Forcepoint - Interview Experience

Forcepoint - Interview Experience

About Forcepoint

Forcepoint is an industry-leading cybersecurity company, that is leading the change of securing the world of cloud-enabled hybrid enterprise for a post-pandemic era. With a Data-first SASE-enabled approach, Forcepoint's solutions offer Unified secure access and data protection in the only SASE solution spanning on-prem, hybrid, and cloud.

Headquartered in Texas, US, Forcepoint employs 2,750 cybersecurity experts spread across 45 countries.

Forcepoint's behaviour-based solutions adapt to risk in real-time and are delivered through a cloud-native SASE security platform that protects users, devices, and networks as people access the web and cloud, and prevents the theft or loss of sensitive data and intellectual property no matter where people are working and eliminates breaches caused by insiders. Our offerings along with SASE include Smart Isolation (Remote Browsing Isolation), Cloud Security Gateway (web and cloud security), Private Access (Zero Trust Network Access), Email Security gateway and Next-Generation Firewall to offer enterprises of all sizes better visibility and control to protect against advanced threats as well as theft or loss of sensitive data.

Company Website: www.forcepoint.com

Eligibility Criteria

  • Branches Eligible are BE (Computer and Information Technology)

  • No current backlogs

  • Aggregate CGPI till current semester above 9

  • Minimum 85% in 12th / Diploma

  • Minimum 90% in 10th

Placement Process

The timeline for the placement process was:

  • Registration form due on 26th July 2022

  • PPT and Aptitude Test on 1st August 2022

  • Interview Rounds: 3rd August 2022

The eligibility criteria were very high, and hence only 30 candidates were eligible to give the online test for this placement drive.

Aptitude test

  • Mode: Online

  • Platform: Mettl (https://mettl.com)

  • Duration: 65 minutes

  • No Negative Marking

  • Total Questions: 36

  • No switching between sections, sectional timer active

  • Sections:
    Logical Reasoning (5 questions - 11 minutes)
    Quants (5 questions - 11 minutes)
    Analytical skills - Graph based questions (5 questions - 11 minutes)
    Verbal Ability (5 Questions - 11 minutes)
    Technical ability - Basics of C/C++, Javascript, Data Structures (16 questions - 21 minutes)

The test was conducted soon after the Pre-Placement Talk. The test conducted on Mettl was proctored using screen sharing and face/eye tracking. The level of questions asked was very easy. Learn basic concepts of C/C++ thoroughly and practice Arithmetic Aptitude and Data Interpretation questions from IndiaBIX platform.

At the end of this round, 13 candidates were shortlisted to proceed for the first technical interview.

Technical Interview 1

This interview was completely based on our projects, internships and interests.

  • I was first asked to introduce myself.

  • He then proceeded to ask in detail the aim, work done and impact of each of the projects and internships. This was a completely conversational type of interview, and the interviewer seemed genuinely interested in the work and usage of my projects.

  • As the job description extensively mentioned DevOps and Microservices, I mentioned my interest in this field and the corresponding experience with various DevOps tools like AWS and Docker. I was also asked about the need and use cases of Docker containers.

This being my very first technical interview definitely acted as a confidence booster.

At the end of this round, 8 candidates were shortlisted to proceed for the second technical interview.

Technical Interview 2

This interview focused completely on our problem-solving abilities and in-depth knowledge of Java and Databases.

  • I was first asked to introduce myself, and then I was asked to list out the qualities of why they should hire me. And for each of these qualities, I was asked to mention any experience that backed up each of my claims.

  • Then I was asked two simple logic-based puzzles:

    • If I ask you to find the total number of petrol pumps in Pune city with 80% accuracy, can you give me the minimum amount of time you will require for this job?

    • You have a small number of bacteria in a test tube that doubles in volume every 3 minutes. If the whole test tube was found to be filled in 48 minutes, at what time was only half of the test tube filled?

  • I was asked about the syntax of writing the standard Java main method and explained the purpose of each keyword used. Then the interviewer asked about all the possible variations in the syntax of the method definition and the resulting errors/exceptions. For example, will my program compile and run if I don’t write the public keyword for the main method? Similar questions for the static, return type and parameter list of the main method.

  • Then I was asked about indexing in databases and its disadvantages. The validity and result of the following SQL Queries were also asked:
    SELECT * FROM myTable WHERE 1=1
    SELECT * FROM myTable WHERE NULL=NULL

  • I was presented with 4 job roles which they had DevOps, Development, Database and Research. I chose DevOps as my first preference, so a few questions regarding the role of a DevOps Engineer in a project team was asked.

More than the correct answer to these questions, the interviewer was looking for our confidence. There were many attempts to make us doubt our answer and confuse us, even if our answer was correct. If you don’t know the answer, deny knowing the concept with confidence too.

At the end of this process, 4 candidates were shortlisted for the HR Interview Round.

HR Interview Round

The HR asked us to introduce ourselves, our family background, explain any one work experience in detail and what did you learn from it. And in the end, invited us to ask questions about the job.

This interview was just like a simple conversation with the HR and all 4 candidates were offered the job placement in the end.