Cognizant Technology Solutions India Private Ltd interview experience Real time questions & tips from candidates to crack your interview

Programmer Analyst Trainee

Cognizant Technology Solutions India Private Ltd
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4 rounds | 7 Coding problems

Interview preparation journey

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Journey
I completed my B.Tech from Jaypee Institute of Information Technology, Noida, in 2025. Currently, I am working at Accenture. I started my journey in DSA and web development during my second year of college. In my fourth year, I received several offers, all in the range of 3–5 LPA. I applied to this company as it had three roles—GenC, GenC Pro, and GenC Next—and I was aiming for GenC Next.
Why selected/rejected for the role?
I was confident in the interview and was able to solve the coding question during it. I was also able to pass all the online rounds.
Preparation
Duration: 2 months
Topics: Aptitude, DSA, OOPS, Computer Networks, DBMS
Tip
Tip

Tip 1: Take all the rounds seriously and give your best in each of them.
Tip 2: There is a very small gap between the cutoffs of GenC, GenC Next, and GenC Pro.

Application process
Where: Campus
Eligibility: 6 CGPA, (Salary package: 4.5 LPA)
Resume Tip
Resume tip

Tip 1: Keep impactful projects in your resume that clearly showcase your skills.
Tip 2: Include an achievements section to highlight your key accomplishments.

Interview rounds

01
Round
Easy
Online Coding Interview
Duration60 minutes
Interview date17 Apr 2025
Coding problem0

It had AI-based tasks related to Reading, Listening, Speaking, and Grammar.
For example, the AI bot would speak, and we had to repeat it in our own voice.
There were fill-in-the-blank questions where we had to complete and speak full sentences.
There were also jumbled words where we had to form a sentence and speak it in our own voice.
An AI chatbot guided us through the tasks.
We were also asked to speak about a topic for one minute.

02
Round
Easy
Online Coding Interview
Duration80 minutes
Interview date21 Apr 2025
Coding problem0

It was in afternoon, camera was on.
It was help on AON platform, had one quant round and 4 gamified rounds.
Gamified rounds were about
1. Identifying pattern
2. Logical Ability
3. Encode Decode
4. Mirror Images

03
Round
Easy
Online Coding Interview
Duration120 minutes
Interview date25 Apr 2025
Coding problem4

The test was scheduled at 10 AM, and the camera was on throughout.
It included sections on coding, SQL, and web development.
There were two coding questions, two SQL questions, and one web development task.

One SQL query tested concepts like JOIN, GROUP BY, COUNT DISTINCT, and CONCAT, all within a single question.

1. First Missing Positive

Moderate
18m average time
84% success
0/80
Asked in companies
WalmartBarclaysMicrosoft

You are given an array 'ARR' of integers of length N. Your task is to find the first missing positive integer in linear time and constant space. In other words, find the lowest positive integer that does not exist in the array. The array can have negative numbers as well.

For example, the input [3, 4, -1, 1] should give output 2 because it is the smallest positive number that is missing in the input array.

Problem approach

I used HashSet for this.
Loop from lowest even number and check if present in the HashSet, if not return and break.

Try solving now

2. Maximum Adjacent Sum of a Circular array

Moderate
38m average time
45% success
0/80

You are given a circular array of integers ‘NUMS’ of length ‘N’. You need to choose some elements from the array in such a way that between every pair of adjacent elements you have chosen at least one of them.

Choose the elements optimally and return the minimum sum of the chosen elements.

Example:
Input: ‘N’ = 5,  ‘NUMS’ = {1, 2, 3, 5, 2}.

Output: 6.

The indices of the chosen elements are [0, 2, 4], hence sum = 1 + 3 + 2 = 6.
Note: Some of the invalid ways to choose the elements are: 
Choose the elements with indices (0, 4), it is invalid because, among the pair of indices (1, 2) none of them were chosen. 
Choose the elements with indices (0, 2), it is invalid because, among the pair of indices (3, 4) none of them were chosen. 
Choose the elements with indices (1, 2), it is invalid because, among the pair of indices (0, 4) none of them were chosen. 
Problem approach

Easy loop arr[i]+ arr[i+1] and check if it is odd.

Try solving now

3. SQL

Find artist_id where group_name = 'ECSTASY'.

4. Web Development

Create a search bar that shows a list of suggestions as the user types. The suggestions should match the input text and update dynamically.

Problem approach

I built a search bar that shows suggestions as the user types. It filters items from a list and highlights the matching text. I also added support for arrow keys and clicking to select a suggestion. The dropdown hides when nothing is typed or when the user clicks outside.

04
Round
Easy
Video Call
Duration30 minutes
Interview date11 May 2025
Coding problem3

The interview round consisted mainly of questions from the resume and DSA.
One DSA problem was asked to be coded live on an inbuilt compiler.
Questions were asked about the tech stack mentioned in the resume (Next.js).
Some questions around AI were also asked.

Easy
10m average time
90% success
0/40
Asked in companies
ToXSL Technologies Pvt LtdNewgen SoftwareConsuma

Given an integer ‘n’, return first n Fibonacci numbers using a generator function.


Example:
Input: ‘n’ = 5

Output: 0 1 1 2 3

Explanation: First 5 Fibonacci numbers are: 0, 1, 1, 2, and 3.
Note:
You don't need to print anything. Just implement the given function.
Problem approach

f(n)= f(n-1)+ f(n-2) 
i used this formula for calculating nth number and then further printed using a for loop.
Later optimized it without using recursion.

Try solving now

2. OOPS

Explain the four pillars of OOPS. (Learn)

3. Java

Explain access modifiers in Java. (Learn)

Here's your problem of the day

Solving this problem will increase your chance to get selected in this company

Skill covered: Programming

Which data structure is used to implement a DFS?

Choose another skill to practice
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