1. Company and Role

• Company: Mastercard

• Role: SDE Intern + PPO

• Batch/Year of Graduation: 2027

• Branch: Computer

2. Application Process

• How did you apply? On-Campus

• Timeline:

  • August 2025 - Pre Hackathon DSA Round

  • 25th August 2025 - Hackathon at MasterCard Office

  • 18th May to 17th July 2026 - 2 Month Internship

3. Hackathon Experience

Since the last 3 years, MasterCard Pune conducts intern hiring through Code for Change Hackathon from selected colleges, PICT being one of them.

There were about 70 PICT students selected for the hackathon via a qualifying DSA round, which had the following format

• Platform - HirePro

• Time - 1 hour

• No. of Questions - 1 Medium, 1 Hard

I was able to solve 1 question completely and the 2nd partially, and luckily that was enough to get me shortlisted.

For the actual hackathon, the main concern is that you are put into a team with 7 strangers and you not only have to co-operate in building a project, but also simultaneously compete for the mentor’s attention and prove that you are knowledgeable and capable while not putting anyone else down.

Hence I found this mental preparation crucial in the days leading up to the hackathon, including practicing conflict resolution, the right way to introduce yourself, carry yourself, to suggest and to oppose.

On the technical side, there isn’t much you can do in the few days between the OA and Hackathon, your past web development experience is your best friend.

If you already have an approximate understanding of folder structure, modularity of development and integration in React and JavaScript full stack projects, do your best to get an overview of some concept in full stack web dev that you have previously ignored (eg. for me it was Tailwind CSS).

In general, if you have good past project experience such that you can build a decent student-level project from scratch by hand with minimal AI assistance, that was considered acceptable in 2025.

On the actual hackathon day, time slips away faster than you think, so make sure to keep a fully tested and working Git branch ready to submit about 45 minutes before the deadline.

I was really lucky to have a very friendly and co-operative team, so overall the hackathon was a positive experience for me.

3. Internship Experience

The two month summer internship was my first time working in such a large company, and the team always tries to be as gentle with interns as possible - so it wasn’t a rough transition from student to professional.

I tried to always put my best foot forward, to be polite, ensure that the work done by me is done well and always be present in-office for meetings and contribute meaningfully to those meetings.

My department was a pleasure to work in, and luckily they had space to invite me back full time.

4. Overall Experience and Tips

MasterCard has a very people-first approach to third-year hiring, so if you’re lucky enough to get to the hackathon stage, as long as your good technical skills are visible to the relevant people and your good personality takes center stage, you have a very good chance.

All the best for a very successful placement journey!