The Karat interview experience was disappointing. Although I am a .NET developer, I am proficient in Java with some practice. I communicated this to all parties involved.

Upon starting the Karat interview, I was given an almost 8-minute explanation of the programming problem, with only 30 minutes to solve it. During this time, it was required to explain every action while typing. Essentially, I needed to talk and type 100% of the time.

This approach was problematic. When I paused speaking, I received remarks from the Karat interviewer, who threatened to "write me up" for suspicious behavior if I did not continuously explain my process. This felt harassing and unnecessary.

When I inquired about the web-based IDE and whether I could create a separate class file, the interviewer demonstrated a lack of knowledge. He later admitted he did not know Java.

As a .NET developer, I had to recall Java collection handling. I even pasted an exact code snippet into the environment, only to encounter a syntax error within the IDE itself.

The programming question itself was not technically difficult, but it did involve several nested loops and the management of multiple flags. With more time, perhaps more than 20 minutes, I could have approached it more effectively. However, struggling with an unfamiliar IDE and facing constant pressure from the interviewer to narrate my every move, I lost all interest in the position with approximately 2 minutes remaining.

It is surprising that PayPal, a company supposedly at the forefront of fintech, outsources interviews to individuals who lack knowledge of the very language they are assessing candidates on.

Questions on object-oriented programming.