I applied through college or university.

Honestly, my DSA preparation started a bit late — I only began after the internship season had already kicked off. If I could go back, I would have utilized my summer vacation to start early and build a regular practice habit. That's probably my biggest takeaway for anyone preparing.

What really helped me was focusing on core CS subjects alongside DSA:

• OOPS – Went through GeeksforGeeks articles and practiced concept-based questions
• Operating Systems – Watched Love Babbar's OS playlist on YouTube
• DBMS – Covered theory from Love Babbar's playlist and solved SQL problems on LeetCode

Since I was selected for a Data Engineer role, I had to go through the concepts of data engineering fundamentals — things like data lakes, ETL processes, data warehousing, and basic system design. These topics came up directly in my interviews and knowing them gave me a clear edge.

Another thing that helped a lot was being deeply familiar with my own projects. The interviewers spent significant time discussing my projects and the tech stack behind them, so having clear explanations ready was crucial.

My advice: don't delay your preparation, stay consistent with fundamentals, practice SQL regularly, and know your projects inside out. That combination worked well for me.