview.

ROUND 1 – WRITTEN TEST
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As I had chosen CS stream, I had the option of attempting any 12 questions out of the following 3 panels:
1. Software Engineering, Compilers, Programming Languages
2. Systems Software
3. Hardware and Security

I mostly solved questions from Programming, DS & Algo, Computer Networks and Operating Systems.

Result :: SELECTED

ROUND 2 – INTERVIEW
---------------------------------

Before interview we were asked for our preferred stream (CS/TS/IS), and any RAP project (optional). I had chosen CS as my stream and Virtual Labs (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1op-KwA6B99WHKCoZOkMR3ULcIDPvvbboRWmBtT7QBNI/edit) project under Prof. Kameswari Chebrolu as RAP Project.

My interview panel consisted of Prof. Kameswari Chebrolu and Prof. Bhaskaran Raman

Initial questions were about my past projects and work experience, and the flagship projects I did when I was working.

I was then offered a choice between Computer Networks and Operating Systems as topic for Interview. I decided on Operating Systems as it is my strong suit.

OS questions were mostly from basics of Virtual Memory. I don't remember the exact questions, but some of them were like:

  1. What is virtual memory?
  2. In which cases is it used?
  3. If you have an unlimited amount of storage, will virtual memory still be used?

After answering these questions, I was given a choice between TA & RAP. I chose RAP as the Virtual Labs project seemed very interesting.

As I have experience in Back-end and microservices development and deployment, I was mostly asked questions from that space. Some of the interesting questions were:

  1. What is docker, and how does it work on a hardware level?
  2. Suppose you are maintaining a set of microservices, and you notice they are getting slow. What steps will you take to mitigate it?
  3. Do you know what AWS is? 
  4. What can be a real-world example of implementation of feedback queue. Give examples from projects you have done previously

After answering these questions, I was told that they were done, and I was free to ask them any questions. I asked questions about the project, such as:

  1. What’s the current state of the project
  2. If I join, at what state do I have to start work from (from scratch or not)
  3. What technologies were being used
  4. What’s the current timeline for this project

I learned that the project’s back-end is being built using Django, in which I have around 1.5 years of experience, so I told them about my experience and all the projects I have done in it. It was clear that they were impressed by it.

Then they asked me that if I were to be offered admission, will I join IITB or do I have any other preference, and if I do join IITB, will I prefer TA or RAP.

I again answered that IITB is my top choice and I would prefer RAP as I wanted to work on such a large scale problem.

Then the interview ended. It lasted for around 45 minutes.

Result :: SELECTED FOR RAP IN 1st ROUND

posted Jun 8, 2022
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