Walmart SDE3 | Supply Chain | Fullstack web developer | [Offered]

I interviewed for a fullstack web developer SDE-3 role at Walmart in June . I was contacted by a recruiter on LinkedIn.

The interview process consisted of four rounds:

Round 1 - Algorithmic (Interviewer: SDE3)

1. There is an array of n people each given a rating and we have to distribute candies. A person with a higher rating than its neighbors will get more chocolates than them. Find the minimum number of chocolates required.

I suggested a solution but I thought it would fail on some test cases. The interviewer helped me with it and then I came up with a better solution which involves two passes left & right with an additional array.

2. Make nodes at a level point to the next node in a binary tree.

Round 2 - LLD + Java (Interviewer: SDE3)

1. LLD: Design a vending machine. I hadn't prepared for a vending machine design and had never used one before, so I was given lots of hints.
2. Few Java questions

Round 3 - Hiring Manager (HLD + LLD)

I was expecting a behavioral round and had no idea about the standard "Design Google Docs" question, so I did not perform well in this round.

1. HLD: Design Wikipedia/Atlassian Confluence. a. LLD: Implement the Linux diff command.

I was rejected after this round. The recruiter was unaware that I had failed in the technical aspect. She thought it was a behavioral round, so I was offered another managerial round for a different team in the same organization.

Round 3 (Part 2) - Hiring Manager (Behavioral)

This time I prepared all the popular HLD & LLD questions, but it turned out to be behavioral with one small tiny URL design question where I had to verbally explain the design in two minutes.

1. Why Walmart?
2. Why are you leaving VMware?
3. Challenges faced
4. Groundbreaking features delivered in the past

Round 4 (HR, conducted by Recruiter)

1. Competing offers
2. Salary expectations. I said 30 LPA base.

All of rounds 1, 2 & 3 were supposed to be completed in one day, but due to time limitations, it took two days. I failed round 3, so it was scheduled again the following week.

Result: I was verbally communicated the offer details two days after the HR round. The offer was below my expectations as I didn't have any counter offers and the recruiter explained why they couldn't offer me more. Walmart values years of experience over skills. I was told that the responsibility of an SDE3 with five years of experience is more than an SDE3 with two years of experience. At VMware, it's the same. It took 15-20 days to get the offer letter.