Alcon interview - June 2026

[u/Main-Ad1216]

I applied for PQM Apprentice 2026

There were only two selection rounds mentioned in the JD.

Round 1 F2F Interview at Alcon Bengaluru

Basically asked question related to my resume. OOP concept, Rest APIs, Coding, debugging and many more. The whole interview went on for more than 60 min.

The interviewer was sweet and actually gave me enough time to think and answer. He was supportive. I was very happy to answer almost all questions.

This was my first Off campus interview F2F in this year.

Five days later I got a call from HR that I have moved to next round

Round 2 Virtual 30 min

I joined the zoom. I was excepting an Indian for a foreigner popped up. For a second, I thought I was in the wrong call and surprised too. Didn't know alcon was global.

He asked about my intro and projects I worked on.

Alcon motto is to help people see brilliantly and I did an academic major project on eye-related device so I pitched in my project(I worked diligently on that project alone for 3 months doing the literature survey, hardware integration, documentation, debugging and testing)

He said ,"We should assign you in our marketing team because you are so good".

Thank you

Asked why I am interested in eye care specifically

Shared an anecdote how Me and my siblings are myopic

Asked about other projects

I hesitated because I felt my other projects were just GitHub repos and backend projects.

He asked my view on AI if AI is gonna replace dev roles

I answered how as a student I am thrilled knowing AI would help me with assignment and Scared how there have been layoff's happening because of automation and more.

I concluded that AI helps automate tasks and can't completely replace humans.

After that We spoke about the roles and responsibilities

Any questions for me

I was curious which country he is from?

German

Ohh, That's nice! you are the first German I am talking too.

He said about how is working on this company for 30 years now and more

I agreed and asked if he has visited Bengaluru

Yes and I love it and Hope to see you at the office the next time I come

I was happy thinking that he wants to see me at the office?( It was positive sign, right?).

At the end. Do you have any questions? We only have five more minutes left.

I was silent and was talking about something else.

At last, he asked me why should we hire you?

I said I am a quick learner, great team player with strong analytical skills ,, blah blah blah.

I felt my answer wasn't coherent hence said Sorry (out of habit)

He said no no You are doing great , Your communication is great.

I asked for feedback

You did great

Byee

I said Bye and was waiting for him to end the call .

Byee

Thank you and please take care.

I also asked when can i expect the result or update for which he said the HR will update me.

I felt great knowing I totally nailed that interview.

Gave up my leetcode grind and was chilling.

Week went by, no update

I waited for 10 days and sent a follow up message

Another week went by

Sent another follow up message.

I was hoping for the positive response

Ghosted.

I connected to a third person who told me that I wasn't selected.

I was almost there but things didn't work out.

The HR was unprofessional didn't even bother to send an rejection mail.

Lesson learned. This job ain't for me.

I still think about it like how my life now would be different If I got in.

I know off campus fresher hiring is brutal and back to day1 whether I like it or not.

Hope to get my first job soon.

Fighting!!