Paypal Interviews

Interview Experience

My journey started when I was contacted by a recruiter via email for an SDE3 position and subsequently received a HackerRank test link.

HackerRank Test

The HackerRank test consisted of 3 questions:

• Two questions based on Priority Queue/Heap (one Easy, one Medium)
• One Easy-level coding question

Round 1 – DSA

This round focused on evaluating more efficient solutions, a deeper understanding of algorithmic trade-offs, and intermediate data structures. The expectation was to optimize code, discuss alternative approaches, and manage more complex edge cases.

What was asked:

• Two Medium-level coding questions
• Five scenario-based questions on choosing the right data structure for a specific use case. (A note was made to learn about all data structures, including trie.)

Round 2 – System Design

The focus here was on more detailed system design, including handling data flow, state management, and basic fault tolerance. I was expected to demonstrate the ability to design systems that can scale moderately and recover from failures, along with a basic understanding of trade-offs in design decisions.

What was asked:

• Design of a Shopping Website, with a deeper focus on the Cart and Wishlist functionalities.
• Follow-up questions on HLD concepts like caching, load balancing, data flow, etc.

Round 3 – Coding + Design Mixed

This round involved more complex coding tasks, including small-to-medium feature development and problem-solving requiring intermediate domain knowledge. The expectations were clean, efficient code with a good understanding of best practices and design patterns, along with the ability to handle more complex problems independently and introduce codebase improvements.

What was asked:

• A mix of HLD, LLD, and DSA questions.
• Questions on REST vs SOAP, scaling systems, and handling huge datasets.

Bar Raiser – 1

For this round, the expectations were to show initiative, demonstrate the ability to lead small projects or tasks, and begin mentoring or guiding others. I was expected to handle conflicts constructively and contribute to team goals.

What was asked:

• Three behavioral questions.
• A detailed discussion around PayPal principles and my alignment with them.

Bar Raiser – 2

What was asked:

• HLD questions focusing on Load Balancing, DB Optimization, etc.
• Random Java & DSA questions.
• A few behavioral questions.
• Discussions on my roles & responsibilities in previous organizations and about past projects.
• Discussion around the role and expectations for the SDE3 position.

Interview Scheduling Timeline

• Each round lasted approximately 45 minutes.
• The gap between rounds varied from 1 to 2 weeks, depending on availability and scheduling.

Note: This interview structure may vary now. I attended this process in the beginning of 2025.

I recently underwent a comprehensive interview process for a Senior Software Engineer - Frontend role at PayPal, spanning approximately two months from August to October 2025. The process was quite rigorous, consisting of six distinct rounds.

Round 1: Online HackerRank Assessment

Round 2: DSA Round

Round 3: System Design Round

Round 4: Tech Specialization Round

Round 5: Bar Raiser Round

Round 6: Final Bar Raiser Round

Final Outcome

I recently went through the interview process for a Senior Software Engineer (Python) role at PayPal, and I'd love to share my journey.

My process started by directly emailing my resume to a recruiter. Shortly after, I received a HackerRank test link containing two coding questions, which I successfully solved. A few days later, I received confirmation for the next rounds of interviews.

🧠 Round 1: System Design (High-Level Design)

💻 Round 2: DSA / Problem Solving

⚙️ Round 3: Role Specialization (LLD / Coding)

🎯 Round 4: Bar Raiser (Behavioral)

I have 6.2 years of experience and received an email from a recruiter at Paypal regarding an SDE 3 (Python) opportunity, which included a HackerRank link for an Online Assessment.

HackerRank Round - 3 hours

The HackerRank assessment had 4 questions. The first was on Object-Oriented Programming, which I successfully completed. The second question involved Purchase Optimization, incorporating concepts like prefix sum, binary search, and greedy algorithms, similar to LeetCode problems such as Maximum Number That Sum of the Prices Is Less Than or Equal to K and Maximum Number of Robots Within Budget. I was able to solve this one too. The third part consisted of two MCQs related to Authorization (401 and 403 errors) and the cache-control header, which I also answered correctly. The last question was a hard SQL querying problem, which I unfortunately couldn't attempt. Overall, I solved 3 out of 4 questions and cleared this round.

1st Round - DSA 45 Mins

After clearing the online assessment, I had my first technical round. The interviewer asked me to create a Linked List from a given list of values. Then, I was given a tuple with a value to remove from the Linked List and another to add at a different position, along with the requirement to remove all occurrences of a specific value. I successfully coded and demonstrated the working solution. I was selected for the next round.

2nd Round - System Design 45 Mins

This was the final round, focusing on System Design. The interviewer asked me to design BookMyShow. We discussed the High-Level Design (HLD), but then the conversation shifted to the Low-Level Design (LLD) for the seating arrangement of a screen. I struggled with this part and wasn't able to provide a clear solution. Unfortunately, I was rejected after this round.

My interview journey with Paypal for the Senior Software Engineer (Python) role commenced with an online assessment on the Hackerrank platform, which included questions on SQL, DSA, and a machine coding style problem.

The first technical round, focused on Role Specialization, began with a brief discussion about my projects. This was followed by theoretical questions on Python, multithreading, and asynchronous programming. Subsequently, I was asked to solve a DSA problem, but due to time spent on theoretical questions, I could only pass a few test cases.

Next was the System Design round, where I was tasked with designing the Bookmyshow system, specifically focusing on ticket search and the payment process. Having prepared for this, I was able to successfully design and explain my approach within the allotted time.

The third round was dedicated to DSA. I was given two problems. For the first, I managed to write a brute force solution, which didn't pass all test cases, but I clearly explained my approach before moving on. The second problem was 'Remove All Adjacent Duplicates in String II'. I successfully solved this using a stack-based approach. With some time remaining, the interviewer presented a third problem which I don't clearly recall, but I was able to provide a brute force solution that passed most test cases.

The fourth round was a 'Bar Raiser' round. The interviewer seemed pressed for time, asking about my job change, technologies used in my projects, and engaging in project discussions. The interview concluded in about 20 minutes out of the scheduled 45. I later learned that this round didn't go well, which came as a surprise as I felt I had answered all questions satisfactorily and the interviewer appeared content at the time.

Following this, I had a fifth round, another 'Bar Raiser' with a different manager. This discussion felt much more positive. We started with my projects, then moved to situational behavioral questions, such as 'Tell me about a time where you had done something great apart from your work' and 'Tell me about a time where you had to learn something new & contributed.'

Eventually, after a prolonged two-month process, I was informed that Paypal decided to move forward with another candidate, without providing detailed feedback. I was quite shell-shocked by the rejection, especially after feeling confident about the second bar raiser round. I hope sharing this experience helps others.

I wanted to share my recent interview experience with PayPal for the Senior Software Engineer – Frontend role, as this community has been incredibly helpful to me. I have 5.9 years of experience and this was my first attempt at a product-based company.

Online Assessment (July)

The online assessment included questions based on React.js, CSS, and Data Structures & Algorithms.

Technical Rounds (August + September)

I went through three technical rounds:

• DSA Round: This round focused primarily on Heap and Hash-based problems.
• System Design Round: The questions here revolved around core JavaScript fundamentals, combined with aspects of Low-Level Design (LLD) and Data Structures & Algorithms.
• Role Specialization Round: This round was heavily focused on React.js. I was tasked with implementing cart functionality, covering both its Low-Level Design (LLD) and High-Level Design (HLD).

I received positive feedback after clearing all three of these technical rounds, which led to an invitation for the final Bar Raiser round.

Bar Raiser

I expected this round to be a mix of Behavioral and High-Level Design questions, but it turned out to be heavily focused on optimization and payment systems. Surprisingly, no behavioral questions were asked. While I managed to answer most of the questions, I struggled specifically with those related to payment systems.

Verdict

Eventually, I was informed that PayPal decided to move forward with another candidate, and no detailed feedback was provided. This outcome left me feeling quite low, especially after a process that stretched over two months and made me feel like I was almost selected. However, this experience has been a significant eye-opener for me, reinforcing that the outcome is never certain until the very end.

I hope my experience can help others in their preparation.

A new singer is looking for songs to perform. To be able to perform a song all the notes in the song must be within the singer's range, which is given by the lowest and highest notes the singer is able to sing.

A note is represented by:
- A letter for its pitch, ordered (lowest) C D E F G A B (highest)
- A number for its octave, ordered (lowest) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 (highest)

For example, C5 is a note with pitch C and octave 5.

A note with a larger octave number is always higher than a note with a smaller octave number. If the octave number is the same, then a note with a later pitch letter is higher.

For example, here are some notes in order from lower to higher:
... G3 A3 B3 C4 D4 E4 F4 G4 A4 B4 C5 D5 …

A3 is higher than G3 because A comes after G in the ordering above
C4 is higher than B3 because its octave number is larger

The lowest possible note is C0 and the highest possible note is B7.

You will be given as input a list of notes in a song, the lowest note the singer can sing, and the highest note the singer can sing. Write a function that returns whether the singer can sing the song.

Examples:
song1 = ["F4", "B4", "C5"] #List[string]
singable(song1, "F4", "C5") => True #range representing the lowest and highest note they can sing
  Every note in the song is between F4 and C5, so the singer can sing this song.
  Note that B4 is higher than F4, since notes are ordered C D E F G A B

singable(song1, "A4", "C5") => False
  F4 is lower than A4, so the singer cannot sing this song

song2 = ["C3", "E3", "G3", "C4", "E4", "G4", "C5"]
singable(song2, "B2", "C5") => True
singable(song2, "C3", "B4") => False
  B2 is lower than C3. A note with a smaller octave number is always lower than a note with a larger octave number. Similarly, B4 is lower than C5

Additional input data:
song3 = [ "B4", "F5", "B5" ]

song4 = ["B4", "E4", "G4", "G4", "A4", "B4", "E4",
  "B4", "E4", "G4", "G4", "A4", "C5", "B4",
  "E5", "G4", "G4", "A4", "B4", "C5", "D5",
  "C5", "B4", "C5", "E5", "D5", "C5", "C5",
  "B4", "B4", "E5", "E4", "G4", "G4", "A4",
  "B4", "B4", "B4", "C5", "E5", "A5", "E5",
  "C5", "A4", "E5", "D5", "C5", "B4"]

song5 = [ "F4" ]

All test cases:
singable(song1, "F4", "C5") => True
singable(song1, "A4", "C5") => False
singable(song2, "B2", "C5") => True
singable(song2, "C3", "B4") => False
singable(song3, "B4", "B5") => True
singable(song3, "B4", "C5") => False
singable(song4, "D4", "A5") => True
singable(song4, "D4", "G5") => False
singable(song4, "D4", "C6") => True
singable(song4, "F4", "C6") => False
singable(song5, "D4", "E4") => False

Complexity Variables:
N = length of the song

 

song1 = ["F4", "B4", "C5"]
song2 = ["C3", "E3", "G3", "C4", "E4", "G4", "C5"]
song3 = [ "B4", "F5", "B5" ]
song4 = ["B4", "E4", "G4", "G4", "A4", "B4", "E4",
  "B4", "E4", "G4", "G4", "A4", "C5", "B4",
  "E5", "G4", "G4", "A4", "B4", "C5", "D5",
  "C5", "B4", "C5", "E5", "D5", "C5", "C5",
  "B4", "B4", "E5", "E4", "G4", "G4", "A4",
  "B4", "B4", "B4", "C5", "E5", "A5", "E5",
  "C5", "A4", "E5", "D5", "C5", "B4"]
song5 = ["F4"]

YOE: 4, College: Tier II (NIT) Experience: Fintech startup

Round 1: DSA – Coding This was a pure problem-solving round with 2 leetcode medium-level DSA questions. One was based on dynamic programming and the other involved graphs. The interviewer expected a working solution along with edge case handling and complexity analysis. Round 2: System Design (self rating: 4/5) The second round was a deep dive into designing a ticket booking system like IRCTC. The interviewer wanted to know how to manage bookings, prevent double booking of seats, and optimize search queries for availability. Topics like concurrency, caching, and indexing were discussed thorougly. The interviewer was satisfied with the architecture and followup answers. Round 3: Experience (self rating: 4.5/5) This was a mix of technical and practical knowledge. It started with a discussion around my current projects, including architectural decisions, tooling, and challenges involved in my backend experience. Then I was asked to solve 2–3 easy LeetCode-style problems, followed by a short design conversation focused on optimizing API performance and implementing pagination for large datasets. Round 4: Bar Raiser (self rating: 4/5) The final round was a behavioral interview centered around leadership principles. The interviewer asked questions about ownership, cross-teams collaboration, handling failure, and resolving architectural conflicts in team.

My journey with PayPal began after a recruiter reached out to me via Naukri. We had a preliminary discussion covering my background, salary expectations, notice period, and my 2.5 years of experience.

1st Round (Online Assessment - HackerRank)

2nd Round (DSA Round)

3rd Round (HLD Round)

Feedback and Verdict

Part1 Android fundamental questions like

1. What are the key differences between Service and IntentService in Android? In which scenarios would you use each one?
2. If a previously recommended background processing component is no longer supported, what is the current best practice for handling long-running tasks in the background?
3. Which UI component is typically used for efficiently displaying large collections of items in a scrollable list?
4. How does the pattern for efficiently managing and binding views in a list component work? How would you adapt this pattern to display items horizontally or in a grid layout?
5. What is the concept of deep linking, and how does it enable opening specific screens in an app from a URL?
6. When using code shrinking or obfuscation tools, why might you encounter runtime errors related to missing classes, especially when using reflection, and how can these issues be addressed?

Part2 Debugging/ fix

Code was related to using a BroadcastReceiver to listen for airplane mode changes.

Part 3 Improve performance

Code was related to

"How would you design and implement a background task in Android using WorkManager to save a Student object (with ID and name) to SharedPreferences, synchronize it with a remote source, and also persist it using a DAO (database)? Please demonstrate how you would structure your Worker class, use a singleton for the database, and leverage coroutines (including suspend functions and coroutine scope) to handle asynchronous operations. Show how you would report success or failure from the Worker.

Part 4 Code

You are given a list of strings, each representing an item that has been selected or used. Write a function that determines which item appears most frequently in the list, along with the total number of times it appears. If there is a tie, return the item that occurs first in the list. The comparison should be case-insensitive, but the output should preserve the original casing of the earliest occurrence.

From memomry. Hope it helps.

✅ Round 1: DSA (Graphs)

• Problem: Find the nearest exit in a maze grid
• Approach: BFS traversal from entry point, handled edge detection and visited cells
• Status: Cleared

✅ Round 2: Low-Level Design (Notepad App)

• Implemented cursor operations: up, down, left, right, page up, page down
• Used doubly linked list for lines and pointers for cursor movement
• Focused on correctness and time complexity
• Status: Cleared

✅ Round 3: System Design (Distributed LRU Cache)

• Designed LRU with HashMap + Doubly Linked List
• Added distributed layer using consistent hashing
• Discussed replication, eviction, and cache invalidation strategies
• Status: Cleared

✅ Round 4: Specialization Round (Shopping Cart Design)

• Features: add/view/delete items from cart
• Handled edge cases like out-of-stock items, cart overflow, and empty cart checkout
• Covered object-oriented design and basic validations
• Status: Cleared

❌ Round 5: Leadership & Behavioral

Questions around:

• Analyzing client feature requests
• Calculating ROI
• Innovation and responsibilities in current role
• End-to-end feature planning
• Giving/receiving constructive feedback

Missed out due to lack of structured answers and specific examples

Takeaway:

Strong performance in DSA, LLD, and System Design

Prepare leadership rounds with structured frameworks (e.g., STAR) and real stories

Status: Cleared all technical rounds, didn’t make it past the final leadership round. Learned a lot!

Application :

No referral.

A recruiter reached out to me regarding this opportunity, and after I responded with the requested information, she promptly scheduled the first round of interviews for the very next day.

Interview Mode :

Virtual 3 Rounds in total.

Interview :

Round 1 : [Technical]

• Basic introduction.
• Basic discussion on my current job role & responsibilities.
• Basic Java questions.
• Java Streams API questions (Easy-Medium).
• Data structure and algorithms. 136 - Single Number and 283 - Move Zeroes (Easy). Expected solution needed to be time and space optimized.
• Basic SpringBoot related questions.

Overall a very positive experience. My current role matches task by task on what I will be doing at PayPal, thus giving a positive vibe on what to expect next.

Got a callback from the recruiter for scheduling the next round within an hour.

Round 2 : [Techno-Functional]

• Basic Introduction.
• Deep dive into my current job role & responsibilities.
• Basic questions on OOPS concept.
• Basic questions on multi-threading.
• Basic design pattern and architecture questions.
• Design question : High level discussion on designing a food delivery applications. Discussed on (different api endpoints that could be implemented, what will be the type of requests, etc) Just a basic discussion on how would I approach the given statement.
• Few behavioral questions.

Overall a very positive experience. My current role matches task by task on what I will be doing at PayPal, thus giving a positive vibe on what to expect next.

Got a callback from the recruiter for scheduling the next round within a day.

Round 3 : [Hiring Manager Round]

• Basic Introduction.
• Deep dive into my current job role & responsibilities.
• Tons of behavioral questions.

Verdict : Selected (HR informed me within 2 day).

Compensation Details :

• PayPal & Freshworks.

Hackerrank OA: 2 medium to hard DSA questions, don't remember exact questions since it happened long back.

Round 1 - Area of Focus: DSA Expectations: Ability to optimize code, discuss alternative approaches, and manage more complex edge cases. Expected to start thinking about scalability.

1.Design Round Robin - 
    - given a number of task and time, we have to assign available servers
    to new upcoming task and also maintain busy servers. 
    Something simillar to this, but not able to recall exact problem statement.
2.Find out palindromic sub-string from the input string.

Didn't get a chance to code any question, because we discussed more on pseudocode only, discussed on handling edge cases, and lastly interviewer was more interested in asking more questions on different cases.

Round 2 - Area of Focus: System Design Expectations: Demonstrate the ability to design systems that can scale moderately and recover from failures. Basic understanding of trade-offs in design decisions.

- Asked to design Checkout Page on ecommerce site, as I'd background working in ecommerce. 
- Discussed more depth in HLD and flow, designed API's, Performace, scalability, etc.

Round 3 - Area of focus: Role Specialisation Expectations: Ability to optimize code, discuss alternative approaches, and manage more complex edge cases. Expected to start thinking about scalability.

- Had discussed about current project
- multithreading, SOAP protocol
- How to pull 1GB of file from external source, optimized way to pull 1 million of data from external source
- trade-offs between SOAP and REST, API discussion. 
- 1 DSA Question - Remove adjacent duplicates in input string.

Round 4 - Area of Focus: Leadership Principles Expectations - Show initiative, demonstrate the ability to lead small projects or tasks, and begin mentoring or guiding others. Expected to handle conflicts constructively and contribute to team goals.

- Had intro first
- discussed about current project, challenges faced, how to takled
- how SDLC and Agile methodology used
- How to integrate or code or the action items will be before implementing something,
- and some technical aspects.

Result - Selected.

Online assessment: 2 questions

1st round : DSA

• LRU Cache
• Take substring from string this way that shortest length remains

2nd Round : Java and HLD

• Java and spring boot questions
• Hackerrank question
• Implemented design patterns
• HLD: Loan Management App

3rd Round

• Role Specialisation
• Hackrrank question on writing springboot apis

4th Round

• Bar Raiser
• Just behavioural questions and discussion

The process took almost more than 1 month.

Received email that I’ve cleared all rounds but no open positions. Disappointing as no clear communication and not picking calls when tried to reach out.

Current Status

I am interviewing for a Senior Backend Developer position at PayPal, with over 5 years of experience. So far, I've completed two rounds, and the next one is yet to be scheduled.

Round 1: HackerRank (DSA + Problem Solving)

This round focused on Data Structures & Algorithms combined with general problem-solving. I encountered several types of questions:

1. I was given an API URL and tasked with fetching its response, then extracting specific data based on a provided key.
2. There was a string manipulation question, which was described as medium level.
3. I was presented with the LeetCode problem "Subarray Sum Equals K."
4. The round also included conceptual questions related to Java and Object-Oriented Programming (OOP).

Round 2: System Design

The second round was dedicated to System Design, with a focus on both high-level and low-level aspects:

1. We started with a discussion on basic OOP concepts and Java.
2. Further questions explored various design patterns and principles of API design.
3. A significant portion of the round involved the Low-Level Design (LLD) of a Parking Lot system. The interviewer asked specific questions on how to achieve scalability and apply relevant design patterns. I discussed using patterns like the Builder and Strategy patterns in my approach.

I am now looking forward to the next steps in the interview process.

My journey to securing a Software Engineer Intern position at PayPal for Summer 2024 began with an online test, followed by two virtual interview rounds. I am a pre-final year B.E. CSE student at Anna University, MIT.

Round 1: Online Test (30-10-2023)
This round, conducted on Hackerrank, lasted 40 minutes and comprised 5 MCQ questions and 1 coding question. The MCQs were based on Data Structures and Algorithms (DSA) and Object-Oriented Programming (OOPS). The coding challenge was 'Break Sort', a unique problem that required determining the minimum operations to sort an array by splitting elements. I heard back from PayPal University Hiring after 15 days, advancing to the next stage.

Round 2: Technical Interview - Live Coding (Virtual) (22-11-2023, 9 am)
This 60-minute virtual interview started with introductions. We then covered some basic technical questions before moving into a live coding session on Hackerrank, after I specified my preferred language. The main coding question was 'Kth Permutation Sequence', explicitly mentioned as a LeetCode Hard problem. The interviewer provided test cases and allowed me 5 minutes to develop an approach. I explained my solution, addressed cross-questions, and covered edge cases, satisfying the interviewer. I then coded my solution with detailed comments, explaining each line. Finally, I performed a dry run for two cases, explaining every step, which was well-received.

Round 3: HR Interview (Virtual) (22-11-2023, 2 pm)
This 45-minute HR round also began with introductions. We discussed my projects in detail, covering team roles, work distribution, contributions, and leadership. Following this, I was presented with tricky situational questions designed to assess my prioritizing and analytical skills. I answered to the best of my ability, receiving some minor corrections. I concluded by asking questions about the company. The interviewers across all rounds were very friendly and kind, making the process enjoyable and a great learning opportunity.

Result:
I received my selection notification after 20 days and was offered the SWE Summer Internship for 2024. The internship is for 12 weeks, with a stipend of 100,000/- per month, and is located in Chennai/Bangalore.

My interview journey for the SWE Intern 2024 position at PayPal was a positive one. I am currently in my pre-final year of B.E. CSE at Anna University, MIT. The entire process was virtual and consisted of three rounds.

Round 1: Online Test (October 30, 2023)

This round, conducted on HackerRank, lasted 40 minutes and included 5 MCQ questions covering DSA and OOPS concepts, along with one coding question. The coding problem was titled 'Break Sort'. I had to determine the minimum operations required to sort an array by breaking down elements. The example given involved transforming [3, 4, 3] into [1, 2, 2, 2, 3] in 2 operations. After about 15 days, I heard back from PayPal University Hiring.

Round 2: Technical Interview - Live Coding (Virtual) (November 22, 2023, 9 AM)

The interview began with introductions. We then discussed some basic technical questions before moving to a live coding session on HackerRank. I was asked about my preferred language. The main question was 'Kth Permutation Sequence (With arrays)', which was stated to be a LeetCode Hard problem. The interviewer first explained the problem and provided test cases. I was given 5 minutes to strategize my approach, which I then explained, addressing cross-questions and edge cases. The interviewer seemed satisfied, and I proceeded to code my solution, adding comments and explaining each line. Finally, I performed a dry run for two test cases, explaining every step, which again satisfied the interviewer.

Round 3: HR Interview (Virtual) (November 22, 2023, 2 PM)

This round also started with introductions. We discussed my projects in detail, covering aspects like team roles, work distribution, contributions, and leadership. I was also presented with tricky situational questions designed to assess my prioritizing and analytical skills. The interviewer was content with my responses, offering a few minor corrections. I concluded by asking some questions about the company.

Overall, the interviewers were very friendly and kind, making the process enjoyable. It was a great opportunity.

Result:

I received the offer after 20 days and was selected for the SWE Summer Internship 2024. The internship duration is 12 weeks, with a stipend of 100,000/- per month. The role offered locations in Chennai/Bangalore.

I am a pre-final year student pursuing B.E. CSE at Anna University, MIT, and I applied for the SWE Intern 2024 position at PayPal. The interview process consisted of three rounds.

Round 1: Online Test (30-10-2023)
This round, conducted on Hackerrank, had 5 MCQ questions from DSA and OOPS, and 1 coding question. I had 40 minutes to complete it. The coding question was 'Break Sort'. After about 15 days, I heard back from PayPal University Hiring regarding my selection for the next round.

Round 2: Technical Interview - Live Coding (Virtual) (22-11-2023, 9 am)
This virtual round started with introductions from both myself and the interviewer. My interviewer then asked some basic technical questions and inquired about my language preference before we moved to the live coding session, which was conducted on Hackerrank. The question was 'Kth Permutation Sequence (With arrays)', described by the interviewer as a LeetCode Hard problem. The interviewer explained the problem and provided test cases, giving me 5 minutes to develop an approach. I clearly explained my strategy, handled cross-questions, and covered all edge cases, which satisfied the interviewer. I then proceeded to code my solution, adding comments and explaining each line. I also performed a dry run for two given cases, explaining every step thoroughly, which also satisfied the interviewer.

Round 3: HR Interview (Virtual) (22-11-2023, 2 pm)
This virtual round also began with introductions. We discussed my projects in detail, including team dynamics, how work was split up, my contributions, and who led the team. I was also presented with some tricky situational questions designed to assess my prioritizing and analytical skills. The interviewer seemed satisfied with my answers, offering some minor corrections here and there. Finally, I asked some questions about the company.

The interviewers were very friendly and kind throughout the process, and I truly enjoyed the experience. This was a great opportunity for me.

Result:
After 20 days, I received the result: I was selected for the SWE Summer Internship 2024. The internship duration is 12 weeks, with a stipend of 100,000/- per month, located in Chennai/Bangalore.

Round 1: Technical Interview - DSA & System Design

The first round covered both Data Structures & Algorithms and some system design concepts. I was asked to find the index of an unbalanced parenthesis in a string. Additionally, the interviewer delved into system design, asking about alternatives to API gateways and the principles behind separating microservices. There was also a database query question, which I don't recall precisely but found challenging.

Round 2: Technical Interview - DSA & Language Specific

This round focused on Data Structures & Algorithms. I encountered the 'Trapping Rain Water' problem. While I hadn't solved it before, the interviewer was helpful and guided me by breaking down the problem into smaller parts. There were also some specific questions related to Golang, though I don't recall the exact details.

Round 3: Technical Interview - System Design & Core Concepts

The third round was heavily focused on system design and advanced concepts. I was asked about implementing optimistic versus pessimistic locking in specific scenarios, a topic that came up because I had mentioned using it previously. We also discussed the pros and cons of gRPC and why one might choose gRPC over traditional HTTP.

Round 4: Hiring Manager Round

The final round was with the hiring manager and consisted of standard behavioral questions. I was asked about my motivations for leaving my current job and what my expectations were for this new role at Paypal.

After completing all rounds, I waited for a response. The recruiter initially informed me that results would be out in two weeks. However, three weeks passed without a reply. Ultimately, I received a rejection email after two months.

My interview process for the SDE 3 role at Paypal involved four distinct rounds. I have 7 years of experience and hold a BE IT degree from a tier 3 college.

Round 1: HackerRank Test

This initial round consisted of a HackerRank test with two medium-level LeetCode questions. Unfortunately, I don't recall the exact problems asked.

Round 2: Technical Round One

During this technical round, the interviewer presented me with two main questions:

1. The first question involved converting a decimal number to its hexadecimal equivalent.
2. The second was a classic string compression problem, where, for example, an input like aabbbcdde should result in an output of a2b3cd2e. This is a well-known problem often encountered on LeetCode.

Round 3: Technical Round Second

This round was a comprehensive mix of Java, Spring, and High-Level Design (HLD) concepts. The discussion covered:

• Detailed questions on how a Spring Boot application works and various Hibernate-related topics.
• Inquiries about Garbage Collector algorithms and other string manipulation questions.
• A system design challenge where I was asked to design a parking lot system. This system needed to support multiple floors, facilitate online booking of parking spots, and accommodate various vehicle types. I also had to elaborate on my approach to scaling the system and the database architecture I would choose.

Round 4: Hiring Manager Round

The final round was with the hiring manager and was largely managerial in nature. We discussed topics such as resolving team conflicts, managing cross-team dependencies, and my career aspirations for the next five years. It was more a behavioral assessment than a technical one.

I am pleased to say that I cleared all the interview rounds and subsequently received an offer from Paypal!

Hey, I'd like to share my detailed experience for the PayPal Software Developer Intern position for Summer 2023, an on-campus opportunity in Bangalore.

My selection process began with resume shortlisting. I believe a decent GPA, preferably 8+, is key for on-campus placements.

Next was the Online Assessment, a 90-minute round with one medium-level LeetCode question and 10-15 MCQs based on JavaScript/Web Development. I successfully solved all the problems.

About a month later, I received the OA results, and my Technical Round was scheduled within a week. This 45-minute round covered various topics:

• Discussion around Dynamic Programming approaches and greedy algorithms.
• Data Structure questions involving pointers, different inbuilt functions, and related concepts, with follow-ups on choosing specific approaches.
• Basic OOPs concepts, specifically I was asked about polymorphism and its types.
• DBMS questions, where I had to write SQL queries and discuss follow-up scenarios.
• One easy-to-medium LeetCode question related to strings, for which I first explained my approach and then coded it on the HackerRank platform.

I am currently an SDE at a startup with 2 years of experience. I interviewed for the Software Engineer 2 position at PayPal in Bangalore, India, in October 2022.

The interview process consisted of four rounds:

Round 1: Online Assessment (HackerRank)
This round had two sections. The first was a hard-level DSA question, where I managed to pass some test cases using a brute-force approach. The second part involved a simple API design problem.

Round 2: Technical Interview
This round focused on data structures and algorithms. I was asked to design a stack with O(1) time complexity for push, pop, findMiddle, and deleteMiddle operations. Additionally, I had to solve a problem similar to LeetCode's Top K Frequent Elements.

Round 3: Technical Interview
Another technical round where I encountered a problem similar to LeetCode's Car Pooling. There were also questions related to Java, design patterns, and discussions about my current projects.

Round 4: Hiring Manager Interview
Unexpectedly, this round included a standard DP problem, similar to LeetCode's Partition Equal Subset Sum. The rest of the round involved behavioral questions and discussions about my projects.

I successfully cleared all rounds and received an offer.

My interview journey for the Software Engineer 1 position at Paypal began on February 26, 2021. I am a 2021 graduate currently working at a service-based company in Bangalore, India.

Online Assessment (1 hour)

Technical Round 1 (1 hour)

• Checking if a given Linked List is a Palindrome.
• Counting pairs in an array whose sum is divisible by K.

Technical Round 2 (1 hour)

Hiring Manager Round (1 hour)

• Printing unique elements from two arrays (e.g., a = [1,5,7,8,9,12] b = [1,3,6,5,7] with an expected output of [3, 6, 8, 9, 12]).
• Checking if a given number is prime.

My interview process for the SDE 2 position at Paypal in Bangalore consisted of several rounds, each lasting approximately 60 minutes and typically broken into two parts. With 4.3 years of experience, I was evaluated on a broad range of technical skills. The initial rounds focused heavily on problem-solving. One of the technical rounds included discussions on core Java concepts like collections and threading, Spring Boot essentials such as IoC and scopes, and various design patterns like Singleton and Builder. A significant portion of another technical round was dedicated to system design, where I was asked to design a database for a Quora-like application, considering features like user following, question/answer/comment posting, and media integration. The final round was with the Hiring Manager, which involved behavioral questions and an object-oriented design problem.

I recently interviewed for a Backend Developer role at PayPal in Bangalore. The experience was quite negative, primarily due to the interviewer's unprofessional conduct.

We covered two questions. For the first question, I was asked to reverse a string based on curly brackets. I initially tried a recursive approach, but after a few more examples provided by the interviewer, I realized it wouldn't work and switched to a stack-based solution. Unfortunately, I couldn't complete it within the allotted timeframe.

The interviewer then made a startling comment, stating, "I don't think you will be able to solve the next question" simply because I struggled with the first. The second question was the classic 'Number of Islands' graph traversal problem. This is a frequently asked question, so I knew the solution well and completed it in about 20 minutes. However, the interviewer refused to let me run my solution, claiming that "Time is up & I need to go to the next candidate now. Bye!" and immediately ended the meeting.

Despite having 20-25 minutes left, she chose to take a break instead of proceeding or even checking my solution. I was stunned by this attitude and have since passed my feedback to HR. In a nutshell, I would never apply to PayPal again and wish to avoid working with individuals who display such behavior.

My interview journey for the Software Engineer 2 role at Paypal involved three distinct rounds. The initial round focused on Data Structures and Algorithms, where I encountered a straightforward array manipulation problem and the classic Josephus problem. The second round was a combination of Low-Level Design and more DSA. Here, I was given a subset sum DP question and tasked with implementing Merge Sort, specifically with an emphasis on multithreading and LLD principles. The final round was with the Hiring Manager, which focused on behavioral questions and detailed discussions about my current projects and experiences. Overall, I found the questions manageable, largely thanks to my consistent practice on LeetCode.

I applied for a Software Engineer 1 role at Paypal through a referral program in July 2021. After a delayed process, I received an email for an Online Assessment in late August, which was conducted on HackerEarth. It consisted of two questions: a simple array problem and a tough DP with bitmask problem. I managed to solve the first question completely and passed 10 out of 14 test cases for the second one.

Subsequently, I qualified for the interview rounds. My first interview was initially scheduled but no one appeared, so it was rescheduled for the next day. In this round, I was asked two data structures and algorithms questions: 'Minimum number of platforms required to serve all the trains coming on the station given their arrival and departure times' and 'Find the majority element using Moore's Voting Algorithm.' I successfully cleared this round.

The second interview focused on a coding problem: 'Given a log file, determine the execution time of each function.' The interviewer emphasized writing production-ready code, requiring the implementation of OOPs principles for readability and debuggability. I cleared this round as well.

Finally, I proceeded to the third round, which was with a hiring manager. This round was non-technical and primarily focused on my knowledge of scrum and agile methodologies. The interviewer seemed impressed with my answers.

Despite clearing all rounds, the communication after the final interview became very poor. After two weeks of no contact and ignored emails/phone calls, I called from a different number and, by mistake, they answered. They informed me that I had cleared the final round but asked me to wait another week for the offer letter, repeatedly stressing not to resign from my current organization. Realizing I had been ghosted, I never received an offer.

My PayPal Software Engineer - 1 Interview Experience

I recently went through the interview process for a Software Engineer - 1 role at PayPal in Chennai, which consisted of four rounds. I'm pleased to share that I received an offer.

Round 1: Hackerearth Based Test (1h 15m)

This was an online coding test with two questions. The first question was based on segment trees and range queries, which I found to be a LeetCode Medium level problem. I struggled to recall the exact working of segment trees under pressure, so I ended up providing a brute-force solution, which yielded about a 50% score. The second question involved concepts of graphs, specifically related to the number of islands, combined with dynamic programming. This was a LeetCode Hard level problem, which I managed to solve completely. I cleared this round.

Round 2: Face-to-Face Problem Solving (45 mins)

This round began with a general introduction and some questions about my internship project. Following that, we moved to problem-solving. I was given two coding questions:

1. A simple binary tree problem asking for the maximum root-to-leaf path sum. (LeetCode Easy)
2. A modification of the first question, where I had to find the maximum path sum between any two nodes in a binary tree. (LeetCode Hard)

I successfully cleared this round as well.

Round 3: Face-to-Face Technical Discussion (1h)

This round was primarily focused on my resume. We had an in-depth discussion about all my projects, the technologies I utilized, my rationale for choosing those specific technologies over alternatives, difficulties I faced, and the type of work I do in my current company. There was also some discussion on hash maps and various caching techniques. Finally, we touched upon database concepts like indexing, joins, and a comparison between SQL and NoSQL databases. I managed to clear this round.

Round 4: Face-to-Face Hiring Manager (30 mins)

The final round was with the hiring manager and aimed at assessing my cultural fit. We discussed my current work and past internships. There was also a theoretical discussion on recursion and memoization. I successfully cleared this round.

I received a verbal confirmation for the offer about a week after my final round, and the official offer letter arrived approximately a month later.