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Cerner
3.2 of 5 377 reviews
www.cerner.com Kansas City, MO 5000+ Employees

Cerner Interview Questions & Reviews

Updated Jun 13, 2013
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Getting the Interview  384 Interviews

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Interview Experience  319 Ratings

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384 interview experiences
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Software Engineer at Cerner

No Offer – Interviewed in Kansas City, MO (US) Jun 2013 – Reviewed Jun 13, 2013 New

Interview Details Tech questions: chess design,test cases,foo..etc (same from other reviews)

Initial phone call, trip to Kansas! Not any different from other reviews. It all depends on how you answer behavioral questions. Do your best in interview and hope for the best! Even if it goes great, just don't be so sure about it and keep looking for other jobs!!
I think they prefer fresh graduates over someone with 1-2years of experience!
They will let know within one week even if you're not selected. It was a good experience for me, I would recommend going for the interview.

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Velocity Software Engineer at Cerner

Accepted Offer – Reviewed Jun 12, 2013 New

Interview Details After seeing my resume on Dice,I was asked to apply for Velocity Software Engineer position at cerner,com by a cerner associate.I had a phone call the next day,where I was given a brief description about Velocity Training program and she told that she would contact me back for a phone interview.The phone interview was all about questions regarding my projects.I have a technical interview scheduled this week.

Interview Question – In any of your projects how much amount of time you have spent for coding and testing.Explain why?   Answer Question

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Velocity Software Engineer at Cerner

Declined Offer – Interviewed in Kansas City, MO (US) May 2013 – Reviewed Jun 04, 2013

Interview Details Used school career link to find position.
Initial phone screening interview.
1 week later, technical phone interview.
1 week later, schedule to go to KC, MO for on site interviews.
2 back to back interviews. They have packets with ALL the same questions that are already on glassdoor.

Interview Question – There was none. Just go through the questions here and it'll be easy   View Answers (3)

Reason for Declining – Got another offer, It was hard to decline. I actually liked the company A LOT, but moving would be a pain.

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Velocity Analyst at Cerner

Accepted Offer – Reviewed Jun 08, 2013 New

Interview Details I submitted an application online. I got a call a few days later. Recruiter asked me a few basic questions then offered me an interview at the World Headquarters in Kansas City. They put us (group of 40-50) in a hotel and took us out to dinner at a delicious Italian restaurant. The next day we went to the campus. The interview was first. Three different managers interview each person. They ask about your background and why you want to work at Cerner. They are making sure you have good communication skills and will be flexible on the position you are ultimately given. The point of the interviews are to see if you will fit in with the Cerner culture.

Interview Question – What about your degree will help you to be successful here?   Answer Question

Negotiation Details – I did not negotiate I knew the ballpark range that they offer from glassdoor and they were in the maximum already. I got very close to what I asked for so no need to negotiate.

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Velocity Software Engineer at Cerner

Accepted Offer – Interviewed in Kansas City, MO (US) May 2013 – Reviewed May 29, 2013

Interview Details Second round, Technical Phone Screen : 30 - 45 min. Mostly expect behavioral questions and some technical questions. All found already on glassdoor. No new questions. The below questions were asked ONLY in tech phone screen.

Interview Questions

  • Explain/design a high level implementation of any game like chess or checkers. I repeat he says "explain/design" not write code. So, be ready with a basic picture of chess or checkers. I had gone through this for chess:

    http://swcodes.blogspot.com/2012/09/chess-game-design.html

    Just explain the same but be sure to mention the abstract class, inheritance etc (as much of OOPS as you can)
      Answer Question
  • Differences in Memory management of Java/ C/ C++ or any other programming language you might know of. Refer to pros and cons of garbage collection in Java and memory management in other language. That should be enough.   Answer Question
  • Testing: Types of testing strategies you know. Elaborate and differentiate them.   Answer Question
  • Behavioral questions like :
    1. What did you do when you were under a tough manager,
    2. Did you ever work within a team -- how was that experience,
    3. Where did you work in an agile team -- explain some principles you followed that guarantee that it was agile environment,
    4. how did you face tough situation in a project
      View Answer

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Support Analyst at Cerner

Accepted Offer – Interviewed in Kansas City, MO (US) – Reviewed Jun 04, 2013

Interview Details I had about a 30-minute phone conversation, then got an email a few days later saying that they wanted me to come in for an on-sight interview. I went to that and met with 3 different interviewers for 30 minutes each. There were about 20 of us interviewing that morning. They really take a shotgun approach to hiring new employees. One of the ladies interviewing me said they averaged about 30 or so interviews a day... so don't expect to feel very special.

Interview Question – Tell me about your greatest success and your greatest failure on the job.   Answer Question

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Systems Engineer at Cerner

Accepted Offer – Reviewed Jun 04, 2013

Interview Details Completed first round of on campus interviews. The recruiters were very friendly. It was a little difficult to understand the actual job I was interviewing for. With Cerner, if you are hired out of college, you're typically hired into the "Velocity" program. This is essentially a training program within the company for specific types of roles (software engineer, consultants, sales, etc.). As part of the program you initially go through a lot of training, pertaining to the Cerner software products and any other specific skills requried for your role. You then typically go through a couple rotations where you work in several different groups within the company. At then end of your rotations you are placed with a particular group/team based on the particular needs of the team and how your skills align.

Interview Question – You are asked a lot of "describe a time when you ......." questions where you have to really think on your feet.   Answer Question

Negotiation Details – Did not negotiate. Package was very competitive. I'm not aware of Cerner ever negotiating compensation for college hires.

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Velocity Software Engineer at Cerner

Accepted Offer – Reviewed May 26, 2013

Interview Details 3 Step process.
1 - HR call
2 - Tech call
3 - Final 1:1 interview in KC

Same questions as posted earlier, however, be prepared for tweaked and modified questions on topics mentioned in earlier postings.
Be able to explain why you chose a certain solution, and a lot of questions on Databases, particularly, Normalization, Joins, and RDMS vs Non-RDBMS

Interview Question – None   Answer Question

Negotiation Details – I did not negotiate

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Velocity Software Engineer at Cerner

Accepted Offer – Interviewed in Kansas City, MO (US) May 2013 – Reviewed May 23, 2013

Interview Details 1. Upload your resume
2. Call from HR -> 10 -20 mins
   Mostly discuss about why Cerner and other personal educational details
3. Technical call interview
   Couple of C++ and a couple of behavioral questions
4. Onsite
   Awesome - they take you around the city, stay at Hilton, then next day 2 interview and take you around the city. Interview questions are mostly the same ones as mentioned earlier in other interview reviews

Interview Question – I had a question about null pointer exception. Mainly caused due to
rows.getcolumn().getrow("something")
Rows -> is an object.
  View Answers (2)

Negotiation Details – Not sure - need to do that

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Software Engineer at Cerner

Accepted Offer – Interviewed in Bangalore (India) Apr 2013 – Reviewed May 21, 2013

Interview Details There were 2 technical rounds where in I was asked questions from C++ and OOPS.
I was also asked about my project experience - positive and negative.

Interview Question – I was asked questions from my work experience -
    Made decisions.
    Managed projects.
    Influenced others.
    Made recommendations for improvement.
    Came up with innovative ideas.
    Solved a problem.
    Coached others.
    Handled a conflict.
  Answer Question

Negotiation Details – Not able to negotiate much.

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Technology Associate

 Current Employee in Kansas City, MO (US)

Pros: The company is rapidly growing in an industry that is doing very well. In the last 8 years Cerner's stock has split 3 times (lookup the CERN stock trend over a 5 year period). As well, over the last 8 years the company has grown from… Full Review `

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