My Interview Experience with Pine Labs

Recently, Pine Labs visited my college for a Software Engineering Intern opportunity. I’d like to share my journey through their recruitment process to help others preparing for similar interviews.

📍 The Shortlisting Process

The initial shortlisting was done through an Online Assessment (OA). The assessment was relatively easy and covered a wide range of topics, including:

• Aptitude questions

• Python (NumPy & Pandas)

• Git

• One SQL query

• One DSA problem

In total, there were 31 questions, and I found the difficulty to be beginner-friendly but broad in scope.

📍 The Interview Round

After the OA, I was fortunate to be shortlisted for the interview round. There was only one round, which was a one-on-one interview — but with a twist. The panel consisted of three interviewers, each diving deep into various aspects of my resume.

The interview was heavily resume-focused, and every project or skill mentioned was explored in detail. They also gave me a practical SQL query task during the interview to test my problem-solving ability and database knowledge.

📍 The Outcome

I was able to crack the interview and received an offer from Pine Labs. However, at the time, I already had another offer from a company that aligned better with my goals and compensation expectations. So, I made the difficult decision to politely decline Pine Labs’ offer.

Final Thoughts

It was a great experience overall — from the structured OA to the detailed interview round. Even though I didn’t accept the offer, it was a valuable opportunity to understand how top fintech companies evaluate candidates.