Cognizant technical interview and hackathon questions

The technical aspect of the interview was split into two rounds of screening . One round was a hackathon on java
cluster specifically for the MuleSoft developer role. This document is a rough draft on the technical aspect of the
interview process and it does not include the previous rounds such as aptitude , reasoning and coding.

Part -1 MuleSoft hackathon

Skill set expected :

• Html
• CSS
• Java script
• Spring boot
• PL/SQL (but we did MySQL)

The given use-case was Hospital Management System. It was a one day format hackathon. My role was back-end dev
and I worked on spring boot for integrating the app and the DB. Due to the time constraints we were expected to
explain as much as we can and show them the most work completed on the given use case for each team . Each team
is of 4 members

The questions that the team encountered related to backend .Some of them were also answered by the team mates
not only me .But I completely contributed to the questions asked related to spring boot.(We didn’t make it to the
implementation so just explained our idea on implementing).

➢ What is spring boot

➢ What is MVC (Model View Controller)
➢ What is the database used
➢ Which is the master table used
➢ What are the relations used
➢ What are end points
➢ What is authentication
➢ What is authorization
➢ What is role based authentication
➢ What is a endpoint
➢ What is the public and the private end point(I mentioned these 2 terms while explaining the back-end
process)
➢ how does spring differ from spring boot
➢ advantages of using spring boot
➢ how does spring boot connect with the database
➢ which protocol is used
➢ what are the http methods used
➢ what is a repository
➢ what is JPA
 ➢ how does spring boot handle the CRUD operations in this project
➢ what if I give a unexpected value example: if I give string in place of a integer. How will the application
handle and what is the error thrown
➢ what If I give more characters than expected in the field of name, what is the error generated
➢ what is the authentication mechanism used
➢ how long does the session exist and did u set session time expiry
➢ how does spring boot protect the app from external attacks such as MITM man in the middle attack
➢ did u test for the server load and how will it handle unexpected failures
➢ how does the data from the SQL reaches the user (front-end UI)
➢ explain the methods used in the JS for fetching the data
➢ what is In-Memory Authentication that u have used in this project(since I was unable to authenticate the
user credential against the DB I used in-memory authentication using hard-coded values).
➢ What if I give a value that doesn’t exist in the database . what will the web-app does if it encounters
such a situation .

After this round .Few days went and all the team from our college who attended hackathon were called for the
technical interview in-person at sathyabama university.

Reaching there we had our document verification and we were given the interview panel numbers to attend . For me
I had two HR people in a single panel for me .All the questions was completely resume based . I add the below main
contents from my resume for reference.

PROJECTS/INTERNSHIP
1. Software Engineer Intern at CTS, Project Cafe
Our team was assigned to work on Azure AD authentication, and I handled the security configuration. I utilized
the Spring Boot framework for backend development, implemented Azure AD authentication for user access
control, and configured security features, including role-based access control (RBAC) and authorization policies. I
collaborated with the team to ensure secure user authentication and data protection.

2. Project: AI Text Summarizer App

As part of the Postman Student Expert Program, I developed an API-based project that leverages Hugging Face’s
Inference API to summarize lengthy text input. The backend architecture involves making API calls to the
summarization model, demonstrating my proficiency in backend development, API integration, and client-server
communication. I successfully implemented request-response patterns, emphasizing efficiency and user-friendly
interactions.
Skills Demonstrated: Backend Development, API Integration, Client-Server Communication.

SKILLS
Programming languages: Java, C, Python
Web development: HTML, CSS, API ,Java Script, Spring Boot(Basics)
Core Subjects: OOPS, DBMS, DSA
Languages known: Tamil, English
Soft Skills: Creativity, Teamwork, Adaptability, Communication, Leadership
 Part-2 Technical Interview Questions

➢ Self-Introduction
➢ Since u have mentioned DSA in your resume can u write code merge sort .
➢ Which language u are comfortable in for writing the merge sort code.

Wrote only the functions in a pen and paper HR insisted me to write a bit short since we the time span of the interview
was short for it . I wrote the merge and sort functions and explained the code completely . He was satisfied then the
real sequence of questions started to flow. Though I mentioned in my resume that I was proficient in java . not a single
question in java or OOPS was asked from me . The rest were from the resume content mainly relying on my project
and subjects I mentioned. The rest of the interview after the coding can be broadly classified into three domains namely
DBMS, Web-Technology(giving API weightage), Basics of Aritificial Intelligence .

The questions were not completely on order or based on the domain for a stretch of time . it was mixed up a bit on
the interview flow I will cover dbms , Ai and then web-technology .

DBMS
➢ What is DBMS
➢ How does RDMS and DBMS differ from each other. Explain
➢ What is NoSQL. Does it belong to DBMS or RDBMS
➢ What is relation in RDBMS can u explain
➢ What are joins
➢ Explain the type of joins you know
➢ How do you use a left join
➢ What are the lab exercise u have done in your curriculum in DBMS lab
➢ What is the database you have worked with

Artificial Intelligence
➢ What is deep learning
➢ What is predictive model
➢ What is generative model
➢ What is convolution neural network
➢ What are the ethical considerations while constructing a AI model

Web-Technology
➢ What is an API
➢ What is the protocol used
➢ What are the methods used in the protocol for the API call
➢ What is SSL
 ➢ Which protocol does SSL implement
➢ Why do we need SSL
➢ Why do we need Encryption in Web
➢ What is the difference between hashing and encryption
➢ Can an encrypted data be reversed ?
➢ Can a hashed data or info can be de-hashed
➢ What is a client-server architecture
➢ How does a request and response work in the web
➢ Authentication and authorization
➢ What was your role in the intern project and how did u implement the functionality assigned to you.
➢ What is role based access.
➢ Does your project use any authorization
➢ How did u call the external API in the project
➢ Since u mentioned it is a call to an open API , can u explain us the how does it work
➢ What is the name of the external API
➢ Did your project use any authorization mechanism
➢ How did the authorization mechanism work in your project and how did u implement it
➢ How does the API respond when u make a call (in terms of how does It identify you)
➢ How do u send the auth key over the request for the API resource
➢ How do u ensure that the auth key is safe
➢ What is the result of a successful API call , what Is the message and status code for it
➢ In case any error occurs during the API call how does your application handle it
➢ What is the format of the data received when a API call is made
➢ What type of http method did you use to request the API for resource
➢ In case of unauthorized access, what is the message generated and what is the status code
➢ What is the tech stack used in the project
➢ How does the error message or the response from the API call is returned to the user in the UI
➢ Explain the project structure and the reason to use the implemented structure
➢ Since u have mentioned java script in your project have u done any projects other than the one mentioned in
the resume??
➢ How do u fetch a image and display it in the front-end using JS
➢ What are the libraries u have used in JS for the mini project(the one I told the interviewer while asked about
project in JS) you have done.

Non tech questions

➢ Are you ready to re-locate

➢ How will u work under pressure ,explain us

In a nutshell the technical interview was fully focused on my resume . Java and OOPS was not asked in technical
interview may be the Company representative who came us for the hackathon might conveyed the previous day
questions asked on java for so the technical interview carried on this way. Only while writing the code the panel was
quite rest the whole time either me answering or the panel was throwing their questions.

It was good experience and the both the HR I had was really good and were on point . I didn’t waste a single minute
on the interview I answered only on 3 possible ways . If I knew I explained them with a practical level example , if I
didn’t knew I straightaway told them I have no idea regarding it , if I had some insight about the questions asked I
told them the info I knew and added that that’s what I knew about the topic asked.