Cognizant interview questions

GenC and GenC Elevate are different interviews — Elevate goes considerably deeper on data structures. Know which one you are sitting for before you prepare.

The process

1. Online assessment — aptitude, logical reasoning, coding (harder for GenC Elevate)
2. Technical interview — data structures, SQL, project deep-dive
3. HR round — role fit, relocation, availability

Data structures and algorithms

• Reverse a linked list, iteratively and then recursively.

• Detect a cycle in a linked list.

• Give the time complexity of your solution and say where it would break.

• Implement a stack using two queues.

• Find the missing number in an array of 1 to n.

SQL and databases

• Difference between WHERE and HAVING.

• Write a query to find employees earning more than their manager.

• What is a primary key versus a unique key?

• Describe a stored procedure you would actually use.

Project and HR

• Walk me through your project architecture.

• Which technology in it would you replace, and why?

• Tell me about a time you had to learn something quickly.

• Why Cognizant? What do you know about the GenC programme?

How to practise these

Read a question aloud with Answer Round AI listening on your microphone, and answer it as if the round were live. You get a transcript of what you actually said, a draft built from your own resume to compare against, and a saved session to read back. Work through one group a day rather than skimming all 13 in an evening.

These are question patterns, gathered from publicly shared candidate experiences and Cognizant Technology Solutions's published hiring process — not leaked question papers. Use them as practice material, and check the rules of any live round before using assistance in it.