My Path to Joining Fyle as a Frontend Intern

Hi everyone, I am Sumrender Singh, a 2024 batch graduate from Army Institute of Technology, Pune. I usually spend my days learning more about Angular, trying to finish all the books I’ve bought and somehow complete my daily goal of consuming 100g of protein.

Below is my experience of being selected as an intern at Fyle, an expense management SaaS startup.

Offer Letter Revoked

It all started in February 2024, when I decided to watch 12th Fail, which was all the hype back then.

February was still early in the year, and I was hyped up about following the goals I had set, which mostly involved gym, reading more books and cutting down on social media and movies.

So, on a Saturday, I decided to watch my first movie of the year.

Ten minutes into the movie, my company-friend called me and I knew shit hit the fan. 🙃

For context, I had already been placed back in November, and the friend who called me was also placed in the same company. He usually only called about placement-related matters.

So, I picked up the call wondering ab kya ho gaya? (What might have happened?)

Friend: Hello bro

Me (jokingly): Hellooo wassup? Did the company shut down or something?

Friend (not jokingly): Um...yes...

Me (speechless): 😶

So, I got to know that the company I was placed in had stopped its operations in India and most probably my offer letter would get revoked.

I was speechless for a while then the first thing that came out of my mouth was ‘Welppp, will have to start the placement prep again 🙃’.

To this day, I don’t know where I picked up the word ‘Welp’ from. But first, I completed the movie (I mean, it’s not like stopping would have changed the situation) which was a nice watch and got me motivated for the grind after.

After the movie ended, I started applying all over LinkedIn and Internshala. I also started studying for interview-related topics, preparing myself again for the interviews. After a week of regularly filling out forms and cold messaging people, I received some responses.

Placement Grind

I completed some assignments one of which was Fyle’s frontend assignment. I gave myself four days to submit the assignment, even though the deadline was much longer. As with most things in life, interviews are first come, first served. So, if someone submitted before me, they could have their interview scheduled earlier, and the position might get filled.

The first day, I went through youtube and blogs gobbling up everything about Angular and Unit Testing, that I could find. Especially unit testing and advanced topics like interceptors and caching, because I already knew some Angular.

You might be wondering why I was so focused on this, because I had applied for Fyle in my 3rd year also, but couldn’t clear the interview 😭. I think it was mostly because of my lack of knowledge in Angular and soft skills, but let’s not go down that hole 🕳️

The first day passed like that. On the second day, I completed all the logic of the assignment. I also had my code reviewed by ChatGPT to check my code quality and suggest if I could provide a better method for something. So, that also helped.

The 3rd day and the first half of the 4th day, I spent writing the unit tests. This playlist was pretty handy for a quick intro to unit testing, and I did have prior experience writing tests during my previous internship, so I managed to do this too. The second half of the fourth day, I spent improving the CSS of my assignment and then submitted it.

Soon after, Aiyush scheduled my interview, and I chose one of the earliest slots available. To prepare for the interview, I reviewed my code, reflecting on why I had done things a certain way, whether they could be improved, and considering alternative approaches.

I also read some blogs, which motivated me even more to clear the interview and join this startup.
https://stories.fylehq.com/p/from-aspiring-to-hired-a-winning

The Interview

Technical Interview

The interview felt more like a conversation. After basic introductions, Aiyush and I reviewed my code, and he asked why I had done certain things in specific ways. For instance, I had implemented a caching service to cache some GET requests, and I had to call the service in the relevant functions.

That was fine, but Aiyush suggested that I could also use custom TypeScript Decorators for the caching service. In my mind, I thought, 'Damnnn, I never would’ve thought of that!'

Aiyush asked me to implement a simple feature, like handling an edge case where an empty array is received, in which case the page should display a message. I was able to implement it. I felt the interview went well, and soon after, I received an email inviting me to the second round.

Non-Technical Interview

Vaishnavi conducted the second round. We discussed topics like my college, projects, past internships, aspirations, and career goals. I asked Vaishnavi about her experience at Fyle, what all stuff she was working on. Overall, it was a great conversation, lasting around 40 minutes.

After the second round, I was a bit confused because none of the specific HR questions I had prepared for, like strengths and weaknesses, were asked. 😂😭

Selected 🎉

Soon enough, my worries were put to rest when Aiyush called to congratulate me on being selected. I was beyond elated after days of applying endlessly and getting rejections, so I took my best friend and gorged up on Kadhai Paneer and Garlic naan.

A few days later, I watched another movie, Laapataa Ladies, but thankfully, nothing happened this time. :)

This experience was a perfect example of the saying, 'When one door closes, another opens,' and in my case, a great one opened! 😄