Role: SDE 1 (Backend)
Package: ₹8L – ₹16L (No Equity)
Result: Rejected
Experience: 2+ Years (MERN / System Design / Built a SaaS from concept to cloud)

The JD vs. Reality

The Job Description for this role was very clear: they wanted a Backend Engineer with 1+ years of experience in Node.js, TypeScript, Microservices, and Event-Driven Architecture (Kafka/RabbitMQ). As a developer who has built a SaaS startup from scratch (concept to cloud), I was prepared to discuss database schema design, REST APIs, and system reliability.

The Interview (Round 1)

I was told this would be a technical round. I assumed this meant a discussion on backend architecture and practical engineering. Instead, it was an unannounced, high-pressure DSA coding session.

Question:
Regular Expression Matching (LeetCode Hard)

Why this was a terrible experience:

• This is a Hard-level DP problem. To ask this for an SDE 1 MERN role at a 16L max package is completely disconnected from reality. MERN developers hardly do any DSA
• I was so frustrated by this that I took the problem to group of DSA mentors at college who have solved 1000+ LeetCode questions. A group of experienced mentors worked on it together and could not solve it within an hour. Expecting a single candidate to solve this in a 45-minute interview is not an evaluation of skill; it's a "gotcha" tactic.
• I canceled very important work to attend this interview.
• Even if you understand logic, implementing the edge cases for the * wildcard under pressure is notoriously difficult

Final Thoughts

I genuinely wanted to ask the interviewer: "What made you think a Hard DP problem is an effective way to evaluate a MERN developer's ability to ship production code?"