Cracking the NCR Software Engineer Interview: The 2023 Guide

Landing an interview for a software engineer role at NCR Corporation is a great accomplishment NCR is one of the oldest and most respected companies in the tech industry, known for innovations like the first mechanical cash register and ATMs But you’ll need to thoroughly prepare to ace the NCR software engineering interview process.

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about the NCR software engineer interview, including:

• Overview of the interview process
• Most frequently asked interview questions
• Tips to crush your NCR software engineering interview
• Sample coding interview questions and solutions

Let’s get started!

Overview of the NCR Software Engineer Interview Process

Here are the key steps in the NCR software engineering interview process:

• Initial phone screen with an NCR recruiter (30 mins)
• Take-home coding assignment (2-3 days)
• Technical phone interview (60 mins)
• Onsite interview (4-5 one-hour interviews)
• Team matching interviews

The onsite interview is the most important part of the process. Expect 4-5 one-hour long interviews primarily focused on coding and object-oriented design.

You might also have separate interviews to see how well you fit with different teams you might be matched with.

Most Frequently Asked NCR Software Engineer Interview Questions

In NCR software engineering interviews, these are the types of questions that are asked most often:

Coding Questions

• Array manipulation – sorting, searching, etc.
• String manipulation – parsing, manipulating, etc.
• Linked lists – reversing, detecting cycles, etc.
• Trees – traversal, insertion, deletion, etc.
• Dynamic programming – Fibonacci, coin change, etc.
• Bit manipulation – get/set bits, bit masks, etc.

You’ll be asked to code solutions on a whiteboard or desktop-sharing screen. Understand time/space complexities.

Object-Oriented Design Questions

• Design vending machine
• Design an ATM
• Design a parking lot
• Design a restaurant POS system
• Design a deck of cards

Walk through key OO principles like abstraction, encapsulation, inheritance, and polymorphism.

System Design Questions

• Design Netflix or YouTube
• Design a social network
• Design a ride sharing app like Uber
• Design a chat app like WhatsApp

Scalability, reliability, caching, databases, and networking are key.

Behavioral Questions

• Tell me about yourself
• Why do you want to work at NCR?
• Describe a challenging project you worked on
• Tell me about a time you failed and what you learned
• How do you handle conflicts on a team?

Have stories ready from past work experiences, leadership, teamwork, and overcoming challenges.

8 Tips for Acing the NCR Software Engineering Interview

Here are my top tips for excelling in your NCR software engineer interview:

1. Study computer science fundamentals

Review key data structures, algorithms, OS, networking, and databases. Know Big O time/space complexities.

2. Practice mock interviews

Do at least 5 mock interviews to get comfortable thinking and coding out loud.

3. Review NCR products and tech stack

Understand NCR’s product offerings and tech stack. Show passion for their domain.

4. Communicate your approach clearly

Explain your thinking step-by-step. Ask clarifying questions.

5. Prepare stories to answer behavioral questions

Have 5-10 stories ready from past work experiences and leadership.

6. Stay calm under pressure

Interviews are stressful. Take deep breaths and stay focused if you get stuck.

7. Ask insightful questions

Have smart questions ready about the team, codebase, tech stack, and challenges.

8. Get plenty of rest

Arrive well-rested, hydrated, and fueled with a healthy breakfast.

Sample NCR Software Engineering Interview Questions

Here are examples of the coding questions you might encounter:

Question: Given a sorted array of integers, return the first occurrence of a target value. Return -1 if target does not exist.

Solution: Use binary search to find the target in log(N) time.

def binarySearch(nums, target):  left = 0  right = len(nums) - 1    while left <= right:    mid = (left + right) // 2    if nums[mid] == target:      return mid    elif nums[mid] < target:      left = mid + 1    else:      right = mid - 1        return -1

Question: Reverse a singly linked list iteratively (no recursion).

Solution: Iterate through list and change next pointer of each node to point to previous.

public ListNode reverseList(ListNode head) {  ListNode prev = null;  while (head != null) {    ListNode next = head.next;    head.next = prev;    prev = head;    head = next;  }  return prev;}