Interview Experiences

Real candidates, real loops: every round, what was asked, and how it ended.

Share yours, earn XP

5 stories

Likes earn the author +10 XP for the first 3 likes each day

MastercardSoftware Engineer
Reported Jul 2026

Mastercard Software Engineer interview: inflexible schedule and Hangman OOD task

The process began with scheduling friction and a rigid structure. I received about 10 days' notice and could not change the interview date. There was also a preparation session that suggested the process would be more organized than it eventually felt. In the interview, I had to implement object-oriented design for a Hangman game. The interviewer was rigid and seemed to expect particular answers,…

Technical Screen0
MastercardSoftware Engineer
Reported Jul 2026

Mastercard Software Engineer interview: a bad technical round and a warm behavioral one

The technical interview was bad enough to overshadow the rest. The interviewer had not read my CV, gave little guidance, and either did not listen to my answers or could not understand them. It felt as though my responses were not landing. The behavioral interview was the opposite. At least one interviewer was friendly with the hiring manager, and that part had a good tone. I did not get an offer…

Technical Screen0
MastercardSoftware Engineer
Reported Jul 2026

Mastercard Software Engineer interview: scenario based screening rejection

My screening was built around hypothetical situations. It was not a friendly chat. The interviewer walked through scenarios and tested how I would think about them, with a clear focus on decision making rather than coding. The interviewer was professional and kept a positive attitude, but I was rejected in that screening round. The quick outcome surprised me because the tone had been good, and I…

RejectedOther0
MastercardSoftware Engineer
Reported Jul 2026

Mastercard Software Engineer interview: eliminatory coding and same day later rounds

I entered through a college placement style process. The first call was for a coding round, and that round was explicitly eliminatory. After I completed it, I finished the remaining rounds a couple of days later, all on the same day. The sequence began with the coding interview and continued with manager level and bar raiser style evaluation. Those later rounds seemed to be about more than coding…

Technical Screen0
MastercardSoftware Engineer
Reported Jul 2026

Mastercard Software Engineer interview: a rushed EV design and BFS coding round

My Karat round was fast, high pressure, and oddly disorganized. The interviewer had a list of questions to get through, so there was little room for a natural conversation. I got a system-design question about an EV charging scenario, and they covered multiple items in a way that made it hard to go deep on the design choices. Then I had a LeetCode-style coding problem with under 20 minutes. It wa…

Technical Screen0

What are interview experiences?

An interview experience is a candidate's own account of a hiring loop — not a question bank entry. It tells you the shape of the process: how many rounds there were, what each round actually tested, how long the gaps between them ran, and what the recruiter said at the end. That context is the part a question list cannot give you.

How to read them

Weight recent write-ups more heavily — interview loops change, often within a year. Read several for the same company and role rather than one: a single account tells you what one interviewer asked, while five tell you what the bar is. Note the outcome badge too, since a rejection write-up usually explains the gap far more precisely than an offer one.

Share your own

Every published experience earns 50 XP, and each of the first 3 likes it receives in a day earns you 10 XP more. Likes must come from established accounts; like-for-like swaps and likes from your own second account are not paid. Write it while the details are fresh — the round order, the exact prompts, and how much time you were given are what the next reader needs.

Share your experience to earn XP