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

System Engineer

HCL Technologies
upvote
share-icon
3 rounds | 6 Coding problems

Interview preparation journey

expand-icon
Journey
I joined my B.Tech after taking the JEE exam. Initially, I was unfamiliar with coding. After two years, my seniors advised me that coding was essential to crack big companies. That's when I began practising coding on various websites.
Application story
This company visited our campus for placements. They conducted an online assessment as the initial step for selection.
Why selected/rejected for the role?
I was rejected because I couldn't solve the last question asked in the second round.
Preparation
Duration: 6 months
Topics: Data Structures, Algorithms, OOPs, DBMS, SQL, Web Development
Tip
Tip

Take your time and avoid rushing into things. Learning requires patience. Focus on understanding concepts thoroughly rather than leaving topics half-prepared. Allocate 70% of your time and effort to Data Structures and Algorithms (DSA). I solved approximately 500 questions on coding platforms. Avoid repeating similar questions solely to increase your question count.

Application process
Where: Campus
Eligibility: Above 7 CGPA
Resume Tip
Resume tip

Tip 1: Begin by ensuring your resume has a clear and concise format. Use appropriate headings, bullet points, and consistent formatting to enhance readability. Avoid cluttering the document with excessive information or complex designs.

Tip 2: Customize the content of your resume to match the specific job you're applying for. Analyze the job description to identify key skills, qualifications, and experiences sought by the employer. Highlight relevant achievements, responsibilities, and qualifications that align with the job requirements.

Interview rounds

01
Round
Easy
Video Call
Duration60 minutes
Interview date15 Dec 2022
Coding problem2

The DBMS questions in the technical interview covered topics such as relational database management, ACID properties, database security, and data integrity. We were asked to discuss scenarios involving database design, SQL queries, and handling concurrent transactions efficiently.

1. Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters

Moderate
20m average time
80% success
0/80
Asked in companies
HCL TechnologiesGartnerInfo Edge India (Naukri.com)

Given a string 'S' of length 'L', return the length of the longest substring without repeating characters.

Example:

Suppose given input is "abacb", then the length of the longest substring without repeating characters will be 3 ("acb").
Problem approach

I solved this question using a sliding window concept and took a map while traversing the string to check if any repeated characters appeared or not.

Try solving now

2. Arithmetic Operators

Moderate
30m average time
70% success
0/80
Asked in companies
WalmartHCL TechnologiesPaxcom

Given an arithmetic expression ‘EXP’ containing integer values separated by any of the three operators ‘ + ’, ‘ - ’ and ‘ * ’. You need to place parentheses in the given expression such that the value of expression gets maximized. Your task is to return the maximum value obtained.

For Example:
If the Input Expression is 3*5+2, then the maximum value of ‘21’ can be obtained by placing the parentheses as 3*(5+2). So you need to return 21.
Problem approach

I solved this question using recursion by putting brackets at all possible places evaluating the answer through recursion and finding the maximum out of them.

Try solving now
02
Round
Easy
Video Call
Duration60 minutes
Interview date15 Dec 2022
Coding problem2

1. Kruskal’s Minimum Spanning Tree Algorithm

Moderate
30m average time
80% success
0/80
Asked in companies
AmazonTech MahindraHCL Technologies

A minimum spanning tree is a subset of the edges of a connected, edge-weighted undirected graph that connects all the vertices without any cycles and with the minimum possible total edge weight.


A spanning tree’s weight is the sum of the weights of each edge in the spanning tree.


You have been given a connected undirected weighted graph having 'n' vertices, from 1 to 'n', and 'm' edges.


You are given an array 'edges' of size 'm', containing the details of the edges of the graph.


Each element of 'edges' contains three integers, the two vertices that are being connected and the weight of the edge.


Find the weight of the minimum spanning tree of the given graph.


Example :
Input: 'n' = 5, 'm' = 6
'edges' = [[1, 2, 6], [2, 3, 5], [3, 4, 4], [1, 4, 1], [1, 3, 2], [3, 5, 3]]

Output: 11

Explanation: The given graph is:

Example

The minimum spanning tree of the graph is:

Example

And its weight is 1 + 2 + 5 + 3 = 11.
Try solving now

2. Left View of Binary Tree

Moderate
30m average time
60% success
0/80
Asked in companies
MicrosoftZS AssociatesFlipkart

You have been given a Binary Tree of 'n' nodes, where the nodes have integer values



Example :
If the input tree is as depicted in the picture: 

alt text

The Left View of the tree will be:  2 35 2 
Problem approach

I did level order traversal and then printed the first element of each level.

Try solving now
03
Round
Easy
Video Call
Duration60 minutes
Interview date15 Dec 2022
Coding problem2

1. N-th Fibonacci Number

Moderate
40m average time
70% success
0/80
Asked in companies
AmazonWalmartTata Consultancy Services (TCS)

You are given an integer ‘N’, your task is to find and return the N’th Fibonacci number using matrix exponentiation.

Since the answer can be very large, return the answer modulo 10^9 +7.

Fibonacci number is calculated using the following formula:
F(n) = F(n-1) + F(n-2), 
Where, F(1) = F(2) = 1.
For Example:
For ‘N’ = 5, the output will be 5.
Problem approach

This problem is a simple recursive problem. But time complexity of simple recursive calls is exponential. In O(long) this problem can be solved using a simple trick.

If n is even then k = n/2:
F(n) = [2*F(k-1) + F(k)]*F(k)

If n is odd then k = (n + 1)/2
F(n) = F(k)*F(k) + F(k-1)*F(k-1)

This method will solve this question in O(long).

Try solving now

2. Similar Strings

Ninja
70m average time
30% success
0/200
Asked in companies
LinkedInHCL TechnologiesCodenation

You are given three strings, 'A', 'B', and 'C', each of length 'N' consisting of lower case alphabets. The difference between the three strings is defined as ∑|A[i] − B[i]| + |A[i] − C[i]| where |A[i] − B[i]| and |A[i] − C[i]| are the absolute differences between ASCII values of the characters at the position i in strings 'A', 'B' and 'A' ,'C' respectively. You are allowed to rotate the string 'A' cyclically. There are a total of 'N' possible rotations of a string of length 'N'.

Your task is to return the maximum and minimum difference of the three strings for all the possible rotations of string a.

For Example:
If the value of 'N' is 2, 'A' is "ab" , 'B' is "aa" and 'C' is "bb".
Then the answer for this input is
min = 2 
max = 2

Because current difference is 1 + 1 = 2
After one rotation difference will be 1 + 1 = 2
Hence, the minimum and the maximum answer is 2.
Try solving now

Here's your problem of the day

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

Skill covered: Programming

How do you select an element by class name in CSS?

Choose another skill to practice
Similar interview experiences
company logo
System Engineer
2 rounds | 4 problems
Interviewed by HCL Technologies
986 views
0 comments
0 upvotes
company logo
Software Engineer
2 rounds | 3 problems
Interviewed by HCL Technologies
0 views
2 comments
0 upvotes
company logo
System Engineer
3 rounds | 7 problems
Interviewed by HCL Technologies
747 views
0 comments
0 upvotes
company logo
Software Engineer
2 rounds | 6 problems
Interviewed by HCL Technologies
736 views
0 comments
0 upvotes
Companies with similar interview experiences
company logo
System Engineer
2 rounds | 2 problems
Interviewed by Cognizant
4300 views
5 comments
0 upvotes
company logo
System Engineer
3 rounds | 5 problems
Interviewed by Infosys
2664 views
0 comments
0 upvotes
company logo
System Engineer
3 rounds | 3 problems
Interviewed by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)
2225 views
0 comments
0 upvotes