I recently interviewed at Flipkart for the SDE-2 round in May 2024 and got the offer. I want to share my experience hoping it will help others.
How Did I Get the Opportunity?
I have applied to Flipkart randomly in Jan 2024. I didn’t get any response from it. But later in March, I got an email from one of the recruiters that there was a drive happening. I immediately agreed to it. Unfortunately, I was ghosted but after 1 month, I got the same mail. This time too I agreed knowing it may not be the real chance like the last one. Only this time the round got scheduled.
Round 1: Machine Coding: 2.5 hours
As well known in Flipkart, the first round was a machine coding round. It was fairly new to me. So I practiced a few questions before the round in the same time constraint.
The actual round was 2.5 hours which was divided into 30 minutes,90 minutes, and 30 minutes. There were around 20–25 people in a Google Meet call along with 3 Flipkart people, we were all given the same question in a Google doc and the first 30 minutes were there to clarify any questions or doubts about the question.
During these 30 minutes, we were given individual Google Meet links and a Google form via a separate email, where we had to submit the solution. For the people who want to start the round, they can join the other link and start. Of course, the other call was being recorded.
After 30 minutes, I joined the other call and started coding.
I got the question to design a wallet system that should have the following functionalities:
During 90 minutes, the expectation was to code a demonstrable code that would give output for the given inputs. There was no language preference. So, I chose Java. I preferred a very basic approach, focused on logic, loose coupling, and distribution of concern. There was no need to use any external Database, so I chose HashMap for most functionalities.
I completed the problem in 90 minutes and submitted the compressed solution repository in the given Google form.
After that, I had another 30-minute call to review my solution. I joined the call, and there was one person on the call, who reviewed my code, asked questions on coding patterns, gave some inputs of his own to test the logic, some cross questions on function and variable names, and modularity of the code.
Overall it was an easy to moderate round. After this 30-minute call, I received a call from my recruiter that I had been shortlisted for the next round.
In preparation for this round, I practiced 2 machine coding questions:
- Snake And ladder
- Restaurant Booking
Also, this website seems to have good questions on machine coding with a good description of problem statements.
Resource for mock machine coding round practice
Attaching my GitHub repository, which contains these 2 questions, along with the question that was asked in the interview.
Round 2: DSA Round: 1 Hour
This round was scheduled the next day, I was asked 2 GFG hard questions.
I was given a Google doc to write my code. There were 2 people in the round, I guess one of them was shadowing me because I interacted with one person only. I was able to solve the first one in the initial 10 minutes, the second question was a little hard to approach, but the interviewer was very helpful, he gave me hints along the way, and by the end of it, I was able to write the code for the second one also.
It was a moderate round and the interviewer made me very comfortable and provided help wherever I was stuck.
After the round, I received the call that I was moving to the next round.
Practice a lot of questions for all topics and approach the questions confidently even if you are seeing the question for the first time. Aim to write a working code for both of the questions.
While preparing, I took a timed approach i.e.
- 5–10 minutes for GFG easy
- 20–25 minutes for GFG medium
- 25–30 minutes for GFG hard
Round 3: Design Round: 1 Hour
This round was taken by 2 people, here also one person was shadowing.
The round started with a few introductions and then straight to the questions. I was asked to design a JukeBox / Spotify.
The interviewer just mentioned the name and asked me what features I would like to build. I listed down a total of 8 features and confirmed it with the interviewer. Post that I asked for NFRs.
I already had a framework to approach the design rounds, which I used in the round. The round felt like a discussion rather than a Q&A. We talked about API design, Schema design, Schema relations, Databases and indexing.
The round went for 45 minutes. After that, the interviewer said he was done with his questions. I was a bit shocked because we didn’t get to the high level design yet. I asked the same, to which he replied that in the interest of time, a high level design discussion is not possible. Anyway, I asked about the role and the culture of Flipkart, and I received satisfying answers.
The round ended, the same day I got a call that my design round received positive feedback and I have been shortlisted for the Hiring Manager round.
For System Design rounds, I made a mental map to approach it during preparation which helped. I would suggest solving more and more problems and giving mock interviews to know where you stand. This will also help you to find out the way that works best for you in these interviews (which is very important)
Read about basic things like:
- SQl vs NoSql
- Load Balancer and Availability
- Caching
- API design
- Schema design
I used GFG extensively in this preparation.
Here is one resource I used to brush up on my concepts.
Resource for System Design Concepts
Round 4: Hiring Manager Round: 1 Hour
This round was purely behavioural, there is something weird that happened within this round which I’ll cover later in the section.
The round was scheduled with one of the DOE of Flipkart. It started and the person was very much interested in my academic background. I got the questions on my college subject interests, my CGPA, and my high school interests.
Overall the round went decent, I had answered all the questions with the best capacity.
However I did not receive any callback from the recruiter, after 3 days, I got a callback that there were a few callouts during my HM round and they are scheduling it again.
I was confused about exactly where it went wrong, there was no other input from the other side.
Anyway, my other round got scheduled 2 days later, this time it was a senior engineer manager. The round started with a few introductions and then I was asked to explain one of the projects in my resume. This round went well, I was able to explain all the concepts and answer all the questions that the interviewer had. Listing down some of the questions:
Explain the project and your role in it.
- Why did you take up this project?
- What difficulties have you faced?
- How did you measure that the solution is working?
- What are the stakeholders you work with?
- Have you ever mentored someone?
- How do you approach a problem statement given to you?
After the round ended, I was informed that there was a debrief round that was happening internally. After 2 days I received the call that I had been selected for the role.
Random fact: When I received this call I was on my way to the current office, It felt a little weird :p
This round has a general consensus that it is not elimination, but I have seen people getting eliminated in HM round, so until you have the offer letter, there is always a chance of getting eliminated, don’t get your hopes high until then. :’)
Feel free to tell about you in this HM rounds and be as vocal as possible. Let this round be a discussion between 2 people over a coffee table rather than a Q&A.
I feel I have covered most of the interview, Let me know your experiences in the comments. If there is any part that needs more clarification, please comment, I’ll be happy to take it up. ?