Infosys Interview Questions 2026: SE, DSE, SP, and Power Programmer

Infosys interview questions in 2026 depend entirely on which track you enter through: Systems Engineer (SE, the mass-hire campus role, reported around ₹3.6–4.5 LPA), Digital Specialist Engineer (DSE, roughly ₹6.25 LPA), Specialist Programmer (SP, with three internal levels — L1 around ₹10 LPA, L2 around ₹16 LPA, L3 around ₹21 LPA), and Power Programmer (a separate high-coding-bar track around ₹8–9.5 LPA). Your track is decided mainly by how you score on a heavy DSA coding assessment, not by which job you apply for. This article covers the current process for each track — eligibility, rounds, real question banks, and reported salary bands — sourced from Infosys's InfyTQ program details and cross-checked against multiple 2026 placement trackers, since Infosys does not publish granular CTC splits on its own careers page.

Infosys's four hiring tracks, and how you end up in one

Unlike a single unified test, Infosys sorts candidates by coding performance into increasingly technical, increasingly well-paid tracks. Most freshers enter through InfyTQ (Infosys Technology Quotient) — a free, self-paced certification platform open to any eligible engineering student, independent of your college's placement cell.

Track	Reported CTC	How you qualify
Systems Engineer (SE)	~₹3.6–4.5 LPA	Standard aptitude + coding screen, campus or off-campus
Digital Specialist Engineer (DSE)	~₹6.25 LPA	InfyTQ Foundation certification or equivalent screening, plus interviews
Specialist Programmer (SP) — L1/L2/L3	~₹10 / ₹16 / ₹21 LPA	InfyTQ Master certification or high performance on the 3-hour SP/DSE online assessment
Power Programmer	~₹8–9.5 LPA	Separate high-difficulty coding assessment (3 problems + 15 DSA MCQs), open to all branches

Treat these numbers as reported figures compiled from placement-prep trackers (not confirmed on Infosys's own careers portal in this level of detail) — confirm your actual band from your offer letter, since Infosys revises compensation structures across cycles and locations.

Eligibility criteria for 2026

Across tracks, the baseline eligibility reported for the 2026 cycle: B.E./B.Tech, M.E./M.Tech, MCA, or M.Sc (CS/IT/ECE or related) from a recognized university, minimum 60% aggregate (roughly 6.0 CGPA) in 10th, 12th, and graduation, zero active backlogs at the time of application, and an academic gap not exceeding 24 months across your entire education. The SP track has a reported higher bar — closer to 70% or 7.0 CGPA — since it's explicitly the higher-paying, higher-difficulty route. Batches 2024, 2025, and 2026 are all eligible for most drives. Power Programmer is open to all engineering branches, not just CS/IT, which makes it worth attempting even if your degree isn't computer science, as long as your DSA is strong.

InfyTQ: the certification path that decides your track

InfyTQ has two certification levels, and which one you clear materially changes your interview path:

• Foundation level — covers basic programming, OOP fundamentals, and SQL basics. Clearing it makes you eligible for the DSE track, but you still go through standard aptitude screening afterward — it's a door opener, not a guarantee.
• Master level — a rigorous 3-hour, pure-coding assessment with three problems of increasing difficulty. Clearing it gets you direct entry to the Specialist Programmer interview pool, skipping the aptitude round entirely.

If you have the DSA depth for it, going straight for Master certification is worth the extra prep time — it roughly doubles your starting CTC range compared to entering through the standard SE/DSE aptitude route.

The actual rounds: online assessment, technical interview, HR

Round 1 — Online assessment (2–3 hours)

For SP/DSE and Power Programmer tracks, this is three coding problems of escalating difficulty (easy: arrays/strings/basic logic; medium: DP/graphs/greedy; hard: advanced data structures), sometimes paired with 15 DSA-focused MCQs, typically proctored and run on HackerRank or Mettl. For SE, expect a lighter aptitude-plus-basic-coding pattern closer to the standard IT-services format: quantitative, verbal, logical reasoning, and one or two simple coding problems.

Round 2 — Technical interview (virtual or in-person)

Live coding on a shared editor, questions on your final-year project, and — heavily for SP — data structures and algorithms (graphs, trees, DP), OOP concepts, DBMS/SQL (normalization, joins, indexing), and for SP specifically, basic system design (REST APIs, caching, load balancing). Some drives run this as a full in-person day at an Infosys center for SP/DSE tracks specifically.

Round 3 — HR interview

Standard HR interview questions around fit, communication, and logistics — relocation, notice period if you're switching in in with prior experience, and salary expectations relative to the track you're being placed into.

Real Infosys question bank with sample approaches

Question	Track / round	How to approach it
Find the longest palindromic substring in a string	SP / online assessment	State the brute-force approach first, then optimize to the expand-around-center or DP method — Infosys assessors give partial credit for correct brute force too
Explain normalization in DBMS with an example	SP/DSE / technical	Define 1NF/2NF/3NF briefly, then walk through one small table example rather than reciting definitions
Design a rate limiter for an API	SP / technical (system design)	Clarify requirements first (requests/sec, per-user vs global), then propose token bucket or sliding window before coding anything
What's the difference between process and thread?	SE/DSE / technical	Core definition, then one practical example of when you'd use multithreading in a project you've built
Why do you want to join Infosys specifically?	HR	Pick something specific — a domain, a training program, InfyTQ itself — not "it's a big company"
Tell me about yourself	HR	Present-Past-Future structure; lead with your strongest project if you're going for SP, lead with adaptability if you're going for SE

How Infosys compares to TCS for freshers

Both run large-scale, track-based hiring rather than a single fixed role, but the mechanics differ: TCS sorts you by a single national test (NQT) into Ninja/Digital/Prime, while Infosys sorts you by certification level (InfyTQ) and a separate coding assessment into SE/DSE/SP/Power Programmer. Infosys's top SP band (~₹21 LPA at L3) is meaningfully higher than TCS Prime's top reported band, but it demands a much higher coding bar — comparable to strong LeetCode Medium-Hard practice — versus TCS Prime's "solve at least one complete problem" threshold. If you're deciding where to focus your prep time, see TCS's NQT process and Ninja/Digital/Prime bands for the direct comparison.

How to prepare, track by track

• For SE/DSE: Standard aptitude prep (quant, verbal, logical reasoning) plus basic coding in one language — the bar is closer to TCS Ninja/Digital than to competitive programming.
• For SP/Power Programmer: 70% of your prep time on DSA — arrays, strings, trees, graphs, dynamic programming — practiced on LeetCode Medium-to-Hard problems, since reported coding cutoffs have risen to roughly the 82nd–85th percentile for 2026.
• For all tracks: Have one project you can explain in technical depth for 10+ minutes, and know your HR round answers before the interview day, not the night before.

What actually trips candidates up in Infosys interviews

The most common failure point isn't the DSA round — it's candidates who cleared InfyTQ Foundation or scored well on the online assessment and then freeze on basic OOP or DBMS questions in the technical interview, because they spent all their prep time on coding problems and none on core CS fundamentals. Infosys's technical panel, especially for SP and DSE, expects you to explain concepts like normalization or inheritance from first principles, not just recite a textbook definition. The second common issue: candidates who clear the coding bar for SP but then can't explain their own solution's time and space complexity when asked — always know the Big-O of whatever you just wrote, even if the assessment itself didn't ask for it.

A third, less obvious trap is treating the HR round as an afterthought because the technical bar felt so much harder. Infosys's HR interviewers specifically probe whether you understand the track you're being placed into — if you're offered DSE after aiming for SP, be ready to explain why you'd still take it (or negotiate for a re-attempt) rather than looking visibly disappointed in the room.

Timeline and how to apply

Infosys runs both campus drives (through partnered colleges) and periodic off-campus drives open to any eligible graduate, typically announced through its careers portal and InfyTQ platform. For the 2026 SP/DSE off-campus cycle, application deadlines have been reported around mid-May, with the online assessment and in-person round following within a few weeks. Because Infosys doesn't always run one single national test like TCS does, keep checking its official careers page directly rather than relying only on aggregator sites for dates — those sites are useful for prep, less reliable for exact deadlines.

FAQ

What is the difference between Infosys SE and DSE roles?

SE (Systems Engineer) is the standard mass-hire track with lighter technical requirements and lower starting CTC (~₹3.6–4.5 LPA). DSE (Digital Specialist Engineer) is a more digital/full-stack-focused role with a higher bar and higher pay (~₹6.25 LPA), usually reached via InfyTQ Foundation certification.

Is InfyTQ mandatory to get hired by Infosys?

No, but it materially improves your odds and your track — Master-level InfyTQ certification gives direct entry to the Specialist Programmer interview pool, skipping standard aptitude screening.

How is Specialist Programmer different from Power Programmer?

Both demand strong DSA, but Power Programmer candidates are placed directly into product and engineering teams rather than the standard InfyTQ-trained batch, and the role is open to all engineering branches, not just CS/IT.

What's the actual coding difficulty level for the SP online assessment?

Three problems ranging from easy (arrays/strings) to hard (advanced data structures) within a roughly 3-hour window — comparable to LeetCode Easy-to-Hard, not olympiad-level.

Can non-CS branches apply for Infosys's technical tracks?

Yes — Power Programmer is explicitly open to all engineering branches, and SP/DSE tracks generally accept any engineering or M.Sc (CS/IT-adjacent) background as long as you clear the coding bar.

Does Infosys hire off-campus if my college isn't in their campus drive list?

Yes, through periodic off-campus drives and the InfyTQ certification route, both open to eligible graduates regardless of college.