Ultimate Java Developer Interview
Preparation Guide for Chennai Market
2024-2025
Table of Contents
1. Market Analysis
2. Priority-Based Question Categories
3. Technical Interview Questions
4. Coding Problems
5. Company-Specific Patterns
6. Preparation Timeline
7. Quick Reference Cheat Sheet
Market Analysis
Chennai Java Developer Market Overview (2024-2025)
Average Salary Range: ₹8-16 LPA for experienced developers
Top Companies: TCS, HCL, Cognizant, Wipro, Infosys, Capgemini, Virtusa, Mphasis
High Demand Skills: Spring Boot, Microservices, Cloud (AWS/Azure), Docker,
Kubernetes
Target Roles: Senior Software Developer, Java/AWS/Azure Developer, Solution
Architect, Cloud Engineer, Full-stack Developer
Based on Your Profile Strengths:
Oracle Database Migration - High market demand
Azure Certified (AZ-204) - Premium positioning
Spring Boot + Microservices - Industry standard
Terraform IaC - DevOps integration
Multi-cloud expertise - Competitive advantage
Priority-Based Question Categories
🔥 CRITICAL PRIORITY (Must Master)
Java Core Concepts ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
1. OOP Fundamentals
o What is Polymorphism? Explain compile-time vs runtime polymorphism
o Difference between Abstract Class and Interface
o What is Encapsulation and how to achieve it?
o Explain Inheritance with real-world example
o What is Composition vs Aggregation?
2. Collections Framework
o Difference between ArrayList vs LinkedList
o HashMap internal working mechanism
o HashSet vs TreeSet differences
o How to handle hash collision?
o ConcurrentHashMap vs HashMap vs Hashtable
o How to make ArrayList thread-safe?
o Convert ArrayList to Set and vice versa
3. Exception Handling
o Checked vs Unchecked exceptions
o ClassNotFoundException vs ClassCastException
o try-catch-finally execution order
o Custom exception creation
o Global exception handling in microservices
Java 8 Features ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
4. Lambda Expressions & Functional Interfaces
o What is lambda expression and syntax?
o Functional interface definition and examples
o Predicate vs Function interfaces
o Method references (::) usage
5. Stream API
o Stream vs Collection differences
o map() vs flatMap() differences
o filter(), collect(), reduce() operations
o Parallel vs Sequential streams
o Stream terminal vs intermediate operations
6. Optional Class
o Why Optional was introduced?
o Optional class methods (isPresent, orElse, etc.)
o How to avoid NullPointerException using Optional
Spring Boot & Microservices ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
7. Spring Boot Fundamentals
o What is Spring Boot and advantages?
o Auto-configuration mechanism
o Spring vs Spring Boot differences
o Why choose Spring Boot for microservices?
o Spring Boot annotations (@Component, @Configuration, @Service)
o Bean lifecycle and scopes
o Dependency Injection (@Autowired vs @Qualifier vs @Primary)
8. REST API Development
o @RestController vs @Controller
o @GetMapping vs @RequestMapping
o @PathParam vs @QueryParam
o How to create CRUD operations
o Exception handling in REST APIs (@ControllerAdvice)
o API versioning strategies
9. Microservices Architecture
o Monolithic vs Microservices differences
o Service discovery mechanisms
o Circuit breaker pattern implementation
o Inter-service communication (REST, messaging)
o API Gateway role and benefits
o 12-factor app principles
o Fault tolerance and resilience patterns
Database & JPA ⭐⭐⭐⭐
10. JPA & Hibernate
o JPA vs Hibernate differences
o Entity lifecycle and annotations
o save() vs persist() methods
o CrudRepository vs JpaRepository
o Custom queries in Spring Data JPA
o @Query annotation usage
11. Database Concepts
o SQL JOIN types and usage
o Primary key vs Foreign key
o DELETE vs TRUNCATE vs DROP
o Database indexing and performance
o ACID properties
o Connection pooling
🚀 HIGH PRIORITY (Important for Senior Roles)
Cloud & DevOps ⭐⭐⭐⭐
12. Azure Cloud Services (Your Strength)
o Azure service models (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS)
o Azure DevOps pipelines
o Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
o Azure security best practices
o Cost optimization strategies
13. Containerization
o Docker concepts and commands
o Kubernetes basics
o Container orchestration
o Microservices deployment strategies
Design Patterns ⭐⭐⭐⭐
14. Common Patterns
o Singleton pattern implementation
o Factory pattern with examples
o Observer pattern usage
o Strategy pattern implementation
o Builder pattern benefits
o Dependency Injection pattern
Multithreading & Concurrency ⭐⭐⭐
15. Threading Concepts
o Thread lifecycle
o Runnable vs Callable interfaces
o ExecutorService usage
o Synchronization mechanisms
o Deadlock prevention
o Volatile keyword usage
Technical Interview Questions
EPAM Pattern Questions
1. Find 4th largest number in array
2. Explain Stream API with examples
3. Interface vs Abstract class differences
4. ArrayList vs LinkedList comparison
5. Java 8 features overview
6. Runtime vs Compile-time polymorphism
7. Garbage collection internal working
8. HashMap internal mechanism
9. Hash collision handling
10. Optional class and methods
HCL Pattern Questions
1. Spring Bean lifecycle
2. DELETE vs TRUNCATE commands
3. @GetMapping vs @RequestMapping
4. BufferedReader vs BufferedWriter
5. Spring Boot annotations
6. Thread lifecycle
7. Set vs List differences
8. JDBC connectivity setup
9. Bean scopes in Spring
10. Git commands (clean, fetch, push, commit)
TCS Pattern Questions
1. Array sorting in descending order
2. Code optimization techniques
3. Java 8 features
4. Abstract class method overriding
5. ArrayList to Set conversion
6. Multithreading in applications
7. JPA methods overview
8. Interface attribute access
9. File splitting program
10. Exception handling (local vs global)
11. RestTemplate vs WebClient vs FeignClient
12. Spring Batch implementation
13. Database indexing
Hexaware Pattern Questions
1. Employee salary sorting
2. JPA annotations
3. Spring Security implementation
4. @Component vs @Configuration
5. Exception types (ClassNotFoundException, ClassCastException)
6. DevTools usage and benefits
7. Spring vs Spring Boot
8. SQL JOIN necessity
9. Mono vs WebFlux
10. Functional interfaces
11. Starter dependencies importance
12. @Autowired vs @Inject differences
Coding Problems
Priority 1: Must Practice
Array & Collections
// 1. Find 4th largest number in array
public int findFourthLargest(int[] arr) {
return Arrays.stream(arr)
.boxed()
.sorted(Collections.reverseOrder())
.skip(3)
.findFirst()
.orElse(-1);
}
// 2. Remove duplicates using Stream
List<Integer> unique = list.stream()
.distinct()
.collect(Collectors.toList());
// 3. Second largest salary
SELECT MAX(salary) FROM Employee
WHERE salary < (SELECT MAX(salary) FROM Employee);
Stream API Problems
// 1. Filter employees by age > 29
employees.stream()
.filter(emp -> emp.getAge() > 29)
.map(Employee::getName)
.collect(Collectors.toList());
// 2. Group employees by department
employees.stream()
.collect(Collectors.groupingBy(Employee::getDepartment));
// 3. Find max salary employee
employees.stream()
.max(Comparator.comparing(Employee::getSalary))
.orElse(null);
String Manipulation
// 1. Character frequency count
String str = "good";
Map<Character, Long> frequency = str.chars()
.mapToObj(c -> (char) c)
.collect(Collectors.groupingBy(c -> c, Collectors.counting()));
// 2. Reverse string using Stream
String reversed = Arrays.stream(str.split(""))
.reduce("", (a, b) -> b + a);
// 3. Anagram check
public boolean isAnagram(String s1, String s2) {
return Arrays.equals(
s1.toLowerCase().chars().sorted().toArray(),
s2.toLowerCase().chars().sorted().toArray()
);
}
Priority 2: Advanced Problems
Database Queries
-- Employee with department join
SELECT e.firstname, e.lastname, d.name, o.orderdate
FROM Customer e
JOIN Department d ON e.dept_id = d.id
JOIN Orders o ON e.id = o.customer_id
WHERE d.name = 'IT';
-- Nth highest salary
SELECT salary FROM Employee
ORDER BY salary DESC
LIMIT 1 OFFSET n-1;
-- Pagination query
SELECT * FROM Employee
ORDER BY id
LIMIT 10 OFFSET 20;
Multithreading Examples
// ExecutorService example
ExecutorService executor = Executors.newFixedThreadPool(5);
CompletableFuture<String> future = CompletableFuture
.supplyAsync(() -> "Hello", executor)
.thenApply(s -> s + " World");
// Thread-safe Singleton
public class ThreadSafeSingleton {
private static volatile ThreadSafeSingleton instance;
public static ThreadSafeSingleton getInstance() {
if (instance == null) {
synchronized (ThreadSafeSingleton.class) {
if (instance == null) {
instance = new ThreadSafeSingleton();
}
}
}
return instance;
}
}
Company-Specific Patterns
Service-Based Companies (TCS, HCL, Cognizant)
Focus: Java fundamentals, Spring Boot, basic cloud
Difficulty: Medium
Key Areas: CRUD operations, basic microservices, SQL queries
Coding: Array problems, string manipulation, collections
Product Companies (Virtusa, Mphasis)
Focus: System design, advanced Java, microservices
Difficulty: High
Key Areas: Performance optimization, design patterns, scalability
Coding: Complex algorithms, optimization problems
Cloud-Focused Roles
Focus: Azure/AWS services, containers, DevOps
Difficulty: High
Key Areas: Infrastructure, CI/CD, monitoring, security
Coding: Infrastructure as code, automation scripts
Preparation Timeline
Week 1-2: Core Java Mastery
[ ] OOP concepts and examples
[ ] Collections framework deep dive
[ ] Exception handling patterns
[ ] Multithreading basics
Week 3-4: Java 8 & Modern Features
[ ] Lambda expressions practice
[ ] Stream API problems (50+ examples)
[ ] Optional class usage
[ ] Date/Time API
Week 5-6: Spring Boot & Microservices
[ ] Spring Boot project setup
[ ] REST API development
[ ] JPA and database integration
[ ] Microservices patterns
Week 7-8: Cloud & Advanced Topics
[ ] Azure services overview
[ ] Docker containerization
[ ] Design patterns implementation
[ ] System design basics
Week 9-10: Practice & Mock Interviews
[ ] Company-specific question practice
[ ] Coding problem solving
[ ] Mock interview sessions
[ ] Resume and project discussions
Quick Reference Cheat Sheet
Java 8 Stream Operations
// Essential Stream operations
.filter(condition) // Filter elements
.map(transformation) // Transform elements
.collect(Collectors.toList()) // Collect to list
.reduce(identity, operation) // Reduce to single value
.sorted(comparator) // Sort elements
.distinct() // Remove duplicates
.limit(n) // Limit to n elements
.skip(n) // Skip first n elements
Spring Boot Annotations
@SpringBootApplication // Main application class
@RestController // REST API controller
@Service // Business logic layer
@Repository // Data access layer
@Component // Generic component
@Autowired // Dependency injection
@Value("${prop}") // Property injection
@ConfigurationProperties // External config
Microservices Patterns
Circuit Breaker: Fault tolerance
Service Discovery: Dynamic service location
API Gateway: Single entry point
CQRS: Command Query Responsibility Segregation
Event Sourcing: Event-based state management
Database Quick Commands
-- Performance queries
EXPLAIN SELECT * FROM table_name;
CREATE INDEX idx_name ON table_name(column);
-- Joins
INNER JOIN -- Matching records only
LEFT JOIN -- All from left table
RIGHT JOIN -- All from right table
FULL JOIN -- All records from both tables
Azure Services (Your Strength)
Compute: VMs, App Service, Functions, AKS
Storage: Blob, Files, Tables, Queues
Database: SQL Database, Cosmos DB
Networking: VNet, Load Balancer, Application Gateway
Security: Key Vault, Active Directory, Security Center
Final Success Tips
Technical Preparation
1. Practice coding daily - HackerRank, LeetCode problems
2. Build projects - Spring Boot microservices with Azure deployment
3. Mock interviews - Practice with peers or mentors
4. Stay updated - Latest Java and cloud trends
Interview Strategy
1. Start simple - Explain basic concept first, then elaborate
2. Use examples - Real-world scenarios from your experience
3. Think aloud - Verbalize your problem-solving approach
4. Ask clarifying questions - Show analytical thinking
5. Discuss trade-offs - Show architectural understanding
Your Competitive Advantages
Azure certification - Positions you for cloud roles
Database migration experience - High-value skill
Multi-cloud expertise - Rare combination
Full-stack capabilities - Versatile developer profile
Salary Negotiation Points
Azure AZ-204 certification: +15-20% premium
Database migration expertise: High market demand
Terraform IaC skills: DevOps integration capability
Multi-cloud experience: Premium positioning
Remember: Your profile shows strong technical depth in cloud migration and database
modernization - these are exactly the skills Chennai market values highly. Focus on
demonstrating real-world problem-solving experience alongside theoretical knowledge.
Target Companies for Your Profile: Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, Accenture, Deloitte, AWS
partners, and growing startups needing cloud migration expertise.
Good luck with your interviews! 🚀
