Friday, November 11, 2016

Hi Friends, I am sharing this interview experience because I could not find any such experience when I needed it. So, I believe this will help all those out there preparing for DRDO Scientist 'B' post. Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) works under Department of Defence Research and Development of Ministry of Defence. DRDO dedicatedly working towards enhancing self-reliance in Defence Systems and undertakes design & development leading to the production of world-class weapon systems and equipment in accordance with the expressed needs and the qualitative requirements laid down by the three services(http://www.drdo.gov.in/). 

In 2016 they have published a notification regarding the post with details(rac.gov.in). Number of posts per discipline was also mentioned in the notification as well. However, they increased the number of vacancy later and again invited pupil to apply. Their shortlisting criteria was GATE'15 and GATE'16 score.  Finally, they called shortlisted candidates for Interviews. I was shortlisted by GATE'15 score. My interview location was Bangalore. Now I will share the interview experience which is more important I think.



* The weighting scheme was 80% GATE score and 20% Interview score. But you have to score 70% in the interview itself to be considered for further selection.
* Interview Date: 1st October 2016
* Reporting time : 9:00 am. (They are very disciplined about timing, so try to be in time.)
* Document verification was done before the interview. (The guy was very slow :P)
* I was second in interview queue. So, I hadn't to wait there for a long time.

Interview panel Structure
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Five(5) persons were there. Chairman, Subject Expert, External member, Departmental Expert, etc.
They questioned one by one starting from the chairman.
Chairman
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Q1. Introduce Yourself.
Q2. What is your M.Tech project? as I was doing M.Tech at that time.
Q3. Difference between Circuit Switch and Packet Switch Network.
Q4. In the current Radio Access Network(RAN) scenario when data and voice both are transferring how RAN differentiates them?
Q5. What are the states of a process? Describe them.
Q6. Given some scenario, I was asked to tell at what state the process will go?

Person 2 (I forgot the designation)
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Q1. What is the primary goal of LTE?
Q2. Tell me something about Cloud Radio Access Network.
Q3. What is Mobile IP.
Q4. What are the wireless routing protocols?
Q5. Some Questions on Network Security?

Person 3
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Q1. Difference between Data Structure and Database?
Q2. Flynn's Classification and some related problems.

Person 4
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Q1. Question on context switching.
Q2. Interrupt handling.
Q3. What is IoT?
Q4. What Boot loader, device driver and some software related question.

Person 5
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Q1. What are the ongoing projects of DRDO?
Q2. If there is any security alert in the country what will DRDO do?
Q3. On which field (some options were given ) you want to work on?
Q4. How will you assure that your computer is not under security threat inside office premises?
Q5. What is Quality Assurance and Quality control of software design and at which phase those are assured?

Keys to Note
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* Must visit drdo official site and rac.gov.in before you are going for the interview. They will certainly ask about their ongoing project. As  I did not visit those pages I could not answer ongoing project related question and they won't be much pleased with that.
* Computer Network, Network security, operating system is their favorite subject. Try to tell those when they will ask about your favorite subject.
* At every point, they will try to make you feel comfortable.
* Here are some recommended books which are self sufficient for DRDO interview
* Computer Networks

Computer Organisation and Architecture

Database Mangement System (DBMS)

Software Engineering

Information Security

Operating System

Data Structures and Algorithms Design


My Interview was not that good. But my overall experience is very good. Inside DRDO office when you see the photos of the great scientist of our country you will surely feel proud.
Paid canteen is also there. Food quality is very good and very cheap.

Finally result came on 9th Nov 2016 (I think) and I was selected. :)


Hope this will help you all. Thank You...

68 comments:

  1. You said your interview was not that good but you were selected, how much percentage of answers you had given and how many minutes did it last? Was your gate score very good?

    Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Hi Swapnil.Thanks for asking.
      What I meant by not so good interview is that I was not that much satisfied with all the answer I have given. By the way I answered all technical questions but couldn't answer all the DRDO related questions.
      The interview duration was 1 hour.
      My Gate Rank was 116 score 841.
      Gate score weightage is 80% and interview weightage is 20%.

      Delete
    2. Thanks brother.

      I had my interview on 12th March 2018. It went for around 55 minutes as it went pretty average. Is interview weightage 20% for sure? And as mentioned in the advertisement, minimum 70% we have to score in interview. Do people get less than 70% as well? I mean if it went for 55 minutes, i thought in last 10 to 15 minutes, i could answer only few. If my gate score is good, but interview went pretty average or below average, are there good chances of selection or depends on interview only?

      Delete
    3. Hi when was your advertisement released,and date of result?

      Please tell.

      Delete
    4. I want to know to working culture of scientist b in drdo

      Delete
  2. Hi bro,

    Drdo also released their application in march 2016. In which month they conducted interview for them ?

    My gate cse 2017 rank is 140 and score is 832.

    I am studying in iit m and my performance is poor.

    So I want to apply for drdo when they relase application in march 2018.

    In which month they conduct interview for march applicants ?

    Will they ask what u did between 2017-2018 ?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi bro,

    Drdo also released their application in march 2016. In which month they conducted interview for them ?

    My gate cse 2017 rank is 140 and score is 832.

    I am studying in iit m and my performance is poor.

    So I want to apply for drdo when they relase application in march 2018.

    In which month they conduct interview for march applicants ?

    Will they ask what u did between 2017-2018 ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi man,
      Congratulations for the rank you secured.
      We were the march 2016 applicant. But due to increasing number of seats interview was scheduled in October.
      Now as far as the 2018 advertisement there is possibility of having the interview on or before October.
      This time number of vacancy is gonna be quite high so getting through DRDO is highly probable.
      They might ask you about your current curriculum where you can say your Mtech program.

      Delete
    2. Thank You bro

      What is the take home salary of drdo scientist b for cse people.

      Training period is for how many months.

      Delete
    3. Take home salary is highly variable. It depends on service location.
      Training period is for 4 to 6 months.

      Delete
  4. Hello sir,
    I want to know regarding mechanical stream interview, i know you are Computer engg. graduate but your colleague might be a Mechanical graduate ,so can you please guide us regarding mechanical..
    also i want to know regarding work culture in DRDO, posting criteria.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Tushar,
      Number of seats for mechanical is more than that of CSE obviously.
      As far as Interview is concerned they start with basic questions and gradually increase the level, but they always make you feel comfortable. I will ask one of my friends to address your interview related question.
      Coming to the work culture DRDO will give you ample opportunity to research and grow but you have to have some zeal in you.
      Maximum labs have mechanical as their backbone, So you may be posted to any lab. But according to the new trend they try to give location near to candidate's home location.

      Delete
  5. how did you get an interview at drdo .. I mean did they come to your campus or you submitted your resume somewhere?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Sneha,
      Neither they came to campus nor I submitted resume anywhere. From 2016 they started recruiting scientists based on GATE Score. I got interview call based on GATE 2015 Score only.

      Delete
  6. thanks a lot .I really appreciate what you have done ...

    ReplyDelete
  7. hi and big congratulation to you for making to drdo.i have a question will in depth knowledge of core engineering subject is enough because i have not done my b.tech project quite well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you haven't done your B.Tech project very well then no need to mention that explicitly. They generally ask the broad spectrum of the project not the technical details of that. In depth knowledge of core Engineering is sufficient to face the interview board. All the best.

      Delete
    2. hello! what do you mean by broad spectrum of the project, actually i didn't understand so..

      Delete
  8. Hi! I have got an interview call from DRDO through GATE 2018. How do I prepare for the interview? Is GATE level preparation enough? And what are the other areas I need to focus on? Please guide.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Sampada,
      First of all many many congratulations.
      Gate level preparation is OK but along with that you need to be well versed with the subject software engineering and information security. Some questions will definitely be asked from there. You may face some questions from your grad or post grad project. Last but not the least don't forget to visit DRDO wiki and homepage before the interview.
      All the very best.

      Delete
    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    3. Thanks a lot Sir! it really helped. Can you also please give details about the later process like after how many days of the declaration of the result for recommendation to DRDO HQ, do we get the appointment letter and what about medical and other stuff? It would be a great help. Much Thanks.

      Delete
    4. mam how much gate score is needed for DRDO

      Delete
  9. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thankyou for such a valuable blog post Sir. Was your project based or related to RAN ? As many related questions have been asked. Also, what subjects are most important from the interview point of view ? And any other things that we need to prepare for the interview ? Also, it would be great if you could brief about the exact work of a CS graduate in DRDO.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi. Thanks for A2A.
      Yes my project was related to RAN.
      All core subjects of CSE are important but to be precise Data Structure Algorithm, Networking, OS and DBMS are more important. Last but not the least Never neglect two subjects 1.Software Engineering and 2.Information Security. Some questions will definitely be asked during the interview.
      Make sure you visited the DRDO wiki and DRDO website prior interview.
      Work of a CS graduate in DRDO depends on labs. Strating from AI a CS graduate needs to do maintainance as well depends on labs.
      HOPE IT HELPS.

      Delete
    2. Thanks alot sir!......Its a great help.

      Delete
  11. Sir when you completed your btech ? Did you took any drop for GATE preparation

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi,
    There is advertisement for senior scientist recruitment for security domain. What will be selection and interview process.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hello sir,

    There was 10 vacancy for scientists c announced on Nov 2018..when we can expect interview.

    Can you give some idea about timelines.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Timelines are not fixed yet. You will be notified as soon as that finalizes.
      As far as interview is concern there is no hard and fast rule for that. But definitely questions will be asked from your expert domain.

      Delete
    2. You have any idea of shortlisting criteria.since fr sc c only interview is there..how they will filter out.

      Delete
  14. Hi Please let me the interview for scientist D how it done and how its procedure as i applied for the same and only personal interview mentioned so please let me know how could i prepare and life of Scientist D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
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  15. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hello,
    Do you have any idea regarding the interview process for JRF(CSE)? Will the questions be the same level as of Scientist posts? What exactly is the process for JRF Recruitment?

    Thank you in Advance.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yea I've got the same doubt as well what are my chances if i have secured low score in gate such as 396 with a rank 10213? Do i still go for the interview?

      Delete
  17. what will be the maximum age eligibility to get in to DRDO as SCIENTIST B

    ReplyDelete
  18. Sir please can you tell me a way for preparation for descriptive exam for drdo scientist b (cse) because I never appeared in any descriptive exam. I qualified gate 2019 with 618 score

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is the First Time DRDO is taking Descriptive Exam, So no one can tell you about that, all the best for descriptive exam.

      Delete
    2. Hello There,

      How was your descriptive type exam? I too appeared and could not answered all the questions.

      If you are interested in discussion please mail me to mondalratan62@gmail.com

      Delete
  19. Thanks buddy this content really boosted me.

    ReplyDelete
  20. hello sir,
    i m prepairing for cse gate 2020 and at first my aim was to get in DRDO (robotics field) by gate score but now i am confused whether to do Mtech first then DRDO or should i try for the DRDO and then by RAC programme pursuit for Mtech in robotics.which one from them will be good for the career growth in robotics in India.

    ReplyDelete
  21. hello sir,
    where do most of the postings happen for cse Scientist B .and what are the labs present ,how is the work culture ?

    ReplyDelete
  22. Would the questions be same for scientist C ?

    ReplyDelete
  23. I have been selected for DRDO interview for scientist B based on my descriptive exam score. Can anyone share their experience like what are focused more in the interview?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. How you guys are preparing? When is ur interview? Do they disclosed our descriptive marks as I am not getting anywhere

      Delete
  24. I am also having my interview on 6th feb. In above there were some questions which are not in gate syllabus likr cloud radio access, mobile ip etc.do they ask some questions on that?

    ReplyDelete
  25. Thanku for sharing this experience

    ReplyDelete
  26. In those mentioned interested subjects during the interview will they mainly focus on important topics of those subjects as in GATE or will they go beyond that?
    For Example in DBMS we don't have MultiVersion Concurrency Protocol is not of much importance.Such topics will they ask?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am also having same doubt.when is ur interview? What topics u r preparing? I googled but didn't find anything. If anyone could help in this regard??

      Delete
  27. I am just confident about Gate Topics.But others like Software Engineering,Micro Processors(may ask I think so),Information Security I dont even have a single idea.Do you have any idea like how long the interview lasts?Will it be completed for all the candidates on scheduled day itself?

    ReplyDelete
  28. Mine is on 6th Feb at Delhi.Wat abt u?

    ReplyDelete
  29. My also on 6th..I think it will be completed and I already booked my returning ticket also. I am also know gate topics only. Are u appearing for gate 2020? R u woking?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yess even I too booked for return.Yes I am appearing.Wat abt u?

      Delete
  30. Same here..i can answer for gate topics only

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Which is your native place?From which state are you?

      Delete
  31. What books should I refer as an Aeronautical engineer? Please help regarding that.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Sir will there by any opportunity for MSc biochemistry or biotechnology students to get into DRDO as a scientist B?via valid GATE score?
    I am so sacred regarding this sir because right now I am giving my 6th semester exams
    please kindly help

    ReplyDelete
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    ReplyDelete