Flipkart SDE -1 | Offer Accept | Oct 2023 | Bengaluru | Off-Campus
Summary
I successfully interviewed for an SDE-1 position at Flipkart through an off-campus drive in October 2023 in Bengaluru and received an offer. The interview process consisted of three rounds focusing on problem-solving, data structures, and managerial assessment.
Full Experience
My off-campus interview experience for an SDE-1 role at Flipkart in Bangalore started with a pre-screening round focused on problem-solving and data structures. I am a new graduate with a B.Tech in IT from a Tier 1 college. The process comprised three rounds.
Pre-screening Round 1 (1 hour) - Problem Solving/Data Structures
This round had two interviewers. After initial introductions, I was given two LeetCode problems:
- Jump Game II: I was expected to solve this problem with an O(n) time complexity.
- Put Marbles in a Bag: This was another LeetCode problem I had to solve.
Pre-screening Round 2 (45 minutes) - Problem Solving/Data Structures
In the second technical round, after introductions, I faced two more problems:
- A custom problem where I had to determine connectivity between N computers given connections and answer q queries.
- Binary Tree Maximum Path Sum: This was a standard LeetCode problem.
Hiring Manager Interview (30 minutes)
The final round was with the Hiring Manager. This round was more about conceptual knowledge and behavioral aspects:
- Questions on Computer Networking topics, specifically the OSI Model and Network Layer.
- Detailed inquiries about my Internship Experience, focusing on API calls (GET and POST methods) as mentioned in my resume.
- Motivations for joining Flipkart: "Why Flipkart?"
- Discussion about my strengths and weaknesses.
- An explanation of my career transition from my father's business venture to pursuing an SDE role, addressing a two-month period of uncertainty.
I successfully navigated all rounds and received an offer.
Interview Questions (9)
Given an array of non-negative integers nums, you are initially positioned at the first index. Each element in the array represents your maximum jump length at that position. Your goal is to reach the last index in the minimum number of jumps. You can assume that you can always reach the last index. I was expected to solve this problem with an O(n) time complexity.
You have k bags and n marbles labeled from 0 to n-1. You are given an integer array weights of length n, where weights[i] is the weight of the i-th marble. You are also given an integer k. Divide the n marbles into k bags. The i-th bag contains weights[j] for j from start_i to end_i (inclusive), where start_i <= end_i. The score of a bag is weights[start_i] + weights[end_i]. The total score is the sum of scores of all k bags. You need to return the minimum possible difference between the maximum and minimum total score among all possible divisions. This was a LeetCode problem I had to solve.
I was given a problem involving N computers numbered from 1 to N. Some computers are connected in the form of an array connections, where connections[i] = [u, v] represents an undirected edge from node u to node v. I needed to solve q queries. Queries were given in the form of an array queries, where each query is [u, v]. For each query, I had to determine if I could reach v from u or vice versa, and output true or false accordingly.
A path in a binary tree is a sequence of nodes where each pair of adjacent nodes in the sequence has an edge connecting them. A node can only appear in the sequence at most once. Note that the path does not need to pass through the root. The path sum is the sum of the node's values in the path. Given the root of a binary tree, return the maximum path sum of any non-empty path. The interviewer presented this LeetCode problem.
I was asked general questions on Computer Networking topics, specifically focusing on the OSI Model and Network Layer.
The interviewer inquired about my internship experience, with a specific focus on my work with API calls, including GET and POST methods, as documented in my resume.
I was asked about my motivations for choosing Flipkart and why I wanted to join the company.
I was asked to discuss my strengths and weaknesses.
I had to explain my transition from my previous venture with my father's business to my current path, clarifying my decision to pursue an SDE role after a period of uncertainty.