Honestly, this round was one of the calmest and most respectful interviews I’ve had so far. A female interviewer conducted my round, and she was extremely polite, patient, and understanding. Midway through the interview, I actually got disconnected, and she waited for me to rejoin without a hint of frustration. When I couldn’t hear a few questions properly, she repeated them kindly every time, which really helped me stay relaxed and confident throughout.

My interview flow began with a self-introduction, followed by an explanation of my projects, where I discussed my role, the tech stack I used, and the challenges I faced. She then asked me about the programming languages I knew.

For the coding part, I was asked two straightforward questions live on a compiler. She focused on understanding my thought process more than just the final code. After the coding, we delved into core Java concepts like OOPs (with real-world examples), constructors (and if they can be overloaded), an overview and use cases of the Collections Framework, the basic working of HashMap and when to use it, performance differences between ArrayList and LinkedList, what Wrapper Classes are and their utility, and Exception Handling (try, catch, finally, checked vs unchecked). We also touched upon JavaScript basics, specifically the difference between let and var, and what NaN is and when it occurs.

Finally, we had a brief HR-type discussion involving basic yes/no questions about shifts, relocation, and tech stack flexibility, without any situational or behavioral questions. The interview lasted around 30 minutes and felt more like a conversation than an interrogation. The interviewer genuinely valued clear explanations and patience over speed or perfection.

My overall interview experience with Cognizant was positive, though the technical round required a bit more focus. The interviewer was polite and guided me well, making the environment comfortable. All interview calls were arranged randomly via Superset.

Round 1 – Aptitude + Communication Assessment

This round was relatively easy. The aptitude section covered basic quantitative and logical questions, while the communication section focused on grammar, sentence correction, and listening comprehension. My advice for this round is simply to stay calm and focused.

Round 2 – Technical Assessment

This round was of moderate difficulty and included several sections:

• SQL (2 Questions): Both were easy and related to Date functions.
• Java (2 Coding Questions):
  • Find Max Consecutive Ones
  • Find Sum of Same Consecutive Numbers that occur k times
• HTML / CSS / JS (3 Small Questions): These were basic, mostly covering syntax or output-based concepts.

Round 3 – Technical Interview (30 mins)

This interview was conducted online via Superset. The interviewer was very polite and created a comfortable atmosphere. The round started with my self-introduction.

Coding Question:

I was asked to solve a coding question on the compiler:

• Find the length of the longest word in a string and print all the words with the same length.
• (Follow-up: Handle spaces and full stops in the string)

Theory Questions:

We then moved on to several theory questions, predominantly in Java and SQL:

• Java:
  • OOPs Pillars (I had to explain all of them)
  • Polymorphism (in detail)
  • final, finally, finalize keywords
  • Abstract Classes & Interfaces
  • Try-Catch & Exception Handling
  • Time complexity of various sorting algorithms
• SQL:
  • Normalization
  • All types of Joins
  • Difference between Left and Left Outer Join
  • Query to find the 2nd Highest Salary

HR Segment

This segment involved friendly interaction and straightforward Yes/No questions regarding job location, shift flexibility, and familiarity with tech stacks. There were no tricky HR questions.

I received an interim offer shortly after completing the interview. Overall, the experience was smooth and fair. The interviewer seemed genuinely interested in understanding my logic rather than just the final answer.