I recently interviewed at Twilio—an opportunity that thrilled me. The interview process included four consecutive 45-minute interviews, which all shortlisted candidates had to complete.
Education: M. Tech. from Tier 1 college (On campus opportinuty)
Years of Experience: Fresher
- Coding round I (55 mins)
- Coding round II (50 mins)
- System design round (1 hour)
- Managerial Round (55 mins)
For both coding rounds, the interviewer shared a HackerRank link containing medium-difficulty LeetCode problems. These weren't standard questions you'd typically find in coding sheets.
The expectations for each coding round are clear—passing all test cases generally indicates a successful interview. My experience was quite positive, as the interviewers were friendly and willing to provide hints when needed. For instance, in the second round, when I couldn't pass all the test cases on my first attempt, the interviewer discussed my approach and offered helpful guidance.
How to Prepare: Solving medium to hard LeetCode questions across all DSA topics will help you clear such interviews. Be vocal during the process and be ready to explain the reasoning behind each line of code you write.
The system design round varies across companies and interviewers. Some interviews focus on low-level design of specific software components, such as a ticket booking module in BookMyShow. In my interview, they provided a single table schema and asked me to design a database from it. While I could create multiple tables from the initial schema, I needed to clearly explain my thought process and reasoning behind each design decision. (Just design not SQL code)
They evaluated my understanding of database concepts, including normalization (1NF, 2NF, 3NF), table dependencies, and primary keys. The focus was on demonstrating how data can be stored efficiently to ensure better manageability.
How to prepare: Study core computer science fundamentals like databases, concurrency, caching, and memory management. Then focus on learning low-level design patterns.
The managerial round tests your experience and behavioral consistency across different situations. In my interview, they asked questions about my previous internship experiences and how I handled various scenarios. Some example questions included: "How would you help a teammate who struggles to express their work clearly?" and "Have you ever had a conflict with your team lead during your previous internship, and how did you resolve it?"
How to prepare: Think carefully before speaking to avoid contradicting yourself later. It's perfectly fine to take a few minutes to gather your thoughts before answering questions during the interview. Being thoughtful and consistent is more important than giving quick responses.
