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Software Engineer simulation

Your first day on the Payments team

Paylane · FintechFresher / 1–3 yrs 40 min

You've just joined Paylane's Payments team as a Software Engineer I. Your first ticket is a live bug: bill splits that don't add up. You'll write and test the fix in a real editor, review a teammate's pull request that moves real money, deal with a PM who wants more by tomorrow, and own whatever happens after you ship.

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You can pause and come back. Time in the simulation only moves when you act.

Paylane · Software Engineer IDay 1 · 09:00 AM

Your first message

Ananya RaoSenior Engineer (your buddy)09:00 AM

Welcome! Standup at 9:15

Welcome to Payments! 👋 Standup is async today. Post a short plan for your day in the thread. I've assigned you PAY-412 (attached). It's a real P1 so no pressure 😅 but the fix is small. The handbook is attached too, skim the money rules first.

Your objective

Ship a correct fix for PAY-412, keep bad code out of main, and keep your team informed.

Your day

What's scheduled. More will come up depending on what you do.

  1. 09:00 AMWelcome! Standup at 9:15 · Ananya Rao
  2. 09:15 AMPAY-412: Fix bill split rounding · Ananya Rao
  3. 10:15 AMQuick one: split by %? · Karan Mehta
  4. 11:40 AMReview my payout PR? 🙏 · Rohan Menon
  5. 05:00 PMEOD update? · Ananya Rao

Before you start

  • It's 9:00 AM on your first Monday. The day ends at 6:00 PM.
  • Your onboarding buddy is Ananya, a senior engineer. She's in interviews for part of the day.
  • Work in JavaScript, TypeScript or Python: switch any time in the editor. Code runs in a real sandbox; visible tests are yours to run as often as you like, and CI runs hidden edge-case tests when you open a pull request.
  • Money is always integer paise at Paylane. Finance reconciles every paisa.

You'll work in

Gmail Slack Jira VS Code Confluence Drive PagerDuty
Code editor + testsWritten deliverableJavaScript · TypeScript · Python

Each app is laid out like the tool most teams in this role use. Simverse isn't affiliated with these companies.

People you'll work with

  • Ananya Rao · Senior Engineer (your buddy)
  • Karan Mehta · Product Manager, Payments
  • Rohan Menon · Software Engineer II
  • Deepika Nair · Finance Manager
  • Vikram Shah · SRE, on-call

What's assessed

  • Problem understanding

    Works out what is actually required, including constraints and unstated edge cases.

  • Problem solving

    Forms hypotheses and makes evidence-based decisions instead of random changes.

  • Coding

    Writes correct, readable, proportionate code that meets the requirements.

  • Debugging

    Finds the root cause from evidence, recovers from failures and verifies the fix.

  • Testing

    Verifies work with tests, covers edge cases and catches regressions.

  • Adaptability

    Changes approach when the evidence says so and responds to new information.

  • Autonomy

    Makes progress independently and uses hints and AI with judgment and verification.

  • Communication

    Explains reasoning, decisions and trade-offs clearly.