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

Technology Consultant - Associate

PwC India
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5 rounds | 12 Coding problems

Interview preparation journey

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Preparation
Duration: 6
Topics: Data Structure and Algorithms, JAVA, OOPS Concepts, Database Management Systems, Structured Query Language ,Operating Systems.
Tip
Tip

Tip 1 : Go through the Company and its Job Profile and ensure how much of your skillset matches with it because you have to focus on the strong areas of yours which they are looking for in the Interviews.
Tip 2 : Keep your DSA, OOPS, and DBMS concepts very clear, the basic ones are more important rather than the tough ones in the case of Interviews.
Tip 3 : For the written test, prepare for the Aptitude along with the Technical MCQs from reliable sources over the web, apart from that for Coding Questions the material provided in the Coding Ninjas DSA course along with Codezen is enough to clear the Written Round.

Application process
Where: Campus
Eligibility: 7 CGPA + No Standing Arrears
Resume Tip
Resume tip

Tip 1 : Your Resume must be thorough, there is no need for a fancy 2-3 pages Resume, keep it simple and clear, you can be asked to justify even a soft skill which you have mentioned for example hardworking, leadership quality, etc.
Tip 2 : Mention your Projects and Internships in the increasing order of your expertise in them. 3-4 Projects + 1 Internship mention is a must according to me.
Tip 3 : Put mixed Certifications i.e (Technical + Cultural), as it will help you in your Managerial and HR Rounds apart from that don't put too many Technical Certifications which you can't justify in the Interviews.

Interview rounds

01
Round
Medium
Online Coding Interview
Duration60
Interview date7 Sep 2020
Coding problem0

MCQs were asked in this round. Aptitude was a bit tough as compared to other sections.

MCQs Description

30 Aptitude – 30 Mins
15 SQL – 15 Mins
15 JAVA/DSA – 15 Mins

02
Round
Medium
Group Discussion
Duration60
Interview date16 Sep 2020
Coding problem1

Group Discussion 

1. Problem Solving

There were two Panelist to judge you, At first, they told all 5 of us to give our Intro, then they told us our Topic – Cashless Economy, and again asked each one of us to speak few words on the topic, after that, we were asked to choose a side whether for the topic or against the topic, and then GD started, and Luckily all 5 of us were selected for the Next Round due to Healthy and Disciplined discussion (this was the compliment given by them at the end).

Problem approach

I started the GD as I was the only one who was speaking for the topic, I presented my few points and gave my fellow mates the chance to keep their points so that we can have further discussion on it.

03
Round
Hard
Video Call
Duration70
Interview date17 Sep 2020
Coding problem5

Data Structures, DBMS, and SQL questions were asked in this round.

1. Merge Sort

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

Given a sequence of numbers ‘ARR’. Your task is to return a sorted sequence of ‘ARR’ in non-descending order with help of the merge sort algorithm.

Example :

Merge Sort Algorithm -

Merge sort is a Divide and Conquer based Algorithm. It divides the input array into two-parts, until the size of the input array is not ‘1’. In the return part, it will merge two sorted arrays a return a whole merged sorted array.

subsequence

The above illustrates shows how merge sort works.
Note :
It is compulsory to use the ‘Merge Sort’ algorithm.
Try solving now

2. Bubble Sort

Easy
10m average time
90% success
0/40
Asked in companies
CiscoOptumTata Consultancy Services (TCS)

Bubble Sort is one of the sorting algorithms that works by repeatedly swapping the adjacent elements of the array if they are not in sorted order.

You are given an unsorted array consisting of N non-negative integers. Your task is to sort the array in non-decreasing order using the Bubble Sort algorithm.

For Example:
Bubble Sort implementation for the given array:  {6,2,8,4,10} is shown below :-

Alt test

Try solving now

3. DBMS and SQL Queries

Six question on SQL were asked: -

1. What are Joins?
2. For the below questions, tables were provided
3. Select name of Employees whose Salary is greater than 5000?
4. Select name of Employees who works for Finance Dept?
5. Find Number of people who live in Delhi?
6. Display Age of people who live in Delhi and work for Finance Dept?

Problem approach

Tip 1 : Practice SQL Queries a lot as you will be asked about it in almost all the Interviews.
Tip 2 : Kepp your concepts clear for Joins, different types of Clauses.

4. Puzzle

There are 10 stacks of 10 identical-looking coins. All of the coins in one of these stacks are counterfeit, and all the coins in the other stacks are genuine. Every genuine coin weighs 10 grams, and every fake weighs 11 grams. You have an analytical scale that can determine the exact weight of any number of coins. What is the minimum number of weighings needed to identify the stack with the fake coins?

Problem approach

Solve Aptitute Puzzles from the internet, they might sound easy but are always tricky while answering in the Interviews.

5. Selection Sort

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

Selection sort is one of the sorting algorithms that works by repeatedly finding the minimum element from the unsorted part of the array and putting it at the beginning of the unsorted region of the array.

You are given an unsorted array consisting of N non-negative integers. Your task is to sort the array in non-decreasing order using the Selection Sort algorithm.

For Example:
Selection Sort implementation for the given array:  {29,72,98,13,87,66,52,51,36} is shown below :-

Alt text

Try solving now
04
Round
Medium
HR Round
Duration40
Interview date17 Sep 2020
Coding problem3

The Director of PwC took this Interview, It was a 30 mins Round conducted on the same Glider Platform.

1. Situational Questions

If at a certain night I am given 2000 PDFs which contains Information of a person each, like a person’s name, salary, hobbies, etc and I have to submit the abstract to my boss for each and every PDF Next Morning, What would I do?

Problem approach

Tip 1 : Think out of the box as much as you can.
Tip 2 : Don't provide a single solution for such problems as you never know what the interviewer is expecting from you.
Tip 3 : I gave 3 answers to this Question - 1st I will divide the work among my friends so as to boost up the speed, 2nd I will apply few feature/ text extraction Algorithms to fetch the relevant Information from the PDFs, 3rd I will read a single PDF thoroughly, I will get to know the particular Line and Paragraph which is essential for me and for the remaining 1999 PDFs I will directly go and fetch that information without wasting any time further.

2. What is Partition By Clause?

Problem approach

Should have a deep knowledge of SQL and DBMS

3. SQL Joins

If you are provided with two tables and I ask you to print non-common elements from both tables, What will you do?

Problem approach

Basically, he was expecting an answer using Full Outer Join

05
Round
Easy
HR Round
Duration15
Interview date19 Sep 2020
Coding problem3

It was just a 15 Mins Round in which I was asked a few HR questions.

1. Share with me your PwC Recruitment Process Till Now.

Problem approach

Tip 1 : Always listen to the Pre-Placement Talk 
Tip 2 : Always remember the Name of the Interviewer along with the Questions asked by him, as it helps in the next round of the selection process.
Tip 3 : In the end just keep your basics clear, stay confident, even if you don't know any particular answer accept it and present whatever you know about it.

2. Justify the quality of Leadership mentioned in your resume.

Problem approach

Told him how I was the representative of my college and led college fest.

3. Tell me your Achievements Till now?

Problem approach

Told him my achievements.

Here's your problem of the day

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

Skill covered: Programming

Which SQL keyword removes duplicate records from a result set?

Choose another skill to practice
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