Hello Community, I would like to share my 1st switch journey. The interview experiences might be useful for people preparing for SDE-2 roles.
- May 2022 - Started my career as a Software Engineer.
- July 2024 - Started preparing for my 1st switch. I gave interviews side by side to know the areas of improvements and learnings. Initially, I was rejected in the 1st round of many interviews. Slowly, I picked up momentum.
- March 2025 - Finally I received an offer, but it wasn't satisfactory. So I declined it and continued with preparation. During this period, I received unfortunate rejections due to silly reasons, like ghosting by HR, positions getting filled, HR forgetting to share my name after last round, abrupt stopping of hiring, HR going on leave, a lower budget candidate getting selected, egoistic interviewers, etc. I felt discouraged, but I persisted.
- Feb 2026 - Finally, after 1.5 years of hussle, I received a good offer. During notice period, I secured 2 more offers :)
Interview Experiences - (Offers received)
https://leetcode.com/discuss/post/7560886/pine-labs-sde-2-interview-experience-mar-5e3p/
https://leetcode.com/discuss/post/7649720/paytm-interview-experience-sse-jan-2026-r44h2/
https://leetcode.com/discuss/post/7603671/paypay-sde-2-interview-experience-feb-20-uelh/
https://leetcode.com/discuss/post/7773726/nykaa-sde-2-interview-experience-march-2-95st/
Rejected in last round ->
https://leetcode.com/discuss/post/7559900/pharmeasy-sde-2-interview-experience-by-sukpg/
https://leetcode.com/discuss/post/7651537/trip-jack-sde-2-interview-experience-mar-4vnz/
https://leetcode.com/discuss/post/7649722/yes-madam-interview-experience-sde-2-jan-6bvb/
https://leetcode.com/discuss/post/7560041/kotak-sde-2-interview-experience-by-anon-4gmm/
https://leetcode.com/discuss/post/7560440/arrise-solutions-sde-2-interview-experie-bca5/
https://leetcode.com/discuss/post/7560811/spinny-interview-experience-sde-2-june-2-4dvd/
https://leetcode.com/discuss/post/7560534/flipkart-sde-2-interview-experience-by-a-tzl5/
https://leetcode.com/discuss/post/7592843/syfe-sde-2-interview-experience-jan-2026-5yr7/
https://leetcode.com/discuss/post/7662397/expedia-sde-1-interview-experience-jan-2-wyeb/
https://leetcode.com/discuss/post/7774527/walmart-sde-3-interview-experience-march-cvri/
Rejected in 1st/ 2nd round -
https://leetcode.com/discuss/post/7560686/oyo-rooms-sde-2-interview-experience-jun-iagf/
https://leetcode.com/discuss/post/7649714/nobroker-interview-experience-sde-2-oct-a71vs/
https://leetcode.com/discuss/post/7652759/sunking-sde-2-interview-experience-feb-2-c4dm/
https://leetcode.com/discuss/post/7652869/sprinklr-sde-2-interview-experience-sep-li4jw/
https://leetcode.com/discuss/post/7670107/gokiwi-sde-1-interview-experience-march-8mxq8/
https://leetcode.com/discuss/post/7774031/tekion-corp-sde-2-interview-experience-m-a4qs/
https://leetcode.com/discuss/post/7652787/found-it-sde-2-interview-experience-feb-y4zp2/
https://leetcode.com/discuss/post/7652841/tbo-sde-2-interview-experience-dec-2025-4eqfb/
https://leetcode.com/discuss/post/7652856/true-balance-sde-2-interview-experience-cajol/
https://leetcode.com/discuss/post/7662285/cozmox-ai-sde-2-interview-experience-jun-guqz/
https://leetcode.com/discuss/post/7662314/radio-mirchi-sde-2-interview-experience-csq3r/
https://leetcode.com/discuss/post/7669876/park-sde-2-interview-experience-dec-2024-i7qx/
https://leetcode.com/discuss/post/7669952/pocketpills-sde-2-interview-experience-o-njr2/
https://leetcode.com/discuss/post/7662240/hilabs-sde-2-interview-experience-aug-20-wqqx/
https://leetcode.com/discuss/post/7670073/de-shaw-mts-1-interview-experience-oct-2-tkfv/
Thankyou :)
