Date of Interview: 21 Aug, 2025 Time: College said to reach by 8 AM, procedure started at 9 AM.

Program name : Cognizant Digital Nurture 4.0 Role: Java FSE

Got called to wait for panel allocation at around 11 AM, Got allotted to a panel at around 11:05 AM.
Interview started at 11:08 AM and ended around 12 PM. The process was one-to-two (two
interviewers). Had to join from laptop to share screen in front of them and code in their editor. I guess
they record the process for fairness.

Long post. TLDR below.

Started with: intro yourself. Tell in brief and mention stuff that you are confident in, no need to tell too
long.

They asked me to rate myself on the skills I mentioned:

Java (8) SpringBoot (8) MySQL (6)

Technical (Java)

SQL / DB

Create a database. Create a table with: id (PK), name, address, age (age must be > 15). Put 3
records in this table. Use TRUNCATE. Use DROP.

Difference between IN and BETWEEN. Aggregate functions: tell a bit about them.

Projects & Backend

Then discussion on projects. I was doing a backend internship, so we talked about that.

My tech stack in the interview (was SpringBoot).

They asked about deployment stuff. I had used Docker + Railway so we had a brief discussion.
Nothing too technical on these.

They asked then if I had used any other cloud service. I used Aiven for database so I mentioned that.

I was still learning about AWS, so I mentioned about S3.

Then they asked AWS related questions about full serverless, containers—something like that, can’t
remember exactly.

Do you know EC2, ECS, Lambda? I had just heard about these, so I couldn’t tell the implementation
but just the concept.

College Project Discussion.

I had a college project where I used Google Maps API, so a bit discussion on that.
How are request and response given while using Maps API.

They wanted to know about JSON.

Regarding JSON they asked if I knew W3C (which I wasn’t aware, so they explained me).

Frontend (Basic)

Then the discussion shifted to frontend. They asked me to name any 10 HTML tags. Named a lot.
They asked if I knew iframe, canvas tag. Explained it to them about that. Then no more HTML. No
CSS, JS, React questions were asked to me.

CI/CD / Git

Then we moved to CICD. They asked if I was comfortable in Git, GitHub, gitlab anything.

I was comfortable in GitHub, Git so they gave me a scenario: if I wanted to clone a repo and make
changes, what will be the entire flow.

I explained: first clone -> Authorize yourself -> make a new branch -> make changes -> add, commit,
push -> resolve conflict if there -> create pull request.

Follow-ups:

How would you resolve conflicts. How do you checkout into a new branch command. How to delete a
branch.

HR / Wrap-up

Basic: do u like frontend or backend? Can u relocate if needed, can work on any tech stack as per
demand? night shift / day shift? Finally ending with any questions for us.

TL;DR

Difficulty level: 5/10 Keep fundamentals strong. Duration: ~45 mins Interviewer were nice, made me
feel at home. Explained whereever necessary. Didnt got asked on SpringBoot,React.

Tips:

Tell them only those topics you are confident in → they will ask from what you bring up.

Prepare: • Core Java – OOPs, loops, fundamentals. • SQL – W3Schools level is enough.
Fundamentals checked. • Basic cloud (AWS terms) • Git commands + simple CI/CD flow. • Your own
projects (know them properly). • Show enthusiasm to learn.

Thats all I remember, will comment if i remember any other detail. Open to questions. Myself ECE
final year BTECH .

Before the interview, I went through several stages of the Cognizant Digital Nurture
program. My interview took place in person with two interviewers—one HR representative
was present physically, while the other joined via the Superset platform. I logged into
Superset before the interview started. Both HR representatives had technical expertise,
leading to very few HR questions; the interview was primarily a combination of HR and
technical assessments.

Interview Date: September 27, 2024

Duration: 40-45 minutes

The entire interview session was recorded on the Superset platform, which also features
built-in online compilers and interpreters for various languages, including SQL, Java, C++,
and Python. Since I was interviewing for the Java Full Stack Engineer role, I chose to
code in Java, even though I practice DSA primarily in C++.

1. Introduction:
The interview began with a brief introduction from my side.
2. Technical Questions:
OOP Concepts:
Discussed the four pillars of OOP.
Asked about different access modifiers.
Explained inheritance and its various forms in Java.
Provided a real-life scenario to illustrate polymorphism.
Major Project:
Briefly described my major project, mentioning it was still in progress.
Internship Discussion:
Discussed my internship with no cross-questions.
Resume Projects:
Answered questions regarding the tech stacks mentioned in my resume. (O)*
Explained what Spring/Spring Framework is. (O)*
3. Coding Tasks:
The interviewers requested coding tasks in Java, observing how efficiently I wrote
the code:
Write a code to print all the factors of the number 9.
Reverse the string "Your_Name".
Swap two numbers without using a third variable and again without using
addition or subtraction (using the XOR operator).
Find the largest and second-largest numbers in the array. (O)*
4. Database Questions:
Discussed the Collection framework and its usage in my projects.
 Answered questions about SQL, including:
The difference between DBMS and RDBMS.
Writing a query to fetch the second highest salary from the employee table,
explaining the logic.
Writing a query to fetch the first three letters of every row in the "Name" column
from the employee table, along with an explanation.
5. SQL Query Challenges:
I was given a table schema and asked to code five queries in the compiler:
Find names starting with "A".
Find different departments in the table.
Count the number of employees in each department.
Retrieve names of employees who participated in any events (joining another
table where EmpID is the primary key).
Write a query to select the first four letters of all names in the column, resulting
in names like SHYA, SWET, RAHU, etc.
6. Further Technical Questions:
What is MVC?
How is Spring Boot different from Spring?
Discussed the differences between Delete, Truncate, and Drop, and provided some
DDL commands. (O)*
Explained exceptions and exception handling in Java, including Try, Catch, and
Finally blocks.
Differentiated between final, finally, and finalize. (O)*
7. Conclusion Questions:
Asked if I was willing to change tech stacks, particularly in the context of advancing
AI technologies.
Confirmed my willingness to relocate and work night shifts.
I was invited to ask any questions.

Result Date: October 23, 2024

Verdict: Selected for the GenC Next package.

Note: Most interviewees were asked Spring-related questions, whereas I had fewer
inquiries on that topic, despite my training in Spring, Hibernate, Spring Boot, and REST
API. Out of 54 interviewees, 35 were selected, with 6 for the GenC NEXT role and the rest
for the GenC role. It’s essential to study thoroughly during the Deep Skilling Round to
secure a Next Role.
Tips for Success:

Avoid mentioning unnecessary details on your resume or Superset, as questions can

stem from those areas. Even a single tech stack you're unfamiliar with can lead to
rejection.
Interviewers often look for any mistakes, so be prepared for probing questions.
Explain your code as you write it; this gives you an edge.
Prepare a solid introduction and aim to impress in the first 10 minutes.
If you don't know an answer, move on confidently to the next question.
Maintain a positive demeanor throughout the interview.

Technical Questions:

1. Introduce yourself and discuss your recent projects.

2. Rate your Java skills and explain why you prefer Java.
3. Differentiate between Xms and Xmx in Java memory management.
4. Explain synchronization and multithreading in Java.
5. Compare TreeSet and HashSet.
6. Describe inheritance, and discuss the Array vs. Linked List.
7. How would you reverse a Linked List?
8. What is the best data structure for storing hierarchical data?
9. Explain garbage collection and its types.
10. Why Python?
11. Rate your SQL skills.
12. Discuss performance tuning in SQL
13. Explain the use of self-join.
14. Compare BFS and DFS, and explain why DFS may be more efficient in some cases.
15. Explain indexing in SQL and its purpose.
16. What is file handling?

Java Programming Tasks:

1. Write a program to swap two numbers without using a temporary variable.

2. Open a file in read mode.

SQL Programming Tasks:

1. Write a query to select employee names starting with "S."

2. Calculate the total salary of all employees.
3. Write a query to find the second-highest value in a column.

HR Questions:

1. Why would you choose Cognizant?

2. What are your strengths?
3. Describe a difficult situation you've faced and how you overcame it.
The interview was an hour-long conversation that felt more like a discussion than a grilling. The
interviewers were friendly, and they patiently listened to my answers, which made the experience
very comfortable and less stressful.