SDE3 Interview at Tesco
- Posted
- 26 Oct 2026
Summary
I interviewed for an SDE3 role at Tesco, where I was asked to design an IRCTC‑like system covering search & booking, notifications, live train tracking, and payment. I ran out of time before I could finish the live tracking portion.
How it went
I was flabbergasted to see Tesco asking like 4 design problems in one problem. Is really the expectations from a SDE3 this high in Tesco?
Problem statement was
IRCTC design:
- Typical search and booking flows
- Notifications to users 24hrs before the journey
- Live train tracking system which does calculation of distance of the next station and also expected arrival times
- Payment system for tickets bookings
I have seen in most interviews when such questions are asked they mostly want to cover search and booking systems. Notifications, live train tracking and payment are like 3 separate designs altogether.
Tried covering it in 1 hour but before I could reach live train tracking time was up.
Is the bar really this high in Tesco?
Questions asked (1)
- 01
IRCTC System Design
System Design
Design an online railway ticketing system (similar to IRCTC) that includes:
- Typical search and booking flows
- Notifications to users 24 hours before the journey
- Live train tracking system which calculates distance to the next station and provides expected arrival times
- Payment system for ticket bookings