I applied online for the role of Quality Analyst 3 at the Bangalore-East office, 7th floor. My skills included Test Automation using QTP. The Senior Manager shortlisted my profile and scheduled a telephonic screening interview.

The interview was totally gender-biased. He asked about my technical background and information about my previous projects. Finally, he asked if I was married, what my husband does, if I had any relocation plans with my husband, and if I could work without many family emotional attachments. He also asked how many years I had been married and about children – if I had any or planned any in the near future. He stated that their project was critical and needed a lot of attention, which, according to him, females could not provide.

Despite all this nonsense, I answered politely as I was desperate for a job and believed Oracle to be a good company. I was shortlisted and called for Technical Round 1. It consisted purely of QTP questions and lasted 1.5 hours. I was pleased to be selected for Technical Round 2 on the same day.

Again, the female interviewer asked me the same set of personal questions about kid plans and other nonsense, which the Senior Manager had apparently trained her to ask. I was offended and stated that the questions were too personal to discuss and I did not entertain them.

In Technical Round 2, they grilled me for 2 hours and asked me to write complex code snippets. I have been an interviewer myself in my previous company, and we never judged a candidate based on bookish, mugged-up knowledge. They did not care about my excellent analytical skills and commented that they had doubts about my capability after grilling me for 2 hours and making me write lengthy code snippets. This was offensive.

After a week, the Senior Manager called me and said he would offer me one more 'chance' as he felt I had the capabilities. I thought, with lakhs of candidates in Bangalore, does this company have so much time to give people a second chance? LOL. Don't they have any work? I regret going to try a second time.

In Technical Interview 3, they again grilled me for over 2 hours. Again, I was asked to write lengthy code snippets, and this time I did it well and was confident I would be through. Alas, they never got back to me after that.

I thank them for that, as I was subsequently placed in another MNC for a Test Lead role with 30% more pay than what Oracle offered me.

Oracle, if you dared to pose such nonsensical questions to your U.S. female candidates, you would surely be sued. I never imagined Oracle, being a reputed company, would be gender-biased!

Since how many years have you been married?

What about kids?

What if your husband relocates to another country? Will you also travel with him?

Since females have a lot of emotional attachments, how will you cope when the workload is more?

What does your husband do? Where does he work?