Walmart | SDE-III | Bangalore | August 2024 [Offer]
Summary
I recently interviewed for the SDE-III role at Walmart in Bangalore during August 2024 and successfully received an offer. The interview process involved three distinct rounds focusing on Data Structures & Algorithms, Low-Level Design and Java fundamentals, and a final Hiring Manager discussion.
Full Experience
I started my interview journey at Walmart with a Data Structures & Algorithms round that lasted an hour. I was presented with two problems. The first involved reversing a linked list in k-groups. The second problem was a variation of implementing a Trie, specifically designed to handle wildcard searches, where a '.' could match any single character. This required designing a data structure for operations like adding words and searching with patterns like '.ad' or 'b..'.
The second round was a technical discussion, also lasting an hour. This round included a Low-Level Design (LLD) question. I was asked to design a system to manage inventory updates between warehouses and stores, considering different mapping relationships (1:1 store to warehouse, 1:N warehouse to store). I approached this problem using the Observer pattern, which the interviewer seemed to be looking for, and we delved into its implementation details. Additionally, there were questions on core Java concepts such as Threads, Lambda functions, anonymous classes, and functional interfaces.
Finally, I had a one-hour Hiring Manager round focused on behavioral questions. We discussed a critical technical problem I've solved, my experience with production bugs and how I resolved them, and my ability to handle multiple projects simultaneously (to which I responded I hadn't yet). The interviewer also inquired about my motivations for leaving my current role, especially after a recent promotion, and what new things I've learned and implemented in my work. There were several other behavioral questions as well.
It took about two weeks after the second round for the Hiring Manager round to be scheduled. Ultimately, I received an offer for the SDE-III position.
Interview Questions (8)
Design a data structure to efficiently handle word additions and search operations, including wildcard characters ('.') which can represent any single letter. Example operations:
Input["addWord","addWord","addWord","search","search","search","search"]
[["bad"],["dad"],["mad"],["pad"],["bad"],[".ad"],["b.."]]
Output [null,null,null,null,false,true,true,true]
Design a low-level system where warehouses and stores are two entities. The system needs to update stores whenever new inventory comes into a warehouse. Consider a 1:1 mapping from store to warehouse and a 1:N mapping from warehouse to store.
Describe any critical technical problem you've solved.
Have you ever encountered a production bug, and how did you resolve it?
Have you handled multiple projects at the same time?
Why do you want to leave your current organization, especially since you were recently promoted?
What new things have you learned and implemented in your work?