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How hiring works

~7 min

In short

Software hiring in India runs through two main doors: campus drives for students and off-campus applications for everyone else. Most processes have an online assessment, then one or more interview rounds. Exact eligibility rules and round counts change, and sources disagree on them. Always check the current notice from the company itself before you rely on any detail here.

Two doors: campus and off-campus

  • Campus. The company visits your college, or runs an exam that your college registers you for. Large IT services firms use this route heavily. Third-party guides say TCS recruits through campus drives, the TCS NQT exam, and off-campus drives. Check the current TCS NextStep notice for the actual rules.
  • Off-campus. You apply online to a posting, sometimes through a referral. This is the main route for experienced hires and for many product companies.

Inference: if you are a student, do both. Apply to the campus drives your college offers, and keep applying off-campus in parallel.

Eligibility by branch

Third-party guides for the large service firms say all engineering branches can apply. For example, Infosys guides say all engineering branches are eligible for full-time B.E. or B.Tech, with a cut-off that varies between sources (60% or 65%). Wipro's national test guides list all branches with a 60% cut-off, but backlog rules vary by source.

Product companies are less uniform. In reposted Amazon India campus postings, the degree requirement is "computer science, computer engineering, or a related field." For experienced roles, Amazon's postings say a CS degree is preferred and "or equivalent" is allowed. Google's experienced India software engineer roles accept "a bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience."

Inference: service companies are the most open to non-CS branches. Product companies are open in practice, but campus postings often name CS, so non-CS students usually need a stronger project record to be shortlisted.

Stages you should expect

Amazon's careers page lists four stages: online application, assessments, phone screening, and an interview loop. It says the process "differs from role to role." Candidate reports of the Amazon campus process describe a timed online assessment, then DSA, leadership principles and low-level design rounds.

Inference from these examples: many processes follow a similar shape, a screen, a coding round, and one or more interviews. A third-party guide describes Atlassian as a recruiter screen, a technical screen or online assessment, then four or five virtual rounds that include coding, design and a values round. Sources disagree on the round count, so check the company's own page for the current process.

I did not check Google's and Microsoft's official hiring pages for this page. Read them directly before you prepare for those companies.

Online assessments

Online assessments are timed and usually test coding problems plus, sometimes, a work-style or aptitude section. One candidate report for Amazon describes two DSA problems in 70 minutes and a 20-minute work-style test. Use the same format when you practise, and time yourself.

Referrals and timelines

I did not find a sourced figure for how much a referral improves your odds, or how many weeks a hiring process takes. Be cautious with any source that gives one. If you ask a referrer for help, be specific about the role and attach a short note about what you have built.

Try this

Open Amazon's how-we-hire page and write down its four stages in your own words. Then find one real posting for the role you want and check which stages it mentions. Note any stage you cannot yet prepare for.

Sources

  • Amazon, how we hire, checked 18 Oct 2026: https://www.amazon.jobs/content/en/how-we-hire
  • Amazon SDE I experienced-hire posting (search snippet, 2026): https://amazon.jobs/en/jobs/2928007/sde-1
  • Google India software engineer posting (mirrored, 2026): https://google.com/about/careers/applications/jobs/results/122710813273137862-software-engineer
  • TCS NQT eligibility, third-party: https://prepinsta.com/tcs-nqt/eligibility-criteria/
  • TCS NQT eligibility, third-party: https://www.placementpreparation.io/tcs-nqt/eligibility-criteria/
  • Infosys eligibility, third-party: https://www.placementpreparation.io/infosys/eligibility-criteria/
  • Infosys eligibility, third-party: https://prepinsta.com/infosys/eligibility-criteria/
  • Wipro NLTH eligibility, third-party (2025): https://faceprep.in/article/wipro-national-qualifier-test-2025-exam-dates-test-pattern-syllabus-eligibility-criteria/
  • Campus hiring overview, third-party (2026): https://faceprep.in/for-institutions/pulse/fresher-salary-landscape-2026-targets/
  • Amazon India campus interview preparation, candidate report (2026): https://jobrise.io/en/blog/amazon-interview-preparation-india/
  • Atlassian interview guide, third-party (2025-26): https://prepfully.com/interview-guides/atlassian-software-engineer-interview