Payu

Role: Senior Software Engineer

College: Not Specified

Interview Date: Not Specified

Interview Type: Full-Time (Off-Campus)

Result: Rejected

Difficulty: Medium

Rounds: 3 rounds

Topics Asked: Data Structures, Algorithms, System Design, OOPs, Java Fundamentals, Memory Management, Multithreading, Networking, SQL

Experience:

The candidate was contacted by a recruiter via Naukri for a Senior Software Engineer position at PayU, Gurgaon. The interview process consisted of three main rounds.

Round 1 (Programming): This round was conducted on the Intervue platform, where the candidate was expected to write and run complete code with test cases. Two LeetCode problems were asked: "Meeting Rooms III" (similar to https://leetcode.com/discuss/interview-question/613816/Google-or-Onsite-or-Meeting-Rooms-3) and "Subdomain Visit Count". The candidate successfully solved both problems.

Round 2 (Problem Solving, Fundamentals): This round was scheduled within two days of the first. It included a programming question: "Binary Tree Right Side View". Additionally, fundamental concepts were extensively covered, such as "What happens when you type www.google.com in browser?", SOLID principles, questions on Memory Leak, Multithreading, and Java StringBuilder. This round also included a discussion on HLD fundamentals and a DSA question similar to "Container With Most Water". The candidate felt confident about this round.

Round 3 (Hiring Manager): This round was problematic. The interviewer joined late from his phone while driving and insisted on continuing. The interviewer did not ask any technical questions (like LLD/HLD, which the candidate expected) and instead asked irrelevant questions. When the candidate prompted for design-level questions, the interviewer stated "not needed". The interviewer made an unprofessional comment about "tier 3 colleges".

Overall Experience: The overall experience was described as "Pretty Bad". Despite clearing all technical rounds and being asked for documents (salary slips etc.), the candidate was initially ghosted. Later, the recruiter provided feedback that the rejection was due to not being able to come up with a Database schema, which the candidate felt was random feedback as the discussion didn't go in that direction. Another HM round was scheduled with a different interviewer, but the recruiter handling the process left the company. The candidate suspected the rejection was due to salary expectations not matching the budget.