Paytm Software Engineer — I (Backend) Experienced (0–1) years Interview experience

Recently I got an offer from Paytm for the role of Software engineer — I (Backend) and will be sharing my interview experience with you.

A little about myself :-

As mentioned, I had a little less than 1 year of industry experience when the process started. Have mostly worked on building APIs, Spring, Java.

How the process started :-

Came across a LinkedIn post at midnight, someone from my network (working in Paytm) shared a puzzle designed by the recruitment team. Took me 5–10 mins to solve it and mailed the answer to the talent acquisition team.

Next morning, I got a confirmation that the answer guessed was correct. :)

Round 1 (1 hour):-

Online Assessment link was sent to me in a day. Two tasks were to be solved in 60 minutes time.

1. Sliding window.
2. Tree.

After a week, heard back from the HR that I have cleared the OA and my interview has been scheduled the next day.

Round 2 (1 hour):-

Interview started with a little introduction and previous experience. Discussions about projects in details, work handled, development experience, team work, handling tests, deep knowledge on the subject. Since my role is backend, so there were questions on Java, threads, API, JWT tokens, etc.

After this, there were two problems on data structures and algorithms.

1. Sliding window + Hash Map + Math. A little advanced version of this problem. Tried to build the optimized solution but couldn’t figure the math behind. Took some time and came close to the solution. 😥
2. Left view of binary tree.

Round 3 (1 hour):-

On clearing Round 2, my interview for the Techno-managerial round was scheduled. Started with introduction, questions on computer networks, OS, DBMS, SQL queries, Hash Map Internal working with pseudo codes. Also expect some questions on your work experience, previous work. Lastly, I was asked to design the LRU Cache.

Offer :-

After the negotiation round with HR and a few discussions with the Talent team, I was offered for the role of Software Engineer at Paytm. 😃

Tips :-

1. Try to discuss every thing that comes to your mind.
2. Maintain a healthy conversation and be open to ideas.
3. Prepare a lot of DSA and solve problems on data structures (like LLs) before the interview.
4. Keep your past project experience ready to deliver.
5. Stay positive.