Paytm

Role: SDE

College: Not Specified

Interview Date: September 2021

Interview Type: On-Campus

Result: Selected

Difficulty: Medium

Rounds: 1 Coding Round + 2 Technical Rounds

Topics Asked: Data Structures (Linked List, Binary Search Tree, Arrays), Algorithms, Core Java (Multithreading, Object class), Operating Systems (Synchronization), Web Development (for project discussion), Optimization, Scaling

Experience:

Paytm visited the campus for the Software Engineer Role.

Round 1 (Coding Round): This round happened for 70 minutes where 3 coding questions were given to solve.

Round 2 (Technical Round 1 - 1 hour): The interview started with an introduction. The interviewer asked the first question: Delete node in a Linked List with a given random pointer and without the head pointer. The second question was: Construct a binary search tree from a sorted array. The interviewer then moved to the theory part, asking questions from core Java (multithreading, about Object class in Java, and various related questions), operating systems (from synchronization and its characteristics and different types of solutions), and some input/output questions related to different pre-defined functions of threads. The round took approximately 1 hour.

Round 3 (Technical Round 2 - 45 minutes): The interviewer started with an introduction and questions about projects. As the candidate had web development projects, the interviewer asked to open the hosted website and explain it. Questions were asked about optimization in the project and the best way for scaling the project. After a discussion on the project for 15-20 minutes, the interviewer moved to coding questions. Coding questions included: Check if a given string is a palindrome, Convert number to words. All technical questions were completed. The interviewer asked if there were any questions from the candidate's side, and the candidate asked about the tech stack, working culture, and feedback.

A total of 4 students were given the offer, and the candidate was one of them.

Tips: Be confident and make the interview interactive, don't panic. Before answering any question, clear all your doubts. Especially in coding questions, ask all the constraints of the question and interact as much as possible so that the interviewer doesn't get bored.