So you want to be a Zoman? If you’ve done your homework, you’ve probably read a fair bit about us, our work culture, and how we function as a company. I thought I’d give you a little insight – from a personal perspective – into what it’s really like on the inside. Especially if you’d like to be one of us.

1. We’re still a startup. Sure, we’re over a thousand people strong already, and across 22 countries. But, that doesn’t matter. We’re still a startup because of the way we think and work. We have the same focus and hustle that we did when Zomato was Foodiebay and was functioning out of a living room. More often than not, it means unpredictable work hours, tight deadlines, moving targets, and ambiguity. It also means working weekends, missing out on social commitments, and counting the espresso machine among your close friends. But it’s all about identifying what matters more in the longer term and prioritizing accordingly.

2. You learn how to swim. Back in September 2013, I was moved from the marketing team, the shallow end of the pool, to the product team, the deep end of the pool. The very deep end. It meant being surrounded by, and working with, incredibly gifted engineers and designers. The closest thing to engineering I’d done was building stuff with LEGO, and the first time I heard ‘json’, all I could think of was Friday the 13th. But the choices are simple – you learn to swim, or sink. I’m still a long way from making it to the Olympics, but boy – am I loving swimming!

3. It isn’t always rainbows and unicorns. It might sound fairly obvious, but it’s important to remember that you will routinely be pushed out of your comfort zone. That can be scary, especially when you know there’s a lot depending on you. There might even be the one-off days where it feels like you can’t deal with it. But as Calvin Coolidge said – nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. It might be easier said than done, but you need to stay focused and push on. You’ll come out better prepared for tougher situations, and begin to enjoy life at the edge of your comfort zone. You’ll be surprised by how often you surprise yourself.

4. We get restless when things slow down. If you know anyone who’s already a Zoman, you probably also know how passionate we are about what we do. Even annoyingly so, sometimes (just ask my friends). There’s a good reason for that. We set massive goals for ourselves, then we set out to achieve them, which means we’re running hard most of the time. In fact, we start worrying when there aren’t a million things to do. Read back to the first point – it’s hard work, and it’s the first thing anyone will tell you about life at Zomato. But as Confucius summed it up, choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.

5. You add a new branch to your family tree. “There are no strangers here, only friends you haven’t met” couldn’t possibly be truer than it is for us. You will build long-lasting friendships with some truly amazing people. In fact, we often joke that we live like doctors, in that our social group is more or less the same at work as it is outside. The best part? We love it like that. Not to mention the brilliant people we have spread across the globe. Personally, I think I’ve made enough friends to ensure that I’ll have someone to show me around in at least 21 countries 🙂

6. You get to be yourself. One of the many things we celebrate as an organisation is diversity. Not just the number of countries Zomans represent worldwide, but also what each of us brings to the table. We believe everyone has a unique set of skills, and that people who have the right stuff to be Zoman don’t carry very much baggage. In fact, even your college degree doesn’t strictly define what you do here. You’ll find engineers in our sales team, finance majors in our operations team, and even (ahem) sociologists in marketing. In short, who you are matters waaay more than where you’re from. You just need to have a fire raging in your belly and really want to get shit done.

If you hadn’t figured it out already, this is a not-so-subtle way to tell you that we’re hiring, because we need some seriously amazing folks to join us across countries and functions for the next leg of our journey. This isn’t everybody’s cup of tea, and if this isn’t what you want, you shouldn’t be at Zomato. But if what you’ve read excites you, check out our careers page.