Walmart SDE III (Backend, 3 YOE) Interview Experience — Bangalore

I recently went through the Walmart SDE III backend interview process and received an offer.

• Role: SDE III (Java Backend)
• YOE: 3 years
• Location: Bangalore
• Interviewed On: October, 2025
• Applied via: LinkedIn

Interview Structure:

Total of 3 rounds:

1. DSA
2. LLD + Backend fundamentals
3. Hiring Manager (Behavioral + System discussion)

All rounds were done in 3 consecutive days (1 per day) — pretty fast process :)

Round 1: DSA

• Duration: 1 hrs
• Difficulty: Medium → Hard level
• What to expect: Direct or slightly modified versions of problems from LeetCode 150 / NeetCode 150

2 questions to be solved in 1 hr:

1. Spiral Matrix problem
2. Linked List (hard-level manipulation problem)

My experience:

I solved both problems within the allotted time, passed all test cases, clearly explained my approach, and wrapped up by asking a few questions about the team’s tech stack.

Round 2: LLD + Backend Concepts

• Duration: 1 hrs 30mins

Problem: Design a WhatsApp-like system, with focus on:

1. Chat functionality
2. Search (especially chat search / master search)

What the interviewer looked for:

1. LLD Fundamentals

• Class design
• Relationships
• Clean modeling

2. Database Design

• Schema clarity
• Trade-offs
• Indexing (especially for search)

3. API Design

• Clean endpoints
• Pagination (this was explicitly expected)

Tip: Always mention pagination for search-heavy systems.

Bonus discussion:

The interviewer went deeper into: Microservices vs Monolith. But interestingly, the focus was more on when NOT to use microservices. Towards the end, I was asked about :

1. Spring Boot annotations
2. Spring Security basics

Tip: Using proper terminology (SOLID principles, design patterns, etc.) makes a noticeable difference in LLD rounds

Round 3: Hiring Manager (Offline — Bangalore Office)

• Duration: 45-50 mins
• This round was very conversational and comfortable.

1. Project Deep Dive

• Architecture of past work
• Leaned towards high-level design

Deep dive into:

• Asynchronous flows
• Kafka
• Rule engines

(Since my project architecture involved these concepts)

2. Behavioral Questions

• Conflict resolution
• Handling escalations
• Disagreeing with your manager

Sample question: Would you push back if code quality is being compromised?

3. Your Questions

I asked about:

1. Tech stack
2. Team's work
3. Nature of problems
4. Walmart's work culture

Don’t skip this—it leaves a good impression.

Verdict: Selected

Compensation: 35 LPA (CTC)

Final Thoughts:

This wasn’t an “out of syllabus” process. It’s quite predictable if you prepare well:

• Solid DSA
• Practical LLD
• Decent backend fundamentals
• Clear communication

No tricks. No surprises. All the best! If you have specific questions, feel free to ask in the comments!