Swiggy SDE-1 Offer | Bengaluru
Summary
I successfully secured an SDE-1 offer at Swiggy in Bengaluru after 1 year and 3 months of experience, navigating through coding rounds, a system design challenge for a food-order matching system, and behavioral questions.
Full Experience
How It Happened
- Finding the Role
I spotted the Swiggy SDE-1 posting on LinkedIn—it mentioned heavy backend work on microservices, exactly my strength. I polished my resume and reached out to an alumni who referred me internally. - Interview Rounds
- HR Screen: Quick chat about my background and motivation for joining Swiggy.
- Technical Phone Screen: Two LeetCode medium problems (sliding window + graph traversal). I narrated my approach and handled edge cases on the spot.
- Onsite (Virtual):
- Coding Round: One hard DP problem and one medium tree problem. I drew the recursion tree on paper first, then coded in Java.
- System Design: “Design a food-order matching system.” I outlined services, databases, caches, and explained trade-offs for consistency vs. latency.
- Behavioral: Used STAR stories to describe a time I resolved a production incident under pressure and led a 2-member bug-fixing sprint.
- Negotiation
After the offer arrived, I asked politely if Swiggy could enhance the equity component or joining bonus. They raised the joining bonus from ₹1 L to ₹1.5 L and increased my equity by ₹3 L. - Why I Chose Swiggy
- Impact at Scale: The opportunity to work on services handling thousands of orders per minute.
- Learning Curve: A small, collaborative team meant more responsibility and faster growth.
- Culture & Benefits: Daily lunch vouchers and family health cover showed they value work-life balance.
Interview Questions (2)
Design a Food-Order Matching System
Design a food-order matching system. I outlined services, databases, caches, and explained trade-offs for consistency vs. latency.
Describe a Time You Resolved a Production Incident and Led a Bug-Fixing Sprint
Describe a time you resolved a production incident under pressure and led a 2-member bug-fixing sprint. (Answer using STAR stories).
Preparation Tips
My Tips for Fellow Applicants
- Leverage Referrals: An internal recommendation can get your resume in front of the right people.
- Practice Explaining: For design rounds, sketch first—diagrams speak louder than words alone.
- Ask Thoughtful Questions: Show genuine curiosity about the team’s challenges and roadmap.
- Negotiate Confidently: It’s okay to ask for improvements on equity or bonuses—most startups have flexibility.