Hey everyone 👋,
I wanted to share my recent Paytm interview experience — not out of frustration, but as a learning for anyone preparing for similar processes.
There were a total of 4 rounds in my interview process:
🔹 Round 1 — Phone Screening
This was a general discussion about my current company, tech stack, projects, and experience.
The HR also asked about my current compensation (₹8 LPA) and my expected range (₹15–16 LPA).
She confirmed that it was acceptable and scheduled the next round.
🔹 Round 2 — DSA + LLD
This was a hands-on problem-solving + design round.
The interviewer asked me to implement a Bingo game, where:
You are given a grid of numbers.
At runtime, you receive a stream of numbers.
You must mark each number in the grid and check if any row, column, or diagonal forms a “Bingo”.
I first explained a brute force O(n²) approach.
He then asked me to optimize it, and I discussed a hashmap-based approach for faster lookup and marking.
I wrote the full working code, initially missing a few edge cases — but after a hint, I covered them.
Then came the LLD (Low-Level Design) part — he asked how I’d design the system for scalability, modularity, and extensibility.
We discussed classes, interfaces, and separation of concerns, and then he briefly touched on Spring concepts.
🔹 Round 3 — HLD + Deep Dive
This round focused on system design and scalability.
Started with Spring Boot basics and how to design scalable microservices.
Then moved to “How would you scale an application from 0 to 1M users?”
Discussed Streams, REST APIs, and a BookMyShow-like application — designing low-level logic and explaining data flow and concurrency handling.
He asked me to code small parts directly in Google Docs.
Ended with a quick DSA question — reverse a linked list (iterative + recursive) — which I explained with both approaches and time complexity analysis.
The interviewer seemed satisfied and appreciated my clarity of thought and structured approach.
🔹 Round 4 — HR Discussion
After two days, I received a call from HR (different from the initial one).
She congratulated me and said I was selected, asking me to share my documents for offer processing.
I submitted everything promptly.
The next day, I got another call — this time saying they could only offer ₹10 LPA (max), and bonus details were “under discussion.”
I was completely taken aback.
I reminded her that right from the first round, I had clearly mentioned ₹15–16 LPA as my expectation — and it was confirmed before starting the process.
Surprisingly, she replied that “we offer 15 LPA packages only to Tier-1 college students because they perform at par with 3+ years experienced candidates.”
This reasoning was not only unfair but deeply disappointing.
When I expressed my disagreement, she later apologized — but by then, I had made my decision:
➡️ I declined the offer.
💡 Takeaway
Always communicate your compensation expectations clearly and repeatedly — and document them if possible.
And to companies — please ensure transparency and consistency throughout the process. Candidates invest serious effort preparing for these rounds.
It’s not just about money — it’s about respecting time, trust, and professionalism on both sides.
#Paytm #InterviewExperience #HiringTransparency #SoftwareEngineering #SystemDesign #DSA #SpringBoot #LowLevelDesign #HighLevelDesign #InterviewJourney #CareerGrowth #CandidateExperience #RespectInHiring