Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) interview experience Real time questions & tips from candidates to crack your interview
Software Developer
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)
3 rounds | 8 Coding
problems
Selected Interview preparation journey
Preparation
Duration: 2 months
Topics: Data Structures, OOPS, Dynamic Programming, Databases, Algorithms and Programming.
Tip 1 : Consistently practice many coding questions, focusing on one coding language of your choice: it will help you in strengthening your theoretical skills as well.
Tip 2 : Even if you make just 1-2 projects, make sure you explain them really well, and are fully aware of the backend
Tip 3 : Practice aptitude and stay confident and relaxed during interviews.
Application process
Where: Campus
Eligibility: Above 6.5 CGPA
Tip 1 : Make it crisp and to the point. Do not explain too much. The skills that you are most confident in should be highlighted
Tip 2 : The resume should be aligned with your role. Strike off all the irrelevant skills. Do not exaggerate your resume. The interviewer never expects you to know all possible skills. Remember, quality over quantity.
Interview rounds
01
Round
Medium
Online Coding Interview
Duration150 minutes
Interview date10 Sep 2019
Coding problem1
It was in the afternoon. The environment was student-friendly and there were a lot of people to assist in case of technical faults. It was online round.
1. Palindromic Substrings
Moderate
20m average time
80% success
0/80
Asked in companies
You have been given a string STR. Your task is to find the total number of palindromic substrings of STR.
Example :
If the input string is "abbc", then all the possible palindromic substrings would be: ["a", "b", "b", c", "bb"] and hence, the output will be 5 since we have 5 substrings in total which form a palindrome.
Note :
A string is said to be a 'Palindrome' if it is read the same forwards and backwards.
For example, “abba” is a palindrome, but “abbc” is not.
A 'Substring' is a contiguous sequence of characters within a string.
For example, "a", "b", "c", "ab", "bc", "abc" are substrings of "abc".
Problem approach
JAVA: I started a loop in which there is a variable, say "i" that goes from 0 to the length of the string, I used substring function to check every time from 0 to "i" and then checked whether it's a palindrome or not (I defined different function for a palindrome). If it's a palindrome, then i introduced another variable "j" which will start from i to check further palindromes (substrings) and so on. If there are no such pairs, then the flag is set to "Impossible"
02
Round
Medium
Face to Face
Duration50 minutes
Interview date20 Sep 2019
Coding problem2
It was in the morning around 11 am. The environment was healthy with many students prepping for their turn. The interview began with basic questions outlining my resume, my projects, the coding language I am comfortable in. He asked me questions on why I chose engineering and general questions related to my career objectives. I was asked basic questions on Java-like why is it better than other languages, why is it platform-independent, I was asked various questions on major concepts like OOPS, Data Structures, Big Data, Relational Databases, Difference between C++ and Java.
1. Pattern: Triangle of numbers
Moderate
0/80
Asked in companies
Print the following pattern for the given number of rows.
Pattern for N = 4
The dots represent spaces.
Problem approach
I generated 3 for loops. One for numbers in ascending order, One for alphabets in descending order, and the third one for spaces. It was quite simply printed.
2. Nth Fibonacci Number
Easy
0/40
Asked in companies
The n-th term of Fibonacci series F(n), where F(n) is a function, is calculated using the following formula -
F(n) = F(n - 1) + F(n - 2),
Where, F(1) = 1, F(2) = 1
Provided 'n' you have to find out the n-th Fibonacci Number. Handle edges cases like when 'n' = 1 or 'n' = 2 by using conditionals like if else and return what's expected.
"Indexing is start from 1"
Example :
Input: 6
Output: 8
Explanation: The number is ‘6’ so we have to find the “6th” Fibonacci number.
So by using the given formula of the Fibonacci series, we get the series:
[ 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21]
So the “6th” element is “8” hence we get the output.
Problem approach
I started the question using recursion. Calling the fibo function recursively for printing the fibonacci series wherein every third element is the sum of first two.I was also asked various logic behind recursion.
03
Round
Medium
HR Round
Duration40 minutes
Interview date20 Sep 2019
Coding problem5
It was right after my technical interview, in the afternoon. I was asked various questions about my family background, my hobbies, my long time goals, my values, my favourite cuisine, movies, stress related scenarios. I was asked innumerable scenarios related to customer handling
1. Basic HR Question
Tell me about yourself.
Problem approach
Tip 1 : Be Confident
Tip 2 : Be fluent in English
Tip 3 : Be brutally honest
2. Basic HR Question
What are your long term goals?
Problem approach
Tip 1 : Be Descriptive
Tip 2 : Be honest and don't give generic answers
Tip 3 : Do not set a very high/very low goal
3. Basic HR Question
What are your hobbies and interests?
Problem approach
Tip 1 : Stay enthusiastic and clear
Tip 2 : Relaxed attitude
Tip 3 : Include many adjectives
4. Basic HR Question
Question related to company/customer scenarios.
Problem approach
Tip 1 : Brainstorming, but not taking too much time
Tip 2 : Honest and prompt answers
Tip 3 : Try to be as positive and optimistic as possible, always have a smile on your face
5. Basic HR Question
Why do you want to join our company?
Problem approach
Tip 1 : Know your company very well
Tip 2 : Do not say things/facts you are not sure of, this may turn negative
Tip 3 : If you are unsure, say lines like " I will try to delve deeper into this area", but always be positive and praise the company in every way possible. Also include lines of enhancement that you can introduce to the franchise.
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Skill covered: Programming
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