My Interview experience with Paisabazaar as SDE

#100Stories is a series of transformational stories of courage and indomitable will to excel, picked from the lives of tech students, particularly in India. Initiative by Programming Pathshala.

Hi everyone,

My name is Aakash Gupta, a 2020 Computer Science graduate from SRM University. Previously I have worked with Cognizant as an automation developer which was like a production role and after Cognizant I wanted to switch to a product-based company into a developer’s role. With that aim in my head I joined Programming Pathshala and without a doubt it has been one of my best decisions to fulfil my dream of getting placed in a Product based company.

My experience with Paisabazaar

I have recently joined Paisabazaar as SDE and honestly, the work culture at paisaBazaar is wonderful. Most of my team members are 2020 pass-out and the senior management is quite supportive. In just a span of three weeks I have learnt many new things here and hope to keep learning and growing more with time.

My Journey to Paisabazaar

I decided to quit my job at Cognizant because of the location constraints and I was not even enjoying it much. Soon, I started looking for a job in February 2022. I gave a lot of interviews but I was not very confident about those companies so I took help from Anoop bhaiya and Bharat bhaiya, they both helped me build my resume from scratch and I made my resume according to what they suggested and shared it with them to review, once I received a green flag from them, I started using my updated resume for applying to other product based companies. I remember applying to Paisabazaar and they shortlisted my resume. There were two technical rounds and one managerial round. In the first technical round there were a bunch of questions related to DSA and coding related to node chains and middleware. In the second technical round they asked me about my project, which platform do I use etc. The final round was with the HR. I found the first round comparatively easier than the second round as I was not much prepared for my coding round.

My learnings with Renaissance from Programming Pathshala

I was practising DSA even before joining programming pathshala but didn’t have deep enough knowledge of each topic. When I started watching videos on Programming Pathshala’s Dashboard I realised that each video is of around 30–40mins each and in that duration Vivek bhaiya covers only one question with in depth explanations which clears each and every doubt so well. He even explains the mathematics behind every question, if required.

Learning things logically is what happens in programming pathshala only. Before joining programming pathshala I used to search about coding on YouTube, I used to get the solution also but I could never make out the logic or mathematics behind those solutions. Also the doubt resolution forum is very fast in programming Pathshala, if we post doubts in the description forum they get resolved very quickly by the backend team.

Mentors at Programming Pathshala

My Favourite from the start has always been Vivek bhaiya as I always loved his lectures, he explains the concepts like a pro, literally. I was more in touch with Anoop Bhaiya and Vivek bhaiya, and whenever I used to feel demotivated or felt like giving up, I spoke to them. When I got stuck on a difficult question, Vivek Sir advised me not to worry, to keep going and do the easy questions then medium pace questions and then try the difficult ones again. Anoop Bhaiya once said to me that don’t worry you will crack Amazon. I mean this appreciation can really boost anyone’s confidence and their ability to believe in themselves. It helped me a lot in keeping the motivation alive and always working hard towards my goals. Really helped me because if someone believes you so much you get that confidence and motivation

What kept me motivated?

Many times I lacked confidence in this journey and ended up not watching videos for days. The thought of being part of a good product based company is all that kept me going with it. I remember watching Youtube videos like “A day in the life of Google or Amazon SDE”, and watching those videos always gave me so much joy. Watching those videos always reminded me of my goals and it gave me the motivation to get back on the course and start putting efforts there to be where they are today.

A Word of advice to my fellow SDE’s to be

If you have started with the course and 3–6 months have already passed, it’s normal that you might feel demotivated at some point or not have achieved anything yet but don’t worry. Be consistent with your practice and you will try to solve at least one question everyday. Just know that solving one question everyday will total to 30 questions in a month, and that will definitely help you in a long run. Watch only one video (if you are busy) everyday but make sure you do watch that one video with utmost concentration and solve one problem everyday to get better with the course as well as your job placements ahead.

You can also start your journey with Programming Pathshala now. Logon to www.programmingpathshala.com and take a free trial. Have a doubt or suggestion? Reach out to us at info@programmingpathshala.com