Here are 3 points to help you to prepare for Java interviews right from the first day of getting into your engineering college

Any teen’s first semester of college is a significant turning point in their life. The transition from the security and comfort of high school to the uncharted waters of higher education is the start of a new chapter. College is frequently thought of as a time of new beginnings, adventures, and independence. Many teenagers will be living independently, making their own decisions, and taking charge of their own lives for the first time. A new level of exposure, exploration, and excitement is thus provided by college life. The chance to meet new people and make friends is one of the most exciting aspects of college life. Students from all over the world are congregating on college campuses to pursue their dreams and aspirations, causing the campuses to be alive and teeming with life. This mingling of cultures, thoughts, and viewpoints results in a setting that is full of diversity and encourages a sense of community. One of the best parts of college for many teenagers is meeting new people.

While it is important to enjoy your time as a fresher at college, it is also a crucial time for you to start learning and preparing yourself for the interviews so that you can achieve something great by the time you are eligible for your placements or explore off-campus opportunities as an intern or a full-time employee, or as a freelancer. In this article, we will try our best to help you with 3 tips to get you prepared for your Java test online right from the first day of getting into your engineering college. So without any further delay let us get you started with this amazing guide.

  1. Learn the fundamentals of programming and get used to the syntax of Java

As the very first step, you should have an understanding of how the user-created programs are, converted to first machine code, then binary code which the processor finally reads to accomplish instructions fed and generate an output corresponding to the input. 

Once you have this basic understanding, it is time for you to learn the basics of programming in Java language. Learn about fundamental programming concepts such as input, output, branching, conditional, looping, keywords, tokens, identifiers, ASCII codes, etc. To master the language’s syntax and the foundations of logic building, practice these ideas. Begin tackling simple problem-solving exercises on websites like GeeksForGeeks, CodeChef, Hackerrank, InterviewBit, etc., as they will be incredibly beneficial during interviews. Solving questions will also help you to get used to the syntax of Java, something that most newbies suffer with as they get started with a programming language. You also need to know how to read error messages which is very crucial to debugging your code. It is almost impossible to write the perfect code in the first go. Therefore you should know how to read error messages and trace back errors and fix them.

  1. Learn about your tools and get comfortable with them

Just like how it is very important for any engineer to know about his or her tools before he starts engineering new things, it is also very important for you as a software developer to know your tools and techniques very well so that you come up with a tactical approach, unlike a brute force approach that a newbie would have chosen. This is something that makes you stand different as compared to the rest of the crowd appearing for the same interview.

Data Structures and Algorithms form the tools and the tactical approach that you need to really have in an online coding test. Learn about Arrays, Linked Lists, Stacks, and Queues before moving on to learning about other linear data structures. Learn how basic operations on these data structures, such as adding and removing elements and determining the size of the collection of elements, operate. Knowing your tools well and understanding which Data Structures to use when are also crucial.

Next, learn about various searching and sorting techniques. Also learn about various strategies used to solve computational problems like Recursion, Dynamic Programming, Divide and Conquer approach, Master theorem, etc. It is also very important to practice these algorithms and implement Data Structures to get really comfortable with them and to memorize them.

Finally, move ahead and learn about non-linear Data Structures like Trees, Graphs, Tries, Heaps, and Maps. Also, learn about different advanced algorithms applied to specific Data Structures to solve a specific type of problem.

  1. Learn and practice the Object Oriented Programming concepts

You really need to have a good firm grip on the Object Oriented Programming concepts for the reason that Java follows a pure Object Oriented Programming Paradigm. You should start by learning about how Classes and Objects work in Java, and how they are used by the processor to point to specific internal memory locations. It is also recommended to have a fair knowledge of memory pool and heap, but if you feel like getting intimidated by them at first just move on and re-iterate these concepts while learning about Threads and Memory-Refernce Variable interaction.

Next, learn about Inheritance and its types and how Java solves the Diamond Problem. Learn about Polymorphism and its types and which one to use when, Learn about Abstraction next, and finally Encapsulation. It is important to have a practical approach to visualize scenarios in which you can use this principle in real-life software development. Interviewers are generally interested in the examples you give while attempting the questions related to Object Oriented Programming paradigm.

Finally, learn about concepts like Multithreading and Exception Handling. It is also necessary to learn about the Collections Framework which is an in-built library support for various data structures so that you don’t need to implement them every time before actually using them to solve problems.

Mercer | Mettl is one of the leading platforms used by tech giants to conduct their hiring tests in inline mode. You can use their services to prepare questions that were previously asked by the companies on their platform, in the same simulated environment as the real interviews.