Razorpay, a Y Combinator startup from YC-15 batch, is working in the fintech domain and aims to revolutionize money management for online businesses by providing clean, developer-friendly APIs and hassle-free integration. 

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Securing an Software Development Engineer (SDE) role at Razorpay is highly sought after for Indian tech professionals. However, gaining entry into this position can be challenging. While the conventional approach involves applying directly through the Razorpay jobs portal, a more accessible and effective route is to obtain a referral from an existing employee.

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In this article, we'll delve into Razorpay’s work culture and explore how you can leverage a referral to enhance your chances of landing a rewarding career opportunity within this tech powerhouse.

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How to get a job at Razorpay?

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Coming to the main question first, how to get into Razorpay. There are several ways of doing that. First go over to Razorpay careers page and scour through it and find the job you're looking for. You can check active jobs on their LinkedIn page as well. Apply to the job and wait for your resume to get shortlisted out of hundreds of resumes. 

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But if you’re looking for a more effective and an expeditious way to land a job at Razorpay, you should consider following the referral process. This method entails asking current employees who can advocate for you within the company for a specific job role. The referral process is advantageous for three primary reasons: firstly, existing employees already possess credibility, so anyone they vouch for is likely to be viewed favorably. Secondly, if their referral doesn't meet expectations or leaves the company shortly after joining, it could affect their reputation within the company. Some companies have employee referral programs and employees get monetary incentives if their referral joins the company. Therefore, they have a vested interest in recommending candidates who are qualified and likely to succeed.

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How to Get a Job Referral

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Let’s talk about the process of how to get a referral at Razorpay. Here’s a step by step guide for it.

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Finding a Potential Referrer

• Open LinkedIn and dive deep into research mode. Read and research about the company, its culture (you can read about it in this article below), and its employees. 
• Try to find if anyone in your friend circle/ acquaintances/ college alumni are currently working at Razorpay and reach out to them. 
• You can install our chrome extension to cut through the manual process and see which of your 1st degree LinkedIn connections are connected to Razorpay. You can even ask them to provide a referral through a 1 click easy process.
• Don’t sweat, if the above step doesn't work. You can check out job referral sites which have a curated list of people who have agreed to give referrals in their companies. We have made a list of Razorpay employees who have agreed to give referrals. You can check out a few of them below (install our extension to check the rest).

1. Ayush Gupta- Currently working as Senior Frontend Engineer at Razorpay | Previously worked in Firstcry, Cognizant, Enappd, Dream Animators, Youstart | College: Swami Keshvanand Institute Of Technology
2. Aakash Raina- Currently working as Senior Frontend Engineer at Razorpay | Previously worked in Clairvoyant | College: Pune Institute Of Computer Technology
3. Anurag S.- Currently working as Product Development Engineer 1 at Razorpay | Previously worked in Bukuwarung | College: LNMIIT
4. Anurag Samanta- Currently working as Program Manager at Razorpay | Previously worked in Ola, Byjus, Enparadigm | College: Narsee Monjee Institute Of Management Studies
5. Ayush Chaturvedi- Currently working as Senior Product Growth Specialist at Razorpay | Previously worked in Xanadu | College: ITM Group Of Institutions
6. Bikesh Singh- Currently working as Senior Product Manager at Razorpay | Previously worked in TCS, Billdesk, Ezetap | College: ISB, West Bengal University Of Technology
7. Kushal Salecha- Currently working as Associate Director, Product Management at Razorpay | Previously worked in Testbook.com | College: IIT Gandhinagar
8. Mishal Raj- Currently working as Product Engineer 2 at Razorpay | Previously worked in Techchefs Software Pvt Ltd, Teamware Solutions | College: SRM University
9. Pavan Vasan- Currently working as Product Development Engineer II at Razorpay | Previously worked in Durianpay, Fivetran, 1985 Web Solutions | College: University Of Southern California, Ramaiah Institute Of Technology
10. Pawan Verma- Currently working as Senior Frontend Engineer at Razorpay | Previously worked in Geekyants, TCS | College: Madan Mohan Malaviya University Of Technology
11. Ravi Sharma- Currently working as Software Development Engineer (SDE) at Razorpay | Previously worked in Sandvine | College: Indian Institute Of Technology Bhubaneswar
12. Shaunak Ekbote- Currently working as Product Engineer at Razorpay | Previously worked in TCS | College: National Institute Of Electronics And Information Technology, Aurangabad
13. Snehasish Saha- Currently working as Lead DevOps Engineer at Razorpay | Previously worked in Meesho, Payu, Sling Media, HCL | College: West Bengal University Of Technology
14. Suhas More- Currently working as Senior Frontend Engineer at Razorpay | Previously worked in Disney, Josh Software, Coditas, Spring Computing Technologies | College: Nowrosjee Wadia College, Pune (2017)
15. Virendrasingh Suryavanshi- Currently working as Product Manager - 2 at Razorpay | Previously worked in Refyne, Stack Identity | College: STOA, Y Combinator, IIT Mandi
16. Zubair Ahmed- Currently working as Data Solutions Engineer at Razorpay | Previously worked in Levadata, Edureka, Beyonde Elearning | College: IIIT Kurnool (2020)

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• Try to find people with whom you share a common interest with such as your ex- colleagues, college/ school mates, people from your hometown or people with mutual connections. If you don’t find anyone like that, try to find a mutual interest which you can talk about eg, interest in startups, finance or even anime.

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You can also search potential referrers directly through LinkedIn

• Search for Razorpayemployees in the search bar and then filter them using connection, location and college filter. You can also navigate to the "People" tab on Razorpay’s LinkedIn page and search through the employees.
• Remember to try to find people with maximum mutual interest and working in the same or similar role you want to apply for.

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Crafting Your Request

• Now that you've identified your potential referrers, it's time to prepare your approach. Remember, personalization is key here.
• Start by researching the referrer's background and interests. 
• Craft a LinkedIn message or email. 
• Start with a brief greeting followed with an opening line using the shared interest (same college/ school, mutual connection/interest). 
• Introducing yourself and explaining why you're reaching out. Be clear and concise about your intention, attach your resume and any relevant work sample.
• Highlight how your skills and experience align with the job requirements and the company's goals and make it clear why you're a perfect fit for the role. Emphasize on how it would benefit both the organization and yourself. 
• Don't forget to express your gratitude for their time and consideration.
• Be patient about it and wait for at least a couple of days before sending a following up.
• Be polite in case they refuse or don’t reply. Thank them for their time and make sure that you don’t burn the bridges. If they refuse, try to get their feedback and work on it.

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You can check out sample examples of personalized referral requests below in this article.

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Bonus Tip: Making it Easy for your Referrer

To make it easy for your referrer, consider providing a prefilled message that they can simply copy and send to the hiring manager. We have attached the template below.

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Sharing the template below:

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Hi [Hiring Manager],

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I hope this email finds you well.

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I'm writing to recommend [name] for the [role]. [name] and I worked at [company] together/ attended the same college and collaborated on various projects during our time there. He's demonstrated himself as a hard worker and a dedicated team player.

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Sharing his contact details below:

Email: xyz@gmail.com

Phone: +91 xxxxxxxxxx

Resume:

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Best regards,

[referrar]

Work culture at Razorpay India

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Razorpay boasts a work culture that is both dynamic and demanding. Understanding the nuances of Razorpay’s work culture can greatly aid in navigating the job process and acclimatizing to the company's environment.

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Pros

• Work-Life Balance: Razorpay has a focus on maintaining a healthy work-life balance. It also offers flexible working hours.
• Impact and Scale: At Razorpay, SDEs have the opportunity to make a real impact working on scalable products.
• Open Culture and transparency: Razorpay has a transparent and open culture where information flows freely.
• Good learning curve: SDEs work on cutting-edge tech stack at Razorpay and can stay ahead of the learning curve.
• Collaborative environment-  Employees are collaborative and friendly at Razorpay. 
• Excellent Amenities: Employees enjoy excellent amenities with delish food and frequent outings.

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Cons:

• Difficulty is promotion- Promotions are difficult to get and employees have to really go out of their way to get promoted.
• Low Salary Hikes: Employees feel that salary hikes are not up to the industry standards.
• Slow Paced environment: As Razorpay is growing into a large company, some employees feel that the pace of implementation has slowed down.

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In the end it’s about weighing pros and cons to reach a final decision when considering joining Razorpay as an SDE. 

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Different roles and hierarchy at Razorpay

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• SDE 1- For college graduates, requires 0-3 yrs of experience. The candidate should have a basic understanding of programming and good problem solving skills.
• SDE 2- Requires 3 - 4 yrs exp. They take end to end ownership of problems and provide solutions.
• SDE 3- Requires 6+ yrs exp. They understand and convert user requirements to effective solutions and brainstorm to create new directions for their products.
• SDE 4- Requires 8+ yrs exp. SDEs are responsible for ensuring that deliverables meet functional and non-functional requirements and specifications of the site/software. They are also responsible for guiding and leading their teams of junior SDEs.
• Architect- Requires 10+ yrs exp. They are experts in their domains and work with different non technical teams to provide technical expertise and solutions. Their role is a mixture of strategy and tech.

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Razorpay salaries for different roles:

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Razorpay is known to pay good salaries to its engineers. On top of the base salary, SDEs are given additional stocks as well. Average salaries for roles are given below,

• SDE 1- 22 LPA 
• SDE 2- 35 LPA
• SDE 3- 48 LPA

Samples for asking for Job Referral:

Email sample for job referral: Reaching out to a college senior

Hi Anuj,

Hope you’re doing well.

I don't know if you remember me or not but I worked as a volunteer in your team in our annual college cultural fest. We worked directly in the stage play event when the judge canceled at the last minute and led to the whole event getting delayed, quite a fiasco it was.

I'm actually reaching out to you because I needed a small favor. I recently saw that an SDE 2 position has opened up at Razorpay and I'm interested in applying for it. Would it be possible for you to refer me for the same? I have 1.5 years of experience as a Fullstack Engineer at Weekday (a YC backed startup) and I believe my skills and experience align well with the requirements of the SDE 2 role at Razorpay.

I've attached my resume for your reference. If you're able to provide a referral or offer any advice on the application process, I would be incredibly grateful.

Thank you for considering my request. I truly appreciate your time and assistance.

I know that you’ll be submitting a referral in your internal portal but in case you’re going to mail the hiring manager you can use something like this.

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Hi [Hiring Manager],

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I hope this email finds you well.

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I'm writing to recommend Amit Singh for the SWE 2 role. Amit and I attended the same college and collaborated on various projects during our time there. He's demonstrated himself as a hard worker and a dedicated team player.

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Sharing his contact details below:

Email: xyz@gmail.com

Phone: +91 xxxxxxxxxx

Resume:

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Best regards,

Anuj

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Warm Regards

Amit

Phone: +91 xxxxxxxxxx

Sample of how to ask for referral on LinkedIn: Reaching out to a person with mutual connection

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Dear Anuj,

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Hope you’re doing well.

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I got your reference from Akhil. I believe you guys went to college together. He is an ex colleague of mine, we worked briefly together at Weekday before parting ways.

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I'm actually reaching out to you because I needed a small favor. I am actively looking for a new job and saw that an SWE 3 position has opened up at Razorpay. I wanted to see if it would be possible for you to refer me for it? I have 4 years of experience in a similar role at a YC backed startup. I believe I possess the technical skills and relevant experience required for this role.

Attaching my resume for your reference. If you're able to provide a referral or offer any advice on the application process, I would be incredibly grateful.

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Thank you for considering my request. I truly appreciate your time and assistance.

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Warm Regards

Amit

Phone: +91 xxxxxxxxxx

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