The process, round by round
Reported by candidates and, where we found one, the company itself. Each round shows how well it is reported. Processes change by team, level and year.
- 1
Timed online test with coding problems of rising difficulty: three in one campus report, two to three in a guide. The other campus report says coding plus MCQ. It is used to shortlist before interviews.
- easy parsing or data-stream problem
- binary search
- shortest-path graph problem
Varies: Reports are campus hires; one guide says the platform is usually HackerRank or an internal one and adds debugging tasks.
What can be asked in a online assessment round
A timed test on a coding platform, taken alone. Usually two or three coding problems, sometimes with multiple-choice questions on CS basics, aptitude or SQL.
Array and string problems that need a hash map, two pointers or a sliding window
Read the constraints first, because they point to the technique. If n is 100,000, an O(n^2) scan will time out, so look for a hash map, two pointers on a sorted array, or a window that moves forward only. Sketch the brute force, find the repeated work, then remove it. For two-sum style pairs you might say: I store each value's index as I scan, so the complement lookup is O(1) and the whole pass is O(n).
DSA course →Greedy and sorting problems with a catch in the constraints
Greedy problems hide behind a sort. Ask what ordering makes the locally best choice safe, then try to argue why swapping two adjacent choices never helps. Interval scheduling is the classic case: sort by end time and take every interval that starts after the last chosen one. Check the catch in the constraints, such as overflow, ties or equal values, and test a tiny case by hand before submitting.
DSA course →A medium dynamic programming or graph-on-a-grid problem
Decide whether the problem is a graph walk or a recurrence. On a grid, a shortest path with equal step cost is breadth-first search from the start, with a visited set so each cell is processed once, giving O(rows x cols). For dynamic programming, define the state in one sentence, write the transition, set the base cases, then see if only the previous row is needed to save space.
DSA course →SQL queries with joins and group by
Start from the table that holds the thing being counted, join the others on their keys, filter rows with WHERE, group, then filter groups with HAVING. Remember that WHERE runs before grouping and HAVING after. Use LEFT JOIN when rows with no match must still appear, and COUNT of a column rather than star when nulls matter. Example: customers with more than three orders is GROUP BY customer_id HAVING COUNT(*) > 3.
Databases →Multiple-choice questions on OOP, operating systems, databases and networks
These reward quick, accurate recall rather than long reasoning, so revise the short list of definitions that recur. Know the difference between a process and a thread, the four ACID properties, what an index trades for faster reads, TCP against UDP, and the four pillars of OOP. Eliminate two wrong options first, then choose. Do not spend more than a minute on any single question, and flag it to return to if time remains.
Mock interviews →
Prepare with: Book · Online assessmentDSA course
3 sources for this round
- 2
The SDE-1 report opens with an internship discussion, then two coding problems and a puzzle. The FTE report has a bit-manipulation ice-breaker, a small password-hashing task coded on paper, a project discussion and a topic of the candidate's choice. A prep guide says live DSA then a resume deep dive, 60 to 80 minutes.
- data structures and algorithms
- bit manipulation warm-up
- puzzle solving
- internship or project explanation
Varies: Both reports are campus hires, and the problems asked differ a lot between them.
Practise for this round
- ReportedGraph problem solved with topological sorting Appeared in the first technical round of an in-person loop; exact problem not given.Candidate write-up ↗
- ReportedReverse a linked list Listed as a typical coding-round problem in a general guide.Prep guide ↗
- ReportedDetect a loop in a linked list Also from a general guide; the page shows a garbled update date in its header.Prep guide ↗
- ReportedCount nodes in a complete binary tree In a 'recently reported' section of one guide, undated.Prep guide ↗
Reported prompts have no written answer yet. Read the linked page for context.
What can be asked in a data structures and algorithms round
A live coding round of 45 to 60 minutes with one or two problems. You are judged on how you clarify, reason, code, test and state the complexity, not on the answer alone.
Arrays, strings and hashing: pairs, windows, frequency counts, prefix sums
Name the pattern from the shape of the question. Pairs with a target use a hash map of seen values. A contiguous range with a condition uses a sliding window that grows on the right and shrinks on the left, so each element enters and leaves once, giving O(n). Range sums over many queries use a prefix sum array so each query is O(1) after O(n) setup. Count characters with a fixed-size array or map.
DSA course →Linked lists, stacks and queues, including design-a-structure problems such as an LRU cache
For an LRU cache, combine a hash map from key to node with a doubly linked list ordered by recency. Get moves the node to the front, put inserts at the front, and when over capacity you remove the tail node and its map entry. Both operations are O(1), and you say why: the map finds the node, the list reorders it without a scan. For stacks, mention a monotonic stack for next greater element.
DSA course →Trees and BSTs, graphs (BFS, DFS, topological sort, shortest paths) and grids
Decide the traversal from what is asked. Level by level or shortest path in an unweighted graph is BFS with a queue. Exploring all paths, components or cycles is DFS. A dependency order is topological sort: Kahn's algorithm repeatedly removes nodes with in-degree zero, and leftover nodes mean a cycle. Weighted shortest path with non-negative edges is Dijkstra with a heap, O((V + E) log V). On a BST, an in-order walk is sorted.
DSA course →Heaps and top-K, intervals, binary search on the answer
For the K largest items keep a min-heap of size K: push each element and pop the smallest when the heap exceeds K, so the cost is O(n log K) and memory is O(K). For intervals, sort by start, then merge by comparing the next start with the current end. For binary search on the answer, define a yes or no check that is monotonic, such as can ship within D days, and search the capacity range.
DSA course →Dynamic programming from one dimension up to knapsack and string DP
Define the state in a sentence, write the recurrence, fix the base cases, and decide the order of filling. Start with the recursive version with memoisation, then convert to a table. For 0/1 knapsack, dp[w] is the best value at capacity w, and in the one dimensional form you loop capacity downward so each item is used once. For string problems such as edit distance, the state is a pair of prefix lengths.
DSA course →Follow-ups: optimise space, handle streaming input, make it thread-safe
Treat follow-ups as a chance to show depth, and answer in the same calm order each time. To save space, ask which previous rows or values the recurrence actually reads and keep only those. For streaming input, say what summary you can keep, such as a heap of size K or a running count. For thread safety, name the shared state, guard it with a lock, and keep the critical section short.
Prepare with: Book · DSA roundDSA course
3 sources for this round
- 3
The longest round in both campus reports. The FTE report covers an internship's architecture and metrics, designing an alternative architecture, and a puzzle. The SDE-1 report covers three projects, system design within them, and operating-systems questions.
- project ownership
- architecture reasoning
- operating systems
Varies: Described for campus hires; length differs between candidates.
What can be asked in a role-specific deep dive round
Depth in the skills the job needs: a language or framework, APIs, debugging, cloud basics, or the company's own domain such as payments or trading.
Language and framework internals for the role (JavaScript, React, Node, Java and so on)
Prepare the internals of the stack named in the job, not just usage. For JavaScript, be able to explain closures, the event loop with its microtask queue, and how this is bound. For React, explain rendering, keys, and why state updates are batched. Give a short example with each claim, and say when you do not know a detail rather than guessing. The depth is checked by follow-up questions.
JavaScript and TypeScript chapter →API design, error handling, idempotency and retries
Good API design is predictable. Use clear resource names, correct status codes and a consistent error body with a stable code. A retry is only safe if the operation is idempotent: GET and PUT already are, and for POST accept an idempotency key and return the stored result on repeat. For retries use exponential backoff with jitter and a cap, and only retry errors that can succeed later, such as timeouts or 503.
Node and NestJS chapter →Debugging a failing service from logs and metrics
Work from the user-visible symptom inward. Check whether errors or latency rose, when it started and what changed at that time, such as a deploy. Use metrics to find the failing component, logs with a request id to follow one failing request, and traces to find the slow hop. Form one hypothesis, test it, and roll back if a recent release is the likely cause. Say you would write down what you learned afterwards.
Cloud, containers and deployment basics
Know the basic picture and be honest about your depth. A container packages an app with its dependencies and shares the host kernel, unlike a virtual machine. An image is built from layers and run as a container. For deployment, mention a build in CI, an immutable image, configuration through environment variables, health checks and a rollback path. Name one cloud service you have used and what it does.
AWS, Docker and CI/CD chapter →Domain scenarios: duplicate callbacks, reconciliation, market data
Think about duplicates, ordering and mismatch. A payment provider may send the same callback twice, so store the event id and process each once, making the handler idempotent. Reconciliation compares your records with the provider's settlement report and flags differences for review. For market data, expect out-of-order or missed ticks, so sequence numbers and a way to request a replay matter. Name what you would alert on.
Prepare with: Book · JavaScript & TSBook · React & Next.jsBook · Node & NestJSBook · AWS, Docker, CI/CD
2 sources for this round
- 4
Prep guides place high-level and low-level design inside a second technical round, alongside OS, databases and networking, sometimes with a concurrency coding task or object design. Both guides are secondary and do not name the reports they draw on.
- system design
- low-level object design
- databases and networking
- concurrency
Varies: The guides do not say which levels get this round; the campus reports fold design questions into the project round instead.
Practise for this round
- ReportedDesign a rate limiter Listed among design questions candidates reportedly get, per a guide.Prep guide ↗
- ReportedDesign a URL shortener Named alongside other classic designs in a guide; no first-hand account read.Prep guide ↗
Reported prompts have no written answer yet. Read the linked page for context.
What can be asked in a system design round
A 45 to 60 minute discussion of how to build a system at scale: requirements, numbers, APIs, data model, components, bottlenecks and trade-offs.
Short links, chat, news feed, notifications, search, rate limiting
Use one repeatable path: clarify scope and scale, estimate load, define the API, sketch the data model, draw the main components, then probe bottlenecks. For short links, store a mapping from a generated short id to the long url, generate ids with a counter encoded in base 62, cache hot links, and note reads far outnumber writes. For chat, mention persistent connections and a store ordered per conversation.
System design course →Payments, wallets and ledgers where money must never be lost or doubled
Money systems put correctness before speed. Use a double-entry ledger where entries are append-only and every transfer writes a debit and an equal credit in one transaction. Protect against doubled charges with an idempotency key stored with the result, so a retry returns the original outcome. For lost updates use a database transaction, and reconcile with the payment provider's records on a schedule.
System design course →Ride matching, maps and anything with live location
Split the problem into location ingestion, a geospatial index and matching. Drivers send updates every few seconds to a write-optimised store, often in memory, keyed by a grid cell such as a geohash or S2 cell. To find nearby drivers, query the rider's cell and its neighbours, then rank by distance and estimated time. Say how you handle a stale location and a driver who accepts two rides.
System design course →File storage and sync, video streaming and content delivery
For file sync, split files into chunks, hash each chunk and upload only chunks the server lacks, so a small edit transfers a small amount. Keep metadata in a database and chunks in object storage. For video, upload the original, transcode into several resolutions, store segments and serve them through a content delivery network with adaptive bitrate streaming, so the player switches quality as bandwidth changes.
System design course →Fundamentals: caching, sharding, replication, queues, consistency, failure handling
Treat each as a tool with a cost. A cache cuts read latency but adds staleness and invalidation. Sharding spreads write load but makes cross-shard queries hard. Replication gives availability and read scale but introduces lag. Queues smooth spikes and decouple services but require idempotent consumers. For failures, name timeouts, retries with backoff and a fallback. State what you give up whenever you choose.
System design course →Back-of-envelope estimates and what they decide
Estimates are there to choose a design, so finish each one with a decision. Use round numbers: a day has about 100,000 seconds, so 10 million requests a day is roughly 100 per second on average, with a peak of a few times that. Multiply object size by count for storage, and compare against one machine's capacity. If one database handles the load, say so and avoid sharding.
Capacity estimation →
Prepare with: Book · System designSystem design course
2 sources for this round
- 5
Guides describe a manager conversation that revisits past projects and design decisions and probes ownership and customer focus; one says it is frequently onsite at the Gurgaon office. No first-hand account of this round was readable.
- past project decisions
- ownership
- customer focus
Varies: One guide attributes it to experienced candidates; the other names no level.
What can be asked in a hiring manager round
A conversation about your past work and how you would fit the team: depth on projects, ownership, decisions and trade-offs, sometimes a design problem.
Pick a project and go deep: why this design, what broke, what you would change
Choose a project you can discuss at every layer. Explain the problem and who it served, the options you considered, why you chose one, what broke and what you would change now. Be clear which parts you did and which the team did. Admitting a flaw earns trust. Opening line: the main constraint was latency, so I chose a cache in front of the database, and I would now add an invalidation strategy.
Resume grilling chapter →A time you disagreed with a teammate or pushed back on a decision
Use situation, task, action, result, and keep the disagreement about the work, never the person. The listener is checking that you can hold a view with evidence, listen, and commit once the decision is made. Describe what you proposed, the data or reasoning you used, how you reached agreement or accepted the other path, and what happened. Do not invent a story: use a real one, even a small one.
Behavioural chapter →How you prioritise when everything is urgent
Show a method rather than a claim of being busy. Describe how you judge impact and deadline, ask who needs the result and when, and say no or renegotiate scope early when two things clash. Mention communicating the trade-off to stakeholders so nobody is surprised. A sentence you could adapt: I list what is blocking others first, then what has a fixed date, then what moves a metric.
Behavioural chapter →What you want from the next role and the team
Answer honestly and tie it to what the role offers. Say what you want to learn or own next, such as larger systems, more ownership of design, or mentoring, and what kind of team helps you do it. Then ask what the team is trying to achieve this year and how the work is reviewed. The listener checks that your wishes match the job and that you have thought about it.
Prepare with: Book · Resume grillingBook · Behavioural
2 sources for this round
- 6
Short chat of about 15 minutes in both campus reports. In the FTE report no questions were asked and the interviewers described the working culture; the SDE-1 report only calls it a quick HR chat.
What can be asked in a hr and offer round
The closing conversation: motivation, expectations, notice period, compensation and how the offer is structured. Prepared answers and a clear number help here.
Current and expected compensation, and how to answer without boxing yourself in
Be honest and avoid giving a single number too early. Share your current pay only if you are comfortable, and make clear what is fixed and what is variable. For expectations, say you are flexible for the right role, and offer a researched range based on level and market. If pushed, state a figure you can justify. Never state a number you cannot support, because offers are often checked.
HR and the number chapter →Notice period, joining date and relocation
Give the facts exactly as they are in your contract. State the notice period, whether early release or a buy-out is truly possible, and the earliest honest joining date. Do not promise a date your employer has not agreed to. For relocation, say whether you can move, how soon, and whether you would need support. Clear, early information helps the recruiter plan and shows you are reliable.
HR and the number chapter →Why you are leaving and what you are looking for
Keep it positive and forward looking. Talk about what you want more of, such as larger scale, ownership or a stronger team, rather than criticising your current employer. The listener checks that you will not leave this job for the same reason. Opening line: I have learned a lot in the current role, and I now want to work on problems at a bigger scale.
Levels, equity and how the offer is built
Ask for the structure rather than only the total. Find out the level and title, base salary, bonus and whether it is guaranteed, equity amount, vesting schedule and cliff, joining bonus and any clawback. Compare offers on a yearly total with the same assumptions. If equity is in a private company, ask how it is valued and what happens on leaving. Asking calmly is normal and expected.
Levels and equity chapter →
Prepare with: Book · HR & the numberBook · Levels & equity
2 sources for this round
Preparing for the people rounds at Zomato
The hiring manager, behavioural and offer conversations. Candidate reports shape the themes; the answers and frames are written for this site, so use them as a structure and bring your own stories.
What Zomato says it values
- Defending decisionsA write-up says the hiring manager round expects you to defend architecture decisions when they are challenged.
- Ownership mindsetA guide describes high ownership in a fast-moving environment, including moving work from idea to production without waiting for permission.
- Customer focusThe same guide lists customer focus, lean engineering and scrappiness as things to show through decisions you made.
- Specific motivationA write-up places why Zomato in the HR round, with scale, hyperlocal tech, consumer impact and culture as angles.
- Practical logisticsA write-up lists current and expected pay, notice period and relocation in a 30 minute HR round.
Themes candidates report being probed
- Defending architecture under pushback
- Ownership and a founder's mindset
- Customer focus
- Why Zomato
- Current and expected pay, notice period and relocation
- Introductions and projects in a campus round
Questions to rehearse
Defend an architecture decision you made when the interviewer pushes back on it.Prep guides
What is being checked. A frontend SDE-2 write-up says the 60 minute hiring manager round expects you to defend your architecture decisions when challenged. The listener is checking whether you hold a reasoned position, concede real flaws and stay calm.
How to frame it. Know the constraint behind each decision and the alternative you rejected. Concede a valid point out loud and say what it would change. Example opening: 'That is a fair challenge, and the reason I chose it was the team size at the time, though at larger scale I would revisit it.'
Worked example in the Interview book →Prep guide ↗
Why Zomato specifically?Prep guides
What is being checked. The same write-up places this question in the HR round and suggests answering with scale, hyperlocal tech, consumer impact and culture. The listener is checking that your interest is specific to the company and the product, not generic enthusiasm for food delivery.
How to frame it. Give one product observation you have actually made and one reason it fits your skills or the pace you want. Example opening: 'I notice how often the app has to be right within a few minutes, and that time pressure is the kind of engineering problem I enjoy.'
Worked example in the Interview book →Prep guide ↗
Tell me about a time you took on something outside your role because it needed doing.Prep guides
What is being checked. A guide describes high ownership in a fast-moving environment as something the culture round checks. The listener checks that you step in without ignoring your main work and that you finish what you start.
How to frame it. Describe what was falling through the gaps, why you took it, how you protected your main work and what happened after. Example opening: 'No team owned the alerting for that flow, so I wrote the first alerts and handed the runbook to the on-call group.'
Worked example in the Interview book →Prep guide ↗
Introduce yourself and tell me about the projects you have done.One report
What is being checked. A Covid-era online campus report says its combined HR and technical round began with introductions and later asked about projects. The listener uses the introduction to choose where to probe, so your summary decides the rest of the conversation.
How to frame it. Spend about a minute on who you are and your strongest project, mentioning the one or two things you are ready to go deep on. Example opening: 'I am a backend engineer with three years in order systems, and the project I know best is a rewrite of our retry logic.'
Candidate write-up ↗
Tell me about a decision where you put the end customer ahead of the easier engineering choice.Prep guides
What is being checked. A guide names customer focus and a founder's mindset as themes. The listener checks that you notice effects on real users and are willing to do extra work for them.
How to frame it. Describe the customer problem you noticed, the cheaper option you passed over and a result you can point to. Example opening: 'Support tickets showed customers were confused by a failed state, so I changed the message and the retry flow rather than closing the ticket.'
Prep guide ↗
What is your current pay, what do you expect, what is your notice period and would you relocate?Prep guides
What is being checked. A frontend SDE-2 write-up lists a 30 minute HR round on these four topics, though its pay and notice-period claims are the author's own and unsourced. The listener is checking fit and timing, so prepare factual answers.
How to frame it. Know your notice period, whether a buy-out is possible and your relocation limits before the call. Give a range for total pay only when pressed and ask about the band first. Example opening: 'My notice period is two months, and I can discuss an earlier release if the offer is confirmed.'
Worked example in the Interview book →Prep guide ↗
The offer conversation
- A frontend SDE-2 write-up lists a 30 minute HR round on current pay, expected pay, notice period and relocation, and another guide describes a 20 to 30 minute HR and offer round on pay, timelines and next steps.
- The first write-up gives pay bands and notice-period expectations of its own that it does not source, so do not anchor on them.
- As general advice, ask for the full breakdown and level in writing, and treat any notice-period promise as something to confirm with your current employer first.
What we could not verify. No official values or hiring process page was read, so the entries above are themes from two guides. The frontend write-up reads partly like a guide and gives no interview date, and the only first-hand report is an undated Covid-era campus round, so no experienced-hire first-hand account was read.
What we could not verify. LeetCode, Naukri Code360, Glassdoor, Medium and Dataford returned 403/429, so 2025-26 SDE-2 and SDE-1 off-campus reports were seen only as search snippets and are excluded. The readable first-hand pages are two 2023 campus posts and one in-person loop (interview date not stated, page updated July 2023) that does not match the campus pattern; rounds for later levels rest on prep guides only. Prep-guide years are page-footer copyright dates, and one guide's title and heading disagree on the year. No dedicated machine-coding round found.