Zomato | SDE Intern | Nov 2024 | Cleared

I applied off-campus for an SDE Intern (6-month role) at Zomato through a referral as a final-year CSE student. I was fortunate to receive an internship offer.

ROUND 1

The first round was with an SDE-III. It started very casually with an introduction and a discussion about my past achievements and my motivation for Zomato versus starting my own venture. I was asked about my choice of MongoDB over MySQL for an internship project, and the general tradeoffs between Mongo and SQL, including when and why to use each. This led to a follow-up on database indexing when I mentioned using indexes on an attribute. The interviewer then posed a detailed question about how a query like SELECT ALL WHERE A=10 and B=20 would perform with separate indexes on A and B, followed by a discussion on the benefits of composite indexes. I admitted my lack of prior knowledge about index types but collaboratively broke down the potential backend workings. After a lengthy discussion on databases, we moved to a system design problem: designing an Attendance System with multiple roles (teacher, dean, student), course enrollment, attendance tracking, and a feature for students to calculate classes needed to reach 75% attendance. I also had to design the database structure, APIs, logic, and a secure login system. I spent considerable time on DB design, being my first SD interview, but managed to incorporate optimizations. For the login system, I was asked the difference between Hashing and Encrypting (which I couldn't clearly answer) and a critical question about preventing session ID hijacking, especially with a follow-up on shared IP addresses, where I eventually surrendered. This round lasted almost 1 hour 25 minutes, and I received a call from HR the next day, informing me I had cleared it.

ROUND 2

The second round was with an Engineering Manager. He introduced himself, highlighting his 9-year affiliation with Zomato. He then asked for my introduction, specifically requesting me to omit details from my resume. Again, I was asked why I chose Zomato over a startup. I was also asked about my previous interview experience and expectations. I made it clear that I wasn't a 'DSA Guy' and had focused more on projects and the business side of tech during my B.Tech. I was then asked about the most challenging technical problem I'd ever faced, to which I explained a hackathon project, satisfying the interviewer after a couple of clarifications. Next, I was given a puzzle: identifying a specific box of apples with slightly lighter apples among 10 boxes, with only one weighing scale reading. I had 2 minutes but couldn't solve it, and we skipped it after 5 minutes. The final technical question involved manipulating a Doubly Linked List: given an integer N, delete all nodes whose values fall within the Fibonacci series up to N. For example, given N=25, remove 8 and 21 from head <-> 9 <-> 10 <-> 8 <-> 21 <-> 6 <-> tail. I proposed multiple solutions, and the interviewer kept pushing for more, resulting in about 4-5 solutions with varying trade-offs. When asked to code, I deliberately chose a less optimal but more readable and maintainable approach, justifying that the 'best' solution was less maintainable. The interviewer seemed neutral initially but appreciated my stance during his feedback. He mentioned he wasn't looking for the optimal answer but rather my ability to generate multiple solutions. This round lasted 1 hour 20 minutes, and I received a call from HR exactly 24 hours later to schedule the next round.

ROUND 3

The third and final round was with the VP of Tech in the Gurgaon Office. This round was more conversational, covering introductions, discussions about my previous experiences, and once again, my reasons for joining Zomato instead of starting my own company. Following these discussions, an offer for the internship was rolled out. I also had the opportunity to ask some questions.