TCS Ninja Interview Experience

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is a multinational IT giant that hires freshers regularly. They have multiple job profiles that they hire for, in the following article, I will solely be talking about the Ninja Job Profile, which I have experienced firsthand. The article is divided into two parts: the exam and the interview portion.

Exam:

The exam for TCS job profiles can be reasonably thought of as a basic competency test built around testing general aptitude, logical reasoning, and technical ability. It consists of the kind of questions that any person who has a decent level of awareness of general CS and math-related topics can be reasonably expected to solve. The exam tests for verbal ability by Sentence Completion, Best Expresses Synonyms, Error Identification in a Sentence, etc. type of questions. Their numerical aptitude consisted of questions related to profit and loss, time and work, ratios, and mixtures. Numerical ability was also tested through questions on probability, quadratic equations, permutation and combination, series and sequences, and percentages. Logical reasoning questions like seating arrangement problems, odd man out, and distance direction were also asked. Data Interpretation from graphs and pie charts is also essential as there was one such passage with multiple questions attached to it.

Interview:

After clearing the preliminary examination process, an interview is scheduled with a panel consisting of both technical and non-technical people. Thus the interview became a combination of both technical and HR round combined together.

As most interviews begin, they asked me to introduce myself, this is generally a point where you can highlight the direction in which the interview will be headed and thereby control the flow of the interview. After a basic description of my background I spoke about mainly a few things which I wanted to be highlighted in the interview, such as my core values (say for example, being a lifelong learner, etc.), a description of my specific hobbies. I tried to keep it interesting by mentioning specifics about my interest, for example things that I like doing; instead of general answers like “I like reading books, watching movies”, you can be specific about what kind of movies you like watching, or something that will stick with the interviewers for a longer span of time and something that may even demonstrate your core values (like volunteering at a library because you love learning, etc.). After that you must also state your interest, and the kind of work that you would like to do (mention ongoing projects, or things that you have enjoyed working on). This is mainly the portion where the technical interviewer will pick keywords from to question you on. If you mention Python or C, you have to be aware of their basics; they will ask you about how to do specific things in those specific languages, or how would you go about solving some specific problem. In my case, they had also asked me about the general structure of mentioned programming languages, whether they are compiled or interpreted, whether they are strongly typed or weakly typed, etc. In case you mention ongoing/completed projects like me, they will ask you about your projects. Make sure you know how your project works inside out. After they are satisfied with the technical part, they will start asking you some general questions on how you would handle some scenarios, why do you want to work at the company that you are currently interviewing for, what is the most difficult problem you have faced in your life so far and how have you overcome said problems, what are your strengths and weaknesses, etc. Lastly they will ask you some basics about the company itself, such as who is current CEO/President, etc. Try to do your homework on the company that you are interviewing for it always helps to know what values they promote, etc. Then they asked if I had any questions to ask them or not, mostly try to keep one or two questions for this, might come in handy.

Some general tips to keep in mind is: try to make the interview into a conversation instead of a one sided question answering game, think out loud to include the interviewers into your thought process while solving a problem, try to minimize silence in the interview. It is all a matter of the impression you are presenting to the interviewer, if they perceive you as arrogant right the beginning due to your inflection or body language, no matter how well the interview goes they will not hire you as you won’t be a good fit for their company culture. Just try to be an amicable person during the interview with whom they can picture working together in the future.