Zepto Interviews

DSA Rounds:

https://leetcode.com/problems/container-with-most-water/

https://leetcode.com/problems/word-ladder/description/

✅ Successfully solved both questions during the interview.

Design (LLD) & HLD:
Coupon Creation Service

1. Designed DB schema and system for different coupon types: percentage off, flat off, discount, cashback, etc.

Interviewer was not fully convinced by the approach

1. Frequency-Based Coupon Selection (every 1-minute window):

Given a list of coupons with frequency, designed a system to randomly select coupons based on frequency.

Proposed an asynchronous job-based approach to pre-generate coupon IDs and do matching.

Interviewer was convinced and satisfied with this solution.

Hiring Manager Round:

Resume-based discussion

Talked about past project challenges

Solved LCA in Binary Tree

HM was approachable, calm, friendly—overall good interaction and some casual conversations as well.

HR Round:
General discussion and behavioral questions.

However, no updates from HR despite multiple follow-ups over the past week.

Eventually found out: Rejected

I had a total of three interview rounds for the SDET2 position at Zepto: two technical and one managerial.

First Round: Bar-raiser (external interviewer)

Second Round: Technical round (Internal)

• How to set up Jenkins on cloud
• What is the difference between Docker and Microservices
• What is Microservice architecture
• What design patterns have I worked on (I mentioned Singleton and Factory method, but the interviewer didn't follow up)
• Why POJO classes are used only in Java (and not other languages)
• Questions about Playwright, why to use it, and the WebSocket protocol
• A scenario-based question on handling automation failures when a new field is added to an existing API payload. I suggested adding a version configuration and using if-else conditions, but I felt the interviewer might have expected a different solution.

I appeared for interviews at Zepto for an SDE 2 position in August 2024. The entire process comprised four rounds, primarily focusing on Data Structures & Algorithms (DSA) and Low-Level Design (LLD).

Round 1: (DSA)
This round had two questions, and the interviewer emphasized time and space complexity. I was able to solve both questions optimally, directly jumping to the most efficient solutions and skipping brute-force approaches. The interviewer seemed satisfied and gave positive feedback.

Round 2: (LLD)
This round began with a comprehensive LLD question, followed by concepts of authentication and design patterns. I started by proposing a DB design, and once that was accepted, I wrote APIs for adding products to a cart and placing orders, ensuring proper error handling and edge case management. We further discussed order prioritization and other system aspects. For authentication, I suggested JWT tokens and elaborated on their working. Regarding design patterns, I proposed Factory, Builder, and Strategy patterns. The interviewer deep-dived into the Factory Pattern, asking me to implement payment processors and a factory class in Java for different payment methods. This round lasted about 1 hour and 15 minutes, and the interviewer was satisfied.

Round 3: (Hiring Manager)
This round included one LLD question, one DSA problem, a discussion about my previous projects, and some behavioral questions. For the LLD problem, I provided a detailed DB design and discussed decoupling and managing shared vs. personal calendars. The DSA question involved inserting nodes into a sorted Circular Linked List, for which I presented an optimal O(n) solution. I also shared my experiences regarding favorite features implemented in previous roles, conflict resolution, and handling work pressure under tight deadlines. The interviewer seemed satisfied throughout.

Round 4: (HR)
This round was about 20 minutes long. The HR person mostly discussed Zepto's working culture and addressed any questions I had.

Results: I was selected! I received the offer call the very next day.

During my interview for the Senior SDE position at Zepto, I encountered an unprofessional panel across both the DSA and System Design rounds.

In the first round, the interviewer, though initially kind, was in a meeting room where his colleagues interrupted him twice for a cake-cutting celebration. Despite my interview being ongoing, he eventually joined them, going on mute and turning off his camera for some time, which was quite disruptive.

The system design round was even more concerning. The interviewer asked me to open Notepad and start writing while he went to eat. He returned after 20 minutes and only then began asking questions. System design is meant to be an interactive session, but I was left without any direction for a significant period. When he finally came back, he started challenging my notes while he was still eating, and kept his camera off the entire time. This created a very uncomfortable and non-collaborative interview environment.

I got interviewed at Zepto for an SDE-1 position in Bengaluru in September 2024. I proactively mailed my resume to their HR department and subsequently received a call for an interview. The interview process consisted of four rounds: Data Structures & Algorithms (DSA), Low-Level Design (LLD)/High-Level Design (HLD), and a Hiring Manager (HM) round.

Before the interviews, I want to mention a bit about myself: I hold a B.Tech from a Tier 1 institution (Top 10 NIT) and currently work as an SDE1 at a startup, bringing 14 months of experience to the table.

Round 1: DSA Questions

In the first round, I was presented with two DSA problems. The first was the classic "First and Last Occurrence of an Element in Sorted Array" problem. The second question involved finding a binary string of length N that does not occur in a given array of distinct binary strings of the same length.

Round 2: Low-Level Design (LLD)

The second round focused on Low-Level Design, where I was tasked with designing an e-commerce application. This was a comprehensive discussion covering various aspects, including:

• Database schema design, elaborating on how the database would be structured.
• Identification of important services required for the application.
• Definition of API endpoints.
• Stock management, detailing how to handle stock quantity, product expiry, and updates.
• Designing the system for discount coupons, specifically addressing the addition of new coupons and scenarios where multiple coupons could be clubbed.
• Discussion on appropriate design patterns and Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) principles.

I also had to answer follow-up questions about my proposed database schema and how different parts of the system would interact.

Round 3: Hiring Manager (HM) Round

The final round, with the Hiring Manager, began with an introduction and a discussion about my current projects. The questions covered a broad range of technical and behavioral topics:

• Indexing: I had to explain indexing and differentiate its implementation and behavior between MongoDB and MySQL. This also included discussing the potential drawbacks and limitations of indexing.
• ACID Properties and CAP Theorem: My understanding of these fundamental database concepts and their implications was tested.
• Scalability: I was asked to describe how I approached making my current projects scalable.
• Metrics: The HM asked for explanations of the numbers I had mentioned in my resume, such as reducing costs by 15%, and how I had calculated these figures.
• Learning Approach: I discussed my methodology for learning new technologies and concepts.
• Motivation: Finally, I was asked about my motivation for joining Zepto, why they should hire me, my current location, and recent learnings.

The interview concluded at 3:56 PM, and I was pleasantly surprised to receive an email confirming my selection at 3:59 PM, just three minutes later. However, after two days, when I called HR for an update, she informed me that I had been rejected, as the Hiring Manager had updated my status to rejected again a couple of hours after the initial selection. I'm still unsure about the exact reason for this change in decision.

I recently interviewed at Zepto for a Software Engineer - II position, specializing in Backend development. I currently work in a product-based company and have 3 years of experience.

Round 1 (DSA or Problem Solving Round)

• Word Search
• Validate Binary Search Tree

Round 2 (LLD/DB-Design)

Round 3 (Hiring Manager Round)

• Discussions on my past projects.
• Questions about the biggest technical challenge I've faced while working.
• Further questions based upon my projects.
• General behavioral questions.
• Discussions on how I resolve bugs and handle on-call responsibilities.
• A discussion on the Circuit Breaker pattern.