Cognizant interview experience Real time questions & tips from candidates to crack your interview

Genc Next

Cognizant
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3 rounds | 9 Coding problems

Interview preparation journey

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Journey
I am a B.Tech student so my journey has been specific to the field. I have been studying subects such as C, C++, Data Structures and Algorithms, Operating System, Computer Networks, DBMS, etc during my college days which helped me crack many interviews. I have been practising DSA daily to maintain a habit of consistency and to prepare my problem solving skills on platforms such as Coding Ninja, Leetcode, which I must say have helped me a lot in my preparation journey. So daily practising atleast a single problem and reading and revising the theoritical concepts has helped me crack these companies. Also projects play an important role. So for this one must also try hands on these projects to get a taste of development and apply learning to solve something interesting. I developed several projects in the domain of Web Development, Machine Learning and Android Development which again fascinated the interviewers and gave me an edge in the interviews.
Application story
I applied for the Genc Next Role through my Campus. The role required more than 70% marks in 12 and graduation( semester upto which result was declared). Since I had enough marks I was shortlisted for the Genc Next Role. I applied on the superset platform through the link and details provided by the university.
Why selected/rejected for the role?
I got selected for the Genc Role as I cleared all the assigments, al the technical as well as HR interview rounds.
Preparation
Duration: 2 months
Topics: Data Structure and Algorithms, Java, Object Oriented Programming (OOPS), Web Development (HTML, CSS)
Tip
Tip

Tip 1 : Don't get nervous during the interviews and prepare well.
Tip 2 : Don't mug up the theoritical concepts of OOPs and other instead try to understand them along with a real life example to explain them in a better way in interviews.
Tip 3 : During interviews, start with the brute force approach and then present the opitmised approach of the problem.

Application process
Where: Campus
Eligibility: Above 70% in 10th, 12th and Graduation
Resume Tip
Resume tip

Tip 1: Keep it short, simple and precise
Tip 2: Keep your project title and other relevant information bold to attract the eyes of the interviewer

Interview rounds

01
Round
Medium
Online Coding Interview
Duration90 minutes
Interview date19 Mar 2022
Coding problem2

This round consisted of several MCQs which were divided into sections. The Mcq section must be solved in a particular time limit. The MCQ were easy and can be solved by applying some logic. These MCQ requried knowledge of various topics ranging from OOPs to Java to Web Development including HTML, CSS, Javascript and Jquery. In Web Development, they basically asked us by showing an output image that which of the following code(option) would produce this result or how would you align the text in center, etc. In OOPs they were straight forward based on pillars of OOPs.

1. Ways To Make Coin Change

Moderate
20m average time
80% success
0/80
Asked in companies
SamsungBNY MellonIBM

You are given an infinite supply of coins of each of denominations D = {D0, D1, D2, D3, ...... Dn-1}. You need to figure out the total number of ways W, in which you can make a change for value V using coins of denominations from D. Print 0, if a change isn't possible.

Problem approach

I solved the Problem using the concept of Dynamic Programming bottom up approach. In this i subdivided the problem into smaller problems and then used the result of smaller problems to calculate for large problem.
So calculating coins need for any small amount less than target and then using it further for larger subproblems.

int coinChange(vector const &arr, int sum)
{
int dp[sum + 1];
for (int i = 1; i <= sum; i++)
{
dp[i] = INT_MAX;
int result = INT_MAX;

for (int c: arr)
{
if (i - c >= 0) {
result = dp[i - c];
}

if (result != INT_MAX) {
dp[i] = min(dp[i], result + 1);
}
}
}

return dp[sum];
}

This was my code for the problem where i used a 1-d array to store the results of subproblems and used it to get the output.
In this i was calculating the coins for each amount less than target(sum) and then using it forward for further calculations and a last returning the result stored at last index of the array.

Try solving now

2. Reverse the String

Easy
15m average time
85% success
0/40
Asked in companies
ThalesDeutsche BankPaytm (One97 Communications Limited)

You are given a string 'STR'. The string contains [a-z] [A-Z] [0-9] [special characters]. You have to find the reverse of the string.

For example:

 If the given string is: STR = "abcde". You have to print the string "edcba".
follow up:
Try to solve the problem in O(1) space complexity. 
Problem approach

I solved the problem using a character array in which i stored all the characters from the string.
So i traversed the string and stored al the characters in the character array.
Then i reversed the array.
Now i again traversed the original string and checked if the particular element is character then replaced that with character from my reversed character array and for doing this i used a integer variable to keep pointing to my current index in the array.

string reverse(string s)
{
char temp[s.length()];
int x = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < s.length(); i++) {
if (s[i] >= 'a' && s[i] <= 'z'
|| s[i] >= 'A' && s[i] <= 'Z') {
temp[x] = s[i];
x++;
}
}

reverse(temp, temp + x);

x = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < s.length(); i++) {
if (s[i] >= 'a' && s[i] <= 'z'
|| s[i] >= 'A' && s[i] <= 'Z') {
s[i] = temp[x];
x++;
}
}
return s;
}

This was solution to the problem.

Try solving now
02
Round
Medium
Video Call
Duration60 minutes
Interview date30 Jun 2022
Coding problem6

The was the technical interview round. It was conducted at around 3 p.m.
The interview was scheduled online over Superset platform. 
The interviewer came and introduced himself. 
Then he started the interview with my introduction where i covered all my details as well as technical and non-technical skills and projects and internships. T
hen he started asking me about OOPs concept and asked me to provide output for a java code which he copy pasted in the chat box. 
Then he asked me about Java Concepts 

With this the interview was done.
Overall, the interviewer was very friendly.

1. OOPs Question

Write a program to perform Addition, Substraction, Division and Multiplication operations in Java.

Problem approach

I started by taking two numbers as input from the user and then i asked user which operation he wanted to perform. then on the basis of user's choice i used Switch case statements to perform the operation and show the result on the console. I also used Exception handling in the division operation to check if DivisionByZero Exception occurs and handle it. ( the interviewer was impressed with this approach )

2. OOPs Question

explain interface vs abstract classes

3. OOPs Question

What are static keywords?

4. Java Question

What is multithreading in java?
how many ways to create threads in java

5. Armstrong Number

Easy
15m average time
85% success
0/40
Asked in companies
OracleIBMOptum

You are given an integer ‘NUM’ . Your task is to find out whether this number is an Armstrong number or not.

A k-digit number ‘NUM’ is an Armstrong number if and only if the k-th power of each digit sums to ‘NUM’.

Example
153 = 1^3 + 5^3 + 3^3.

Therefore 153 is an Armstrong number.
Problem approach

The idea is to first count number digits (or find order). Let the number of digits be n. For every digit r in input number x, compute rn. If sum of all such values is equal to n, then return true, else false.

Try solving now

6. OOPs Question

what are exceptions and how many type of exceptions are there.

03
Round
Easy
HR Round
Duration10 minutes
Interview date7 Jul 2022
Coding problem1

This round was HR Round which was also conducted online over the Superset Platform.
It was conduted in the morning at around 10 a.m.
The interviewer came and introducted herself. 
Then she asked me to introduce myself.
Then she asked me my basic details such as Am i comfortable in doing night shifts, relocate to Pan India.
Then whether i have Pan card, aadhar card, Passport( i said i dont have so she suggested me to apply for the same)
Then she asked me for my email and mobile number in the chat box and the interview concluded.

The interviewer was quite polite.

1. Basic HR Questions

She asked whether I have the governments Id Proofs or not for ex., Aadhar card, Pan Card and Passport and asked me to apply for the passport.

Introduce yourself

Am i comfortable in doing night shifts?

Here's your problem of the day

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

Skill covered: Programming

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