Zomato SDE-1 — an internal opening found through a referral

Background

I got in through an internal opening thanks to a referral from a friend. The role wasn't listed on any public job portal — it only came my way through that connection, which made me realise how much networking with seniors and peers matters for off-campus hiring.

Round-by-round

Round 1 — DSA & DBMS

Conducted on a whiteboard and fairly open-ended rather than standard, repetitive problems. Core topics were topological sorting and dynamic programming. Partway through I proactively mentioned that I intended to keep running my startup and YouTube channel alongside the role, just to be transparent up front.

Round 2 — System design

Not a typical system design format. It pivoted into a deep discussion of my previous internship experience, digging into database concepts — SQL vs NoSQL, indexing and sharding.

Round 3 — HR

More conversational, centred on my future goals and what specifically drew me to Zomato.

Final round — CTO discussion

A candid one-on-one with the CTO focused on my broader achievements.

Verdict

Selected.