Mastercard SDE-1 Interview Experience

My Mastercard journey was one of those campus placement processes where every stage tested something different. It was not just about solving DSA questions the process also checked how I communicated in a group, approached open-ended technical problems and explained my past experiences.
Company: Mastercard
Role: SDE-1
Branch: Computer Engineering
Graduation Year: 2027
Mode: Campus Drive
Interview Date: September 9, 2026

Round-by-Round Experience

OA

The HirePro assessment had two DSA questions.

The first was based on Trie, while the second was a constrained BFS problem involving infected elements. I had to find a way to enclose infected elements using minimum walls while keeping the maximum number of elements safe.

The second problem required more careful thinking because of the constraints, but overall the OA was manageable with good DSA practice.

Round 1 (Group Discussion)

There were 11 students in my group, and our topic was:

“Will AI Replace Software Engineers?”

I started the discussion by sharing my perspective on how AI is changing software development rather than simply replacing developers.

I stayed actively involved throughout, listened to other viewpoints and added my points wherever relevant. I also helped keep the discussion on track and got the opportunity to conclude it at the end.

Round 2 - Technical Interview 1

This round started with a discussion about my background before moving into coding.

One interesting question was to compress:

1aaabbcccceeddd => 13a2b4c2e3d
Similar pattern problem:

I first explained my approach and then worked through the implementation. I was also given a stack-based problem and asked to convert a decimal number into binary.

Towards the end, the interviewer asked about my future plans and whether I was considering higher education.

Round 3 - Technical Interview 2

The interviewer first asked me to rate my proficiency in different programming languages, then given a problem about sorting an extremely large file without using extra space.

Then discussed Java equals() vs ==, followed by a system-design question.

Round 4 - HR

The final round was much more conversational, discussed my family background, 10th and 12th marks, previous experiences and hackathons.

There wasn't much technical discussion here.

Final Result

After completing all the rounds, I received the update I had been waiting for, I was selected for the SDE-1 role at Mastercard.

Salary: ₹14 Lakhs per year