Interviewed for a Backend Intern position with a stipend of approximately ₹10,000/month.
The technical interview covered DSA, SQL, backend concepts, debugging, and error-solving scenarios. The interviewer was knowledgeable, and the technical discussion itself was challenging and interesting. I was able to answer the DSA and SQL questions and participate in the backend discussion.
My concern is not that the interview was difficult. Technical interviews are expected to be rigorous.
What left a negative impression was the communication during the latter part of the interview. The interviewer repeatedly suggested that I should aim for better companies instead of joining this one. In response, I clearly stated that my primary goal was to learn, gain experience, and grow as an engineer, which was the reason I remained interested in joining the company despite its size and compensation.
Even after I explained this and remained firm in my interest in the role, the conversation continued in a way that felt discouraging rather than informative. As a candidate, it was confusing to hear someone representing the company repeatedly advise me against joining it while I was still being evaluated for the position.
Based on the interview itself, I felt the discussion had gone reasonably well. I was able to answer DSA questions, SQL questions, and participate in debugging and backend-related scenarios. Therefore, receiving a rejection afterward was surprising, especially given the overall tone of the conversation.
The final rejection communication was also extremely brief: "sorry, you are rejected! All the best." While I fully respect the company's hiring decision, I believe candidates deserve more professional and considerate communication after investing time in the interview process.
Overall, the technical discussion was good, but the mixed signals during the interview and the manner in which the rejection was communicated left me with a negative impression of the candidate experience.
