Interview experience 1 - SDE-1
Candidate Profile: B.Tech CS, 8.5 CGPA, 2 internships, competitive programming
Round 1 - Online Assessment (120 minutes)
Platform: Flipkart’s own assessment platform
Problem 1: Number of Islands
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Count connected components in grid
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Difficulty: Medium
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My Approach: BFS
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Time: 20 minutes
Problem 2: Longest Consecutive Sequence
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Find longest consecutive sequence in array
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Difficulty: Medium
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My Approach: HashSet O(n)
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Time: 20 minutes
Problem 3: Word Ladder
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Find shortest transformation sequence
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Difficulty: Hard
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My Approach: BFS with word neighbors
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Time: 35 minutes
Problem 4: Design LRU Cache
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With O(1) operations
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My Approach: HashMap + DLL
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Time: 30 minutes
Result: Cleared OA
Tips:
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Flipkart asks harder problems than average
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Focus on graphs and optimization
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Practice e-commerce related problems
Round 2 - Machine Coding (90 minutes)
Problem: Design a simple shopping cart system
Requirements:
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Add/remove items
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Apply discount codes
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Calculate total with tax
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Handle inventory checks
My Implementation:
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Used Object-Oriented Design
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Proper class hierarchy (Item, Cart, Discount)
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Unit tests for edge cases
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Clean, readable code
Evaluation Criteria:
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Working solution: 40%
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Code quality: 30%
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Design: 20%
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Testing: 10%
Tips:
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Start with basic working solution
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Add features incrementally
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Write clean, modular code
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Handle edge cases
Round 3 - Technical Interview 1 (60 minutes)
Interviewer: SDE-2
Problem 1: Merge Intervals
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Merge overlapping intervals
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My Approach: Sort + linear scan
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Discussion on edge cases
Problem 2: Course Schedule II
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Return order of courses to finish
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My Approach: Topological sort
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Follow-up: Detect if impossible
Project Discussion:
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Discussed e-commerce project
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Database design decisions
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API design patterns
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Performance optimization
Tips:
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Explain approach before coding
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Handle follow-up questions
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Know your projects deeply
Round 4 - Technical Interview 2 (60 minutes)
Interviewer: Senior Engineer
System Design: Design a Flash Sale System
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Handle millions of concurrent users
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Inventory management
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Queue-based ordering
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Prevent overselling
My Approach:
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CDN for static content
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Load balancer + multiple servers
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Redis for inventory count
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Message queue for order processing
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Database sharding
Discussion Points:
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Race condition handling
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Eventual consistency
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User experience during load
DSA Problem:
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Find median in data stream
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My Approach: Two heaps
Tips:
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System design is crucial for Flipkart
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Think about e-commerce scenarios
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Discuss trade-offs clearly
Round 5 - Hiring Manager Round (45 minutes)
Questions:
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“Why Flipkart?”
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“Tell me about your most challenging project”
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“How do you handle conflicting requirements?”
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“Where do you see yourself in 3 years?”
Result: Selected! Package: ₹28 LPA Location: Bengaluru
Key Takeaways: Flipkart values DSA mastery, clean code, and system design thinking. Machine coding round is unique - practice building features quickly.

