Candidate-Experiences |   3321

Candidate-Experiences

Hey,
 
There I'm Sourav Podder from B.P. Poddar Institute Of Management & Technology, Kolkata. I'm currently doing final year of B.Tech, Computer Sc. Engineering (4 years). I am very happy that I'm placed in my dream company, Cognizant. Cognizant came to my college for recruitment on January 13th, 2011 (Written Test, Technical & HR). I wanna share my experiance to FW users as it might help them to figure out what Cognizant's selection process actually is.
 
On the Day,
 
1) A ppt.
2) A written test. Before actually start writing the test, you will be asked to fill a form & give the following info:
 
1. Name, Date of Birth, Sex, Age, Permanent Address, Current Address.
2. 10th percentage and 12th percentage, year of passing etc.
3. Cumulative and individual percentage of the semesters.
4. Software Orientation (Programming languages known)
5. Hobbies and extra curricular activities
6. Strengths and weakness
 
7. Expectations from Cognizant
8. Long term and short term goals in Cognizant.
 
9. Qualities required for a software professional.
 
10. Why do you think that you are qualified for IT companies?
 
(Note: This info is more powerful than your resume. Please, prepare it well and write things very very clearly. Because, this info will be forwarded to your HR!)
 
The written test comprised of 2 sections: Analytical and Verbal. The details are given below:
 
* Analytical Section (30 questions, 30 minutes)
 
1) Figure(finding odd figure,finding similiar figure,figure completion).
2) Logic(Syllogisms/Logical deduction & Binary Logic/Logical Connectives).
3) Puzzle.
4) Data Interpretation.
5) Coding Decoding.
 
* Verbal Section (25 questions, 25 minutes)
 
1) 2 passages(go through the previous papers of cognizant from Freshersworld.com & you might get common).
2) Find correct sentences.
3) Find incorrect sentences.
4) Jumbled sentences & you have to choose their correct orders.
 
(Note: Totally 55 questions. You gotta finish it in 55 minutes. This pattern is very new. This pattern may be valid for the next two years. For section 1, refer R.S. Aggarwal's Verbal & Non-verbal Reasoning and R.S. Aggarwal's Quantitative Apptitude only for DI.
 
For section 2, you need to be more thorough in English Grammar. This section would be tough for those who aren't good in English. Go through the verbal part of previous Cognizant papers from Freshersworld.com)

358 students sitted in the aptitude test & 251 cleared & I was one of them. (They also declred the panel no. of the selected candidates also)

3) Interview (Technical+HR)

Me: Good evening sir.
Int: Good evening, have the seat. (he had an age of around 30 was quite friendly, smiling always have a little bit of smile on your face. It shows that you are not nervous.)
 
Int: So you are Sourav? (in the mean time he is going through my aptitude marks, the afforesaid forms)
Me: Yes sir.
 
Int: Sourav tell me about yourself.

Me: I started & after a some time he stopped me.
 
Int: So what are your interests & hobbies?
Me: Sir, it's listening to music, surfing the internet, playing cricket & I also love to travel many places.
 
Int: What type of music?
Me: Sir, soulful music.
 
Interviewer: What is soulful music?
Me: Something touches my heart.

Int: (with a smile)That is very difficult to say which type of song touches which one's heart. But what type of song touches your heart?
Me: Sir, I like Rahat fateh ali khan's song very much & I also like sonu nigam's meledious song as well & these types of songs but I don't like those hiphop & hard rock.

Int: What are Rahat's recent song?
Me: From Salman khan's movie Dabbang "tere mast mast do nain" & prior to this I also like the song"dil to bachha hai ji" from Ishqiya.

Int: The movie Dabbang is also famous for another song (he is soo friendly)
Me: Yes sir, "Munni Badnam Hui".

Int: Do you like any recent Bengali song?
Me: Yes sir,from movie "autograph" I like Anupam Roy's song "amake amar maton thakte dao" & also I like Rupam's song from dat movie "beche thakar gaan".

Int: Do you study Artificial Intelligence (AI) in any time of your semestar?
Me: Yes sir, in the last semester.

Int: Then you are in trouble (with a smile) ok do you like AI?
Me: No sir, I didn't like the subject but for the sake of semester i've to go through it.

Int: Ok what is theorem? (I even don't remember the name of the theorem) no problem, if you don't know it.
Me: No sir, I didn't know it.
 
Int: Ok,what is B-Tree & B+ Tree?
Me: I answered (he was fully impressed with my answer & when I tried to elongate it he said "dis is enough I have found what i want")
 
Int: What is Weak Entity Set?
Me: Again I satisfied him with my answer.
 
Int: Now coming to networking what is the difference between a switch & a bridge?
Me: (This is a shocker for me as I didn't expect a question from networking because I mentioned C & Java as s/w orientation in the form) I tried to say something & went on saying bla bla bla.

Int: No,this is not correct
Me: Sir, actually I'm not in touch with networking because I studied it in 5th semester & after that I'm not in touch with it.

Int: But I will try to touch all the subjects & you will have to give atleast one correct answer from that subject otherwise I will ask questions from dat subject.
Me: Ok sir.

Int: What is packet switch routing & circuit switch routing?
Me: (after a bit of pause & thinking) No sir, I cann't remember it right now.

Int: Ok you write down the 7 layers of OSI model? (he gave me pen & paper)
Me: After giving some try I only manage to write only 5 layers (at this moment I started to panic a little bit)

Int: Ok you write a valid ip address & say which class it belongs?
Me: 127.0.0.1 & after some pause I said it's in class A.

Int: Ok now we can move to other subject.
Me: I released a huge sigh of relief actually I made wild guess about the class of the IP address.

Int: Java?
Me: Yes sir.
 
Int: How can you create threads in Java?
Me: I answered & satisfied him with my answer.

Int: So, what is the best choice extending Thread class or implementing Runnable interface & why?
Me: Implementing the Runnable interface & also explained the reason (but he is not fully satisfied with the reason)

Int: Now OS?
Me: Yes sir (with a fear in my mind because I'm even not in touch with OS)

Int: What is Virtual Memory?
Me: The memory which doesn't exist physically.

Int: (with a smile) you are trying to tell me the dictionary meaning.
Me: No sir, actually I'm not comfortable in memory management part but i'm comfortable in semaphore etc in process management part.

Int: (with a smile) I didn't ask you that ok tell me what is deadlock?
Me: I told & satisfied him.

Int: How you can detect deadlock?
Me: I told dat by using RAG, WFG & by some Deadlock detection algorithm.

Int: What is RAG & WFG?
Me: Resource Allocation Graph & Wait for Graph.

Int: What are the differences between them?
Me: I told that RAG involves Resource but WFG don't involves Resources it only involves processes & I also draw an eg. of both RAG & WFG.

Int: Are you sure in WFG there is no resource?
Me: Yes sir.

Int: No it's not correct. (he was checking my confidence)
Me: Sir, as far as I know there is no resource in WFG.

Int: Ok, I think i'm done. Do you have any questions?
Me: Yes sir, What are the improvements I have to make to be successful in the organisation?

Int: I cann't tell you that seeing you such a short period. But as a fresher you must have the mentality to learn, effective communication skills & good team work capability.
Me: Ok sir & one more what are the expectations of the company from me as a fresher?

Int: As I already told mentality to learn, communication skill & team work capability.
Me: Yes sir, according to me i'm a quick learner & good team man & I also have effective communication skills. So I think I will be successful. I have some problem in some subjects like networking because I'm not in touch with these subjects recently. But I have full command & confidence in my subject C & Java etc.

Int: Ok, thank you.
Me: Thank you sir.

Our result was announced on the evening of 15/01/2011 as Infosys was sharing 0 slot with Cognizant.

Out of 251 candidates who appeared for the interview 179 were selected & my name was there in the list.
 
Wish you all the best!
 
Hope to see you soon in Cognizant.
 
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