Hello everyone,

I’m currently working as an SDE in Bengaluru with about 3 years of experience. For personal reasons, I am planning to relocate and switch to a company based out of Hyderabad.

I am currently looking for roles that offer 20+ LPA base/CTC, but I specifically want to avoid FAANG/MAANG companies right now.

Could anyone help me out with:

1. Other good product-based companies or unicorns in Hyderabad that easily match or cross the 20+ LPA mark for an SDE-2/equivalent?
2. Any insights on the current hiring scene or work culture in the companies mentioned above?

Any leads, referrals, or personal experiences would be super helpful. Thanks in advance!

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Hello everyone,

I’m currently working as an SDE in Bengaluru with about 3 years of experience. For personal reasons, I am planning to relocate and switch to a company based out of Hyderabad.

I am currently looking for roles that offer 20+ LPA base/CTC, but I specifically want to avoid FAANG/MAANG companies right now.

I’ve been doing some research and found that companies like Uber, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Goldman Sachs, Arcesium, and D.E. Shaw have a strong presence in Hyderabad and pay really well for the 3 YOE bracket.

Could anyone help me out with:

1. Other good product-based companies or unicorns in Hyderabad that easily match or cross the 20+ LPA mark for an SDE-2/equivalent?
2. Any insights on the current hiring scene or work culture in the companies mentioned above?

Any leads, referrals, or personal experiences would be super helpful. Thanks in advance!

Context: Applied for the SWE 3 (Java Backend Developer) role at a major retail tech giant in Bangalore.

For some background, the Online Assessment (OA) consisted of:

• 1 DSA problem
• 1 Backend test
• 1 Frontend test

The interesting part? Both the backend and frontend tests were AI-enabled. This meant you could solve them purely based on your logic and thinking process, with the help of the AI assistant handling the exact syntax and boilerplate.

After clearing the OA, I got a call from HR detailing the compensation and the interview process.

Here is the CTC breakdown HR mentioned:

• Base: 20 LPA
• Bonus: 20% of base
• RSUs: 9.5L over 4 years (don't remember the exact year-wise split)
• Joining Bonus: 3 - 4L
• Total Expected: ~35-36 LPA

Expected Rounds (as per HR): (Note: Mandatory Java language for all rounds)

1. DSA
2. LLD + HLD
3. Hiring Manager (70% technical + 30% behavioral)
4. HR Round

The Interview (Round 1)

Round 1 was virtual and scheduled for an evening slot. I was entirely prepped for a standard DSA round.

But when I joined the call, the interviewer handed me a HackerRank link with a problem requiring me to design a REST API from scratch. I was provided with only one class file and expected to directly call an API and perform the underlying logic.

Seriously, one class, one file.

I was honest and directly asked, "Can we skip this and have a DSA question instead? That’s what was communicated to me by HR."

The interviewer simply replied that he was specifically instructed to ask Java/Spring-related questions. He then gave me a second problem where all the files were present, but I had to create REST APIs using a Repository service.

The Rant

The logic was simple, but I didn't know how to approach writing it completely from memory. I only had blurry visuals in my brain of which annotations go where (@PostMapping, u/RequestBody, etc.), and I have zero experience writing JPA repository configurations straight out of my head without referencing anything.

I’m an ECE grad, but I have 3 years of experience in development delivering actual features. How do I usually do this? I refer to existing systems in the codebase. If it's not there, I refer to the internet, explore open source, and implement it.

Who actually memorizes all these configurations, inbuilt methods, and Spring Boot annotations? Especially when their own OA had an AI assistant to help you write the code based on your logic! If you switch to another framework, the annotations are completely different anyway. Logic and thinking process should be judged, not my ability to act as a human compiler for boilerplate code.

To make matters worse, he then gave me an SQL query. I fumbled the syntax and the joins. I will completely take the blame for that one, but by that point, my nerves were completely shot from the unexpected start to the interview.

The Takeaway

If this is your interview process, mention it beforehand. What is the point of telling a candidate it's a "DSA round," forcing them to brush up on trees and graphs, just to blindside them with framework-specific implementation from scratch? At least give a heads-up so a person can brush up on their Spring annotations.

If you want someone who is a walking Spring Boot dictionary, just reject me by looking at my resume. Don't waste my time setting up a "DSA round" just to ask me to write REST APIs from memory.

Has anyone else experienced this kind of massive miscommunication with this company or other big tech companies recently?

TL;DR: OA was AI-enabled and logic-focused. HR told me Round 1 was DSA. Interviewer ignored that, made me write Spring Boot REST APIs from scratch without internet access. Brain completely blanked on the annotations. Fumbled the rest of the interview because of nerves. Very frustrated.