One day, as usual, a message popped up in our college TNP group about an internship opportunity.

Like always, I applied without expecting much.

A couple of months later, I got another message saying I had been shortlisted for the online test. The test had aptitude questions and one DSA question. I cleared it and received an interview invite.

Before the interview, I talked to a few seniors who had already gone through the process. Almost everyone told me the same thing:

"They mostly ask about your projects and some basic web development concepts." That gave me confidence because I was comfortable talking about my projects.

Then came the interview day.

It started normally. The interviewer asked me to introduce myself, and everything was going fine.

Then he said,

"Vaibhav, can you share your screen?" I did.

He opened a coding platform and gave me a DSA problem.

The funny part?

It wasn't even a difficult problem. Looking back, it was one of the easiest questions I could have been asked.

But my mind went completely blank.

It felt like that moment during an exam when you know you've studied something, but your brain simply refuses to remember it.

The interviewer asked me a few hints and follow-up questions.

I couldn't answer.

I was nervous, sweating, and overthinking every small step instead of solving the problem.

After that, we discussed my projects for a while. He also gave me an aptitude number series question, which I solved.

Before ending the interview, he brought back the same DSA question and gave me another chance.

Unfortunately, I still couldn't solve it.

A few days later, the result came.

I wasn't selected.

What I learned That interview taught me something important.

Knowing DSA isn't enough if you've never practiced solving problems while someone is watching you.

Interviews are different.

You need to think out loud, explain your approach, handle pressure, and keep moving even when you're stuck.