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

System Engineer

TCS
upvote
share-icon
3 rounds | 6 Coding problems

Interview preparation journey

expand-icon
Journey
I was not exceptionally good at coding at the start then I solved more than 400+ questions on code studio. Now I can crack most of the interviews I give.
Application story
Company organize a nation wide test for the selection i have applied on the company website for the same
Why selected/rejected for the role?
I was rejected because i have good projects in my resume and do not have a that much good knowledge of the Data structure and Algorithm.
Preparation
Duration: 4 months
Topics: Data Structures, Pointers, OOPS, System Design, Algorithms, Dynamic Programming
Tip
Tip

Tip 1 : Must do Previously asked Interview as well as Online Test Questions.
Tip 2 : Go through all the previous interview experiences from Codestudio and Leetcode.
Tip 3 : Do at-least 2 good projects and you must know every bit of them.

Application process
Where: Campus
Eligibility: No criteria
Resume Tip
Resume tip

Company organize a nation wide test for the selection i have applied on the company website for the same

Interview rounds

01
Round
Medium
Video Call
Duration60 minutes
Interview date16 Dec 2022
Coding problem3

1. Zig-Zag of Matrix

Hard
40m average time
60% success
0/120
Asked in companies
Goldman SachsMicrosoftVMware Inc

You are given a matrix ‘mat’ of ‘N’ rows and ‘M’ columns. Your task is to return the Zig-Zag order of the matrix.

The Zig-Zag order of a 5 x 5 matrix is given below

zigZag

For example:
You are a given the matrix -: 
    ‘mat’ = [[1, 2, 3], 
            [4, 5, 6], 
            [7, 8, 9]]
Here the Zig-Zag order of the given matrix is [1, 2, 4, 7, 5, 3, 6, 8, 9]. Hence the answer is [1, 2, 4, 7, 5, 3, 6, 8, 9].
Problem approach

You are given a matrix ‘mat’ of ‘N’ rows and ‘M’ columns. Your task is to return the Zig-Zag order of the matrix.
The Zig-Zag order of a 5 x 5 matrix is given below

Try solving now

2. Data Structures Questions

Explain stack and its uses.
Explain linked list and its uses.
Explain array and its uses.
Explain queue and its uses.

Problem approach

First, I explained about all the data structures I know.
Then one by one mentioned there use cases ( could not answer all of them )

3. Box Stacking

Hard
25m average time
65% success
0/120
Asked in companies
DirectiMorgan StanleyJio Platforms Limited

You are given a set of ‘n’ types of rectangular 3-D boxes. The height, width, and length of each type of box are given by arrays, ‘height’, ‘width’, and ‘length’ respectively, each consisting of ‘n’ positive integers. The height, width, length of the i^th type box is given by ‘height[i]’, ‘width[i]’ and ‘length[i]’ respectively.

You need to create a stack of boxes that is as tall as possible using the given set of boxes.

Below are a few allowances:

You can only stack a box on top of another box if the dimensions of the 2-D base of the lower box ( both length and width ) are strictly larger than those of the 2-D base of the higher box. 

You can rotate a box so that any side functions as its base. It is also allowed to use multiple instances of the same type of box. This means, a single type of box when rotated, will generate multiple boxes with different dimensions, which may also be included in stack building.

Return the height of the highest possible stack so formed.

alt text

Note:
The height, Width, Length of the type of box will interchange after rotation.

No two boxes will have all three dimensions the same.

Don’t print anything, just return the height of the highest possible stack that can be formed.
Problem approach

You are given a set of ‘n’ types of rectangular 3-D boxes. The height, width, and length of each type of box are given by arrays, ‘height’, ‘width’, and ‘length’ respectively, each consisting of ‘n’ positive integers. The height, width, length of the i^th type box is given by ‘height[i]’, ‘width[i]’ and ‘length[i]’ respectively.

Try solving now
02
Round
Medium
Video Call
Duration60 minutes
Interview date16 Dec 2022
Coding problem2

1. Next Greater Element

Easy
10m average time
90% success
0/40
Asked in companies
IBMInfo Edge India (Naukri.com)Amazon

You are given an array 'a' of size 'n'.



The Next Greater Element for an element 'x' is the first element on the right side of 'x' in the array, which is greater than 'x'.


If no greater elements exist to the right of 'x', consider the next greater element as -1.


For example:
Input: 'a' = [7, 12, 1, 20]

Output: NGE = [12, 20, 20, -1]

Explanation: For the given array,

- The next greater element for 7 is 12.

- The next greater element for 12 is 20. 

- The next greater element for 1 is 20. 

- There is no greater element for 20 on the right side. So we consider NGE as -1.
Problem approach

For a given array/list of integers of size N, print the Next Greater Element(NGE) for every element. The Next Greater Element for an element X is the first element on the right side of X in the array, which is greater than X. If no greater elements exist to the right of X, consider the next greater element as -1.

Try solving now

2. Roots of the tree having minimum height

Moderate
25m average time
75% success
0/80
Asked in companies
OYOUberAmazon

You are given an undirected Tree having 'N' nodes. The nodes are numbered from 1 to 'N'. Your task is to find the sorted list of all such nodes, such that rooting the tree on that node gives the minimum height possible of the given tree.

A tree is a connected acyclic graph. The height of a rooted tree is the maximum value of the distance between the root and all nodes of the tree.

Problem approach

You are given an undirected Tree having 'N' nodes. The nodes are numbered from 1 to 'N'. Your task is to find the sorted list of all such nodes, such that rooting the tree on that node gives the minimum height possible of the given tree.

Try solving now
03
Round
Easy
HR Round
Duration30 minutes
Interview date16 Dec 2022
Coding problem1

1. Basic HR Questions

Introduce yourself
What are your hobbies?
What are the skills you achieved by your hobby?

Problem approach

Tip 1 : I took a minute to gather my thoughts.
Tip 2 : I answered honestly

Here's your problem of the day

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

Skill covered: Programming

What is recursion?

Choose another skill to practice
Similar interview experiences
System Engineer
2 rounds | 4 problems
Interviewed by TCS
0 views
0 comments
0 upvotes
System Engineer
2 rounds | 3 problems
Interviewed by TCS
1139 views
0 comments
0 upvotes
System Engineer
2 rounds | 3 problems
Interviewed by TCS
1197 views
0 comments
0 upvotes
System Engineer
2 rounds | 4 problems
Interviewed by TCS
1312 views
0 comments
0 upvotes
Companies with similar interview experiences
company logo
System Engineer
2 rounds | 4 problems
Interviewed by HCL Technologies
1374 views
0 comments
0 upvotes
company logo
System Engineer
1 rounds | 3 problems
Interviewed by Microsoft
0 views
0 comments
0 upvotes
company logo
System Engineer
3 rounds | 6 problems
Interviewed by HCL Technologies
912 views
0 comments
0 upvotes