Walmart Software Engineer III Interview Experience (Rejected)
Summary
I interviewed for a Software Engineer III position at Walmart, which unfortunately resulted in a rejection. While the first DSA round involved an interesting binary tree problem, the second LLD/HLD round was particularly challenging due to an unengaged interviewer during the Jukebox system design problem.
Full Experience
Round 1: DSA (60 mins)
They schedule this round but noboday joined I kept waiting for an hour. Reached out to recrutier via mail and phone, they didn't respond. But after half and hour she called and appolozied and re scheduled it fro next day.
1. Binary tree problem where two players are playing one starts from Root and another from any random node and root player can go down but other one can go up only at each step. Both are playing together, we have to maximize the score for player playing from root.
2. Course scheduling problem
Round 2: LLD + HLD (60 mins)
Started from going though resume. Then asked which java verion your company is using. Then asked what are new features in Java 17.
- Then gave problem Jukebox. I tried to clarify functionality, but interviewer was not at all engaging. I beleive his expectation was that someone will come with mugged up things and simply implement it and he will just ask few questions here and there. He was not at all ready to work along or atleast acknowledge on my analysis and thinking process with yes or no. He was just staring at your screen while you are trying to explain him that this is the requirement etc.
- He was switching context between HLD + DSA + LLD(OOPs) and all frequently for this problem. He never let me settle down into any direction, like should I go in high level desing or go into low level design. In last 15 mins he started asking random questions like how will you make it highly available, I started explaining, in the meantime he was scrolling his phone.
- Lession learnt from this round: You have to drive the interview and be ready for such situtaion where interviewer is not at all engaged with you, like you ask something still he is staring at your screeen, not even acknowleging by saying ok or something so that you can proceed.
- I knew I messed up this round still I followed up with recruiter next day and received rejection main finally 😃
- I felt so bad for 2 days as I prepared so hard for round 2 and round 1 went so so good. Studied all major concepts in depth so that if interviewer asks anything I can go into depth too, not just vague 1 sentence answers. I was so depressed, no mood to study anymore etc. As I'm continuosly grinding leetcode working on side projects along with HLD and LLD with my full time job since past 4 months and still no success.
- But somehow today I am feeling little bit ok so came here and posting it today.
Interview Questions (2)
Binary tree problem where two players are playing one starts from Root and another from any random node and root player can go down but other one can go up only at each step. Both are playing together, we have to maximize the score for player playing from root.
Design a Jukebox. The interviewer was not at all engaging and switched context between HLD, DSA, and LLD (OOPs) frequently. Questions were also asked about making it highly available.
Preparation Tips
I prepared hard for both rounds, studying all major concepts in depth. I've been continuously grinding LeetCode, working on side projects, and focusing on HLD and LLD alongside my full-time job for the past 4 months.