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Web: www.ariba.com | HQ: Sunnyvale, CA

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Updated Aug 21, 2011 – Interview questions and reviews posted anonymously by interview candidates.

Difficulty Rating [?] Based on 25 ratings

3.2

“Average” Interview

Interview Experience [?] Based on 25 ratings

Positive	44%
Neutral	36%
Negative	20%

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4.0

Difficult Interview

Overall Positive Experience

Received and Accepted Offer

Interviewed Jul 2009 in Bangalore (India) (took 1+ week)

it's fast and transparent

Interview Questions

write an algorithm to delete 1 million records from DB in a very efficient way.

Answer Question

Other Details

I Applied Online and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a 1:1 Interview and a Background Check.

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Helpful Interview?

Yes | No

Inappropriate?

3.0

Average Interview

Overall Negative Experience

Received and Declined Offer

Interviewed May 2011 in Bangalore (India) (took 2 days)

Went through a local IT recruiter. There was an initial phone interview which went well, interviewers attitude was good and he explored stuff on my resume. Also the typical questions on data structures, how does a hash map work internally etc. I was shortlisted for the next round which would apparently be an all-day event. All good.

Landed at Ariba Bangalore office at designated time. First interview panel (one guy) had great attitude, asked questions relevant to architecture and Ariba domain. Example: how would you design a data-model for master-detail where detail could have unlimited attribute key-values. Are there options beyond RDBMS etc. All good. Questions on web-applications. How can you make the UI more richer and responsive. What if you wanted to "push" updates in real-time from the server.

Unfortunately from the next interview onwards, things went downhill. The next two panels (again one guy each) were intent on treating the interview as a ragging session rather than a means to understand candidate skills. If you want to get a job at Ariba, read up on data-structures, all the way from linked-lists, stacks, queues and especially trees. Keep in mind that the guys interviewing you have interviewed so many people before you so because of that, their fundamentals are much better than the lesser mortals who invented data structures. So my advice is, early on in the interview try to understand the interviewers intent, if they want to prove your ignorance about the finer details of binary tree traversal, you have no choice but to swallow your pride and let the alpha-male in the room take control. Try to divert the interview to other topics that you know about as fast as possible.

A possible question you could ask the interviewer in the end is to throw more light on the "bug fests" that happen at Ariba and the interviewer's thoughts on how much of data structures theory applies when handling these bug fests.

Interview Questions

Trim a string in Java (remove leading and trailing white space). You can't use the String.trim() function. Do it just using an array. Keep in mind the string could have white spaces within it.

Answer Question

Explain in-order-traversal of a binary tree and write code for it. You can use Java.

Answer Question

Reason for Declining

Came to know that the persons who interviewed me would be in the same team in case I was selected.

Other Details

I got the interview through a Recruiter and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview and a 1:1 Interview.

Helpful Interview?

Yes | No

Inappropriate?

3.0

Average Interview

Overall Positive Experience

Interviewed and No Offer

Interviewed Jun 2011 (took a day)

was initially contacted by the recruiter for a software engineer position, arranged for a 30 min phone interview which lasted for an hour.The position was for a internal software engineer position, though my profile macthed only few of their requirement, they called on for an phone interview. After talking for an hour, nothing technically,gave the feedback as needed greater skillset... hmmmm...

Interview Questions

how does hashmap work?

Answer Question

how were u @ highschool

View Answers (1)

Are u a nerd , in sense of asking r u passionate?

Answer Question

Other Details

I got the interview through a Recruiter and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview.

More Ariba Software Engineer Interviews

Helpful Interview?

Yes | No

Inappropriate?

4.0

Difficult Interview

Overall Negative Experience

Received and Declined Offer

Interviewed Jun 2011 (took a day)

Had initial contact with their recruiter, who found my resume from a job website. He was very jovial, and I discussed with him on what I am looking for in a job, and he listened carefully. Being a road warrior for half a year and realizing I really wasn't built to be one (a lot of anxiety), I stressed that minimal travel is important to me. They weren't really hiring yet - he just mentioned he saw my credentials (5 years extensive experience with the app) and was surprised no one from Ariba has contacted me yet. He mentioned the perks of working in Ariba - you get several weeks off a year (mandatory), healthcare, training before going on-board, and work from home options. After asking for my desired rate he mentioned Ariba might actually provide me a higher rate than what I asked for. He says he will definitely contact someone from Chicago (the closest office they have to where I am) and see if there are opportunities available.

Almost a month passed, then he called me back. The only positions available were more of the likes of consultants, which require up to 75% travel. But there was a technical position open in the GA area, and I was willing to give it a shot. A short phone interview was scheduled the same day, and I was on the phone with probably the project manager (forgot his title). He asked me the basics, my experience, and did a few highly technical questions. Unfortunately I realized I was more of a practical than a conceptual person, and while I wasn't able to clearly provide definitions of terms the manager asked for, I was able to answer the same questions when expressed as an example. It went fairly well, but I don't think that was the best interview I've had.

He at least asked me my comfort levels on the knowledge of the subject matter, which of course I was very confident with my experience. The manager asked me my desired rate and availability, which I answered promptly, and he did not negotiate. He told me he will get back with HR first (so I assumed I'm not formally offered the position yet). The position was out-of-state, and likely requires up to 50% travel (monthly), so I mentioned that before I accept the job once offered I will have to discuss this with my family. The overall interview atmosphere felt rushed, and speaking with the manager I felt like I was wasting precious 30 minutes of their time.

Aside from the reason below on why I declined, I honestly felt the manager seemed a bit cold (as opposed to the recruiter who was very nice) - I did not expect to make a decision to "accept" the job before they formally extend the offer - I heard him say, "It's up to 50% travel so I want to let you know the expectations because I don't want you to call the next day and say 'I cannot accept the position'". To me the purpose of an interview is to actually know more about the job and the employer, then deciding whether or not to get on board when a formal offer is extended. I guess one of their primary requirements is to have someone be willing to travel. I felt like they expected me to just throw myself into the whole thing like I had no choice before moving on with the subsequent interview process. I was interested, not desperate.

Interview Questions

What is polymorphism? What is function overriding vs. function overloading?

View Answers (1)

Where do the accounting combination fields in Ariba Buyer defaulted from, except for the Account field? Where does the Account field get its value (what file)?

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What does the Invoice Reconciliation engine do? How do you trigger and configure the Invoice Reconciliation engine? (Hint: It's the most important file in the /../config directory)

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Reason for Declining

Primary long-term goal is to establish a local job with minimal travel - meaning headquartered here then possibly do travel if needed - not headquartered on some other state then flying around constantly. I had to decline. I know the economy is not good this time, and jobs are hard to find, but I'd like a job where I know I would like the person and team I will be working with, especially for long-term (based on experience). And to me, this just didn't feel right.

Other Details

I got the interview through a Recruiter and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview.

Helpful Interview?

Yes | No

Inappropriate?

3.0

Average Interview

Overall Positive Experience

Interviewed and No Offer

Interviewed May 2011 in Atlanta, GA (took 2 weeks)

Great interviews with great people. Most of the challenge stemmed from my lack of experience with procurement.

I was luke warm on the company at the beginning of the process. They did a great job selling themselves.

Interview Questions

What is your procurement experience?

Answer Question

Other Details

The interview consisted of a Phone Interview and a 1:1 Interview.

Helpful Interview?

Yes | No

Inappropriate?

4.0

Difficult Interview

Overall Neutral Experience

Interviewed and No Offer

Interviewed Nov 2010 (took 2 days)

1st Round is screening test and second is techno-managerial interview

Interview Questions

Implementation of Data Structure concepts in java

Answer Question

Other Details

I Applied Online and the interview consisted of a 1:1 Interview and a Skills Test.

More Ariba Software Engineer Interviews

Helpful Interview?

Yes | No

Inappropriate?

3.0

Average Interview

Overall Neutral Experience

Received and Accepted Offer

Interviewed Jul 2009 in Bangalore (India) (took 1+ week)

It was not a walk in. It was a scheduled walk-in. HR allowed only to the candidates who had mail letter from Ariba HR.
Rounds:
1) Written Test: 1 hour, 60 question. Consists of mix of apptitude, and java questions. Looks like cut off was 30
2) Technical Interview
3) Telephone Interview
4) HR Interview

You will be on hold after every round. We get to know only if we clear the round.

Interview Questions

Unxi Commands

Answer Question

Negotiation Details

For Trainee Engineer (Intern), there is no negotiation. The offer letter was just dispatched in hand and asked to accept.

Other Details

I Applied Online and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a 1:1 Interview, a Group/Panel Interview and a Background Check.

Helpful Interview?

Yes | No

Inappropriate?

3.0

Average Interview

Overall Positive Experience

Interviewed and No Offer

Interviewed Apr 2011 in Bangalore (India) (took a day)

Friendly and comfortable

Interview Questions

Reverse a string

View Answers (1)

Compare arraylist contents and get the duplicate

View Answers (1)

Other Details

I got the interview through a Recruiter and the interview consisted of a 1:1 Interview.

Helpful Interview?

Yes | No

Inappropriate?

3.0

Average Interview

Overall Negative Experience

Interviewed and No Offer

Interviewed Mar 2011 in Bangalore (India) (took a day)

Around 40 candidates were called with just 3 members taking 3 rounds.
Panel was in hurry to get interviews through.

Some code was written, with wrong syntax, need to figure out what is wrong. You answer right first time then next question, else get the next candidate in.
No emphasis on working towards solution.
We don't write perfect software first time, its perfected over time.

Interview Questions

Wrong code, parent class has public method. Child class have same method but protected. Will code compile ?

View Answers (1)

String Pooling concept

Answer Question

Other Details

I got the interview through a Recruiter and the interview consisted of a 1:1 Interview.

More Ariba Product Manager Interviews

Helpful Interview?

Yes | No

Inappropriate?

3.0

Average Interview

Overall Neutral Experience

Interviewed and No Offer

Interviewed Jan 2011 in Bangalore (India) (took a day)

The interview consisted of 5 rounds.
Of which 2 were completely technical.
1 with manager asking what you know of ariba and your expectations with the job and a brief of what the team you will be recruited in does and your role, 1 with VP asking your past career strengths and weaknesses and future career plans. The last round with HR.