Timeline - May 2026
YOE (then) : 8.5+ Years
Current (Most Recent Company) : SMTS(IC3) at Oracle (Laid off in September 2025)
College - Top Tier (Old IIT)

Applied through referral, also directly applied to multiple jobs on their portal, Recruiter reached out to me and here's the experience -

Recruiter was really good, he explained to me before every round what exactly could be asked and the area of discussion will be before each round :

R1(DSA Coding) :-

1. Introduction & Tell me about the security Best practices you follow?
2. https://leetcode.com/problems/product-of-array-except-self/description/
3. https://leetcode.com/problems/longest-mountain-in-array/description/

Was able to answer and solve both the questions properly.

R2(Coding/HLD mixed) :-

1. In depth discussion about my past project which had an interesting database design choice, Interviewer probed me around the tradeoffs etc. The discussion was around 30 minutes which covered HLD side of things.
2. https://leetcode.com/problems/lfu-cache/description/

The HLD discussion was fantatsic, interviewer was impressed and also explained how would i approach the LFU problem and implemented the get() method as well. Interviewer already clarified that he didn't expected fully working code for such a big problem since only 25-30 minutes were left but rather focussed on my thought process and approach.

R3(LLD/AI Knowledge/Security/Behavioral mixed) :-

1. Don't remember the exact question but it was a question something like Design BookMyShow, the interviewer was interesting in what all Design Pattern I would use to design it and How would I go about the details and make the code extensible and open for extension (SOLID priciples). I was able to explain well.
2. How do you use AI in your day to day work? And thoughts about it? Basically he was interested in knowing how we efficiently use AI to speed up our work but also at the same time not trusting it blindly (Vibe Coding)
3. Some questions about How you prioritize tasks when there are a lot on your plate? How do you scope and estimate the project work which you're supposed to lead etc?

R4(Zscaler Values round with Hiring Manager(Director, SDE)) :-

1. I have given around 6-7 Hiring Manager rounds in companies like Atlassian and Microsoft where we're asked about our past work and asnwer using STAR/CARL method and some behavioral questions, but this was totally diffrent from them all.
2. All the questions were hypothetical and the HM wanted to get details on how exactly I would approach each problem as a Staff/Sr Staff Engineer.
3. like when you get just a one liner requirements, how would you start, proceed and deliver the entire project within time when you have a lot of unknows and no clarity. Includes scoping, estimations, even choosing proper tech stack when you have ambiguity even in this.
4. Similar hypothetical questions And also most impprtantly, how would I utilize AI effectively to deliver and solve the hypothetical questions given?

• I though I was able to answer well and also taken the hints well whatever he gave, It was a very good expeirnece since I never worked as a Staff Engineer but to think like one and answer it was a challange.

R5(Cognitive Thinking Ability with Director, Technical Product Management) :-

1. Some discussion about my past projects, most critically challenging work, Resume discussion etc.
2. Some hypothetical stuff like the previous round
3. He also asked if I have any prior experience in Security Domain (since Zscaler is a security company) which I didn't have and also If I have any experience in developing AI agents (which also I didn't have).

• I believe this round also went well and Also I said NO for whcihever past experience I didn't have instead of attempting to fake.

Final Verdict - Selected but as a Staff SDE (Not Senior Staff SDE). The recruiter said that he pushed for Senior Staff and even HM was aligning but the R5 guy also had major influence and say in the final decision and he was skeptical about giving me Senior Staff due to me not having past experience already in Security Domain and even developing AI agents.

Nonetheless, I accepted the offer as I didn't have anything better and will be joining them next week. But also excited to work as a Staff engineer and operate at the next level from an SMTS(IC3).

Along with the Staff Title, I am also excited to work on developing AI agents and stuff, and add Golang into my arsenal as all my previous work has been in Java.

Hope this helps those interviewing.

PS :- Will share the compensation soon but the difference between Staff and Sr Staff Total CTC is significant around 20 LPA but can't help, gotta accept whatever it is in this brutal market and also the fact that I have been unemployed for almost 8 goddamn months now.