‘They take revenge, not interviews': Techie slams insane hiring process in India

Time of India

4 hours ago

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Interviews in India are brutal, claims a software engineer who has been on the job hunt for the last six months.Sharing his experience on Reddit, the techie compared the hiring process in India to that in Europe, calling Indian interviews unnecessarily difficult."In Europe, interviews are fairly straightforward. My friend there got two offers soon after he started applying," he wrote."But over here in India, we're expected to implement end-to-end machine code, understand Garbage Collector internals—which most of us will never tune in real-world scenarios—and be fluent in every Docker and Kubernetes command. Miss one thing, and you're done for.'He added, 'Who is even clearing these kinds of rounds?'The engineer even suggested a theory behind the high bar: "Before bhaiyas and didis began sharing interview prep tips online, only Tier-1 college grads cracked top tech firms. But now, since interview knowledge is widely available, companies have made the process insanely hard just to gatekeep people from Tier-2 and Tier-3 backgrounds."The post triggered a flurry of reactions from fellow users.One commenter disagreed with the conspiracy angle: 'It's just supply and demand. Too many candidates, not enough jobs. If interviews are too easy, everyone qualifies and it becomes impossible to pick the right person. The EU has a smaller candidate pool. FAANG is an exception—interview difficulty is pretty much the same across regions."Another added nuance: 'FAANG interviews operate at the organizational level, not the country level. While the difficulty may vary slightly depending on the team, there's usually a bar raiser round to ensure consistency across regions.'Frustration with Indian interview culture was a recurring theme.'Indian interviewers are egoistic. They take revenge, not interviews. No one likes Indian interviewers globally,' one user vented. 'Interviews should be healthy discussions, not ego trips and grilling sessions.'A different user recounted a disheartening experience: 'I had an interview with a service-based company yesterday. I answered everything. The interviewer even said, 'You know too much for someone with just three years of experience.' I was over the moon. Then came the rejection. Now I wonder—was he being sarcastic?'Another chimed in with a resigned take: 'Honestly, from the interviewer's side, what else can they do? If they ask only job-relevant questions, they'll get 1,000 qualified candidates. It's like a government exam now—you just have to cram the whole syllabus and hope for the best.'