SDE3 | Tesco | Bangalore
Summary
I interviewed for an SDE3 role at Tesco in Bangalore, a process that unexpectedly stretched over six months. Despite some initial scheduling hurdles and a challenging system design round, I successfully navigated the interviews and ultimately received an offer for an SDE2 position.
Full Experience
The entire interview process for Tesco stretched on for close to six months, which was quite unusual for me. It wasn't about the number of rounds, but rather the constant rescheduling; HR would book interviews only for the panel to not show up, citing busy schedules. This cycle repeated for the first two rounds, making some of the details a bit fuzzy now.
Round 1: Coding + DSA
This round involved a problem focused on merging store employee schedules. It felt very similar to the 'Merge Intervals' problem on LeetCode. There was some initial confusion regarding input types, as the problem description and inputs were given in plain text. I managed to solve it, and I recall a follow-up question specifically about mutability, as I was updating the result directly on the input list. The feedback for this round was positive.
Round 2: System Design
The challenge here was to design a train booking system, much like IRCTC. The requirements were specific but limited: I needed to implement features for searching train journeys between a source and destination, booking seats (with a strong emphasis on handling concurrency), and canceling a booking. I admit I stumbled a bit in this round; I felt overwhelmed by the time constraints and didn't approach the problem as systematically as I would have liked. Nevertheless, I persisted and managed to present an abstract design.
Round 3: Behavioural
This round covered standard behavioral questions, focusing on my strengths and weaknesses, and presented hypothetical situations designed to assess my leadership and decision-making skills. I believe I performed fairly well here.
Introductory Round with Hiring Manager
This was more of a casual interaction and introduction with the hiring manager.
Ultimately, I believe my performance in the second round, the System Design round, influenced the decision to offer me an SDE2 role instead of the SDE3 position I initially applied for. You can find compensation details here.
Interview Questions (3)
Design a train booking system, similar to IRCTC, with the following core functionalities:
- Search train journeys between a given source and destination.
- Book seats on a train journey, with a strong focus on handling concurrency issues.
- Cancel an existing booking.
This round included questions about my professional strengths and weaknesses, as well as hypothetical scenarios designed to assess my leadership qualities and decision-making process.