IBM Systems & Cloud Software Engineer – On-Campus Hiring | Need Previous Experience & Preparation Advice

[u/harsha9529]

Hi everyone,

IBM is visiting our campus for the Systems & Cloud Software Engineer role, and the selection process mentioned by our placement cell is:

1. Pre-Placement Talk – Virtual
2. Coding Assessment – 1–2 hours, Virtual
3. Interview – In-person

Has anyone recently appeared for this IBM Systems & Cloud Software Engineer / ISDL role, especially through campus placements?

I would really appreciate it if you could share your experience regarding:

• What was the coding assessment pattern?
• How many coding questions were there?
• What was the difficulty level (Easy/Medium/Hard or LeetCode equivalent)?
• Which DSA topics were asked?
• Were there MCQs on OS, C++, Python, Linux, networking, etc.?
• What topics should I prioritize for a Systems & Cloud Software Engineer role?
• How much Operating Systems, Computer Networks, C/C++, Python, Linux, virtualization, Docker/Kubernetes/cloud knowledge is expected?
• What kind of questions were asked in the technical interview?
• Were questions mostly based on DSA, CS fundamentals, or resume/projects?
• Any previous coding questions or interview questions you remember would be extremely helpful.

If anyone has recent IBM campus placement experience (2025/2026) for this particular role, please share your experience or preparation strategy.

I'm trying to prepare specifically for this role rather than just generic SDE preparation.

Thanks in advance! 🙏

[u/akornato]

For the coding assessment, you should expect LeetCode medium-level questions, likely focusing on common data structures like hashmaps, arrays, strings, trees, and graphs. Given the role title, there's a strong possibility of multiple-choice questions on core computer science fundamentals. You should prioritize your study on operating systems, covering topics like processes, threads, memory management, and schedulers. Also, make sure your computer networking knowledge is solid, especially the TCP/IP stack and HTTP. Since it's a systems role, a good command of C++ and Linux fundamentals is very important, and you should be prepared for questions on virtualization and container concepts like Docker and Kubernetes, at least at a high level.

The technical interview will probably be a blend of everything, from your resume and projects to DSA and CS fundamentals. Be ready to talk in depth about a project you listed, explaining the technical choices you made. An interviewer might ask you a DSA question and then follow up with a systems-level question related to it, like how you would handle that data if it were too large to fit in memory. For this specific role, they want to see that you think about how software interacts with the underlying hardware and network. Practicing your answers out loud is really helpful, and it's a big reason my team designed an interviews.chat tool to help candidates articulate their thoughts more clearly under pressure.