I applied online. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at Walmart in Jun 2023
Interview
Recruiter reached out to chat over a phone call, and immediately started asking questions that the hiring manager put together. Hard to prepare for these questions since the questions are about general software engineering practices (and/or can be more specific to the team or role you're applying for). For example, a question they asked me was: "what is dependency injection"? One thing to note is that the recruiter may not have the technical context needed to understand your answer -- they may just be writing down your answer word for word (or trying to paraphrase) and sending it to the hiring manager. So it would be helpful to answer the question in a way non-technical folks can understand, and sprinkle in some specific technologies at the end. I didn't end up proceeding as I am relatively sure I didn't answer all of those questions correctly. Not the biggest fan of this process but others may prefer this kind of interview!
Looking back, I feel like I gained a clearer understanding of the process, even though I ultimately turned down the offer. The technical rounds were straightforward, featuring an implementation question on an LRU cache and a system design question about a rate limiter for an API. What helped me a lot was the walkthroughs for system design I went through on PracHub, which made those types of questions feel familiar. Overall, it was an easy experience, but I just didn't feel it was the right fit for me.
Interview questions [2]
Question 1
Implement an LRU cache with O(1) get and put using a hash map plus doubly linked list
First, standard short phone call with recruiter. Then a 1-hour interview with an engineer on the team, asked about technical experience and background, and did a live coding assessment via video call. Fairly standard Leetcode style questions
Intense but rewarding — the interview for the Software Engineer position at Walmart Labs was tougher than I anticipated. The technical rounds included an LRU Cache implementation question where I had to articulate my design thoughts on thread safety, followed by a complex system design for a real-time inventory service. What made a difference in my prep were the company-specific prompts I found on prachub.com; they really helped me understand the types of questions I might face. Despite the challenging nature of the interviews, I ultimately received an offer but chose to decline.