Flipkart

The process, round by round

Reported by candidates and, where we found one, the company itself. Each round shows how well it is reported. Processes change by team, level and year.

1. 1

   Online assessment

   Online assessment90-120 min (one guide)

   Prep guides

   A timed coding screen with algorithm problems, hosted on HackerRank or HackerEarth according to one guide. None of the candidate reports read mentions it; one 2024 report says the first step after a recruiter reached out was machine coding.

   • algorithmic problem solving
   • speed under a timer

   Varies: Not mentioned in any candidate report read here, so whether it applies to a given route is unknown.

   What can be asked in a online assessment round

   A timed test on a coding platform, taken alone. Usually two or three coding problems, sometimes with multiple-choice questions on CS basics, aptitude or SQL.

   • Array and string problems that need a hash map, two pointers or a sliding window

     Read the constraints first, because they point to the technique. If n is 100,000, an O(n^2) scan will time out, so look for a hash map, two pointers on a sorted array, or a window that moves forward only. Sketch the brute force, find the repeated work, then remove it. For two-sum style pairs you might say: I store each value's index as I scan, so the complement lookup is O(1) and the whole pass is O(n).

     DSA course →
   • Greedy and sorting problems with a catch in the constraints

     Greedy problems hide behind a sort. Ask what ordering makes the locally best choice safe, then try to argue why swapping two adjacent choices never helps. Interval scheduling is the classic case: sort by end time and take every interval that starts after the last chosen one. Check the catch in the constraints, such as overflow, ties or equal values, and test a tiny case by hand before submitting.

     DSA course →
   • A medium dynamic programming or graph-on-a-grid problem

     Decide whether the problem is a graph walk or a recurrence. On a grid, a shortest path with equal step cost is breadth-first search from the start, with a visited set so each cell is processed once, giving O(rows x cols). For dynamic programming, define the state in one sentence, write the transition, set the base cases, then see if only the previous row is needed to save space.

     DSA course →
   • SQL queries with joins and group by

     Start from the table that holds the thing being counted, join the others on their keys, filter rows with WHERE, group, then filter groups with HAVING. Remember that WHERE runs before grouping and HAVING after. Use LEFT JOIN when rows with no match must still appear, and COUNT of a column rather than star when nulls matter. Example: customers with more than three orders is GROUP BY customer_id HAVING COUNT(*) > 3.

     Databases →
   • Multiple-choice questions on OOP, operating systems, databases and networks

     These reward quick, accurate recall rather than long reasoning, so revise the short list of definitions that recur. Know the difference between a process and a thread, the four ACID properties, what an index trades for faster reads, TCP against UDP, and the four pillars of OOP. Eliminate two wrong options first, then choose. Do not spend more than a minute on any single question, and flag it to return to if time remains.

     Mock interviews →

   Prepare with: Book · Online assessmentDSA course

   1 source for this round

   • Prep guide · 2026TechPrep: Flipkart's interview process ↗
2. 2

   Machine coding and review

   Machine codingabout 90-120 min, plus a 30-45 min review (one guide)

   Several reports

   Build a working solution to a real-world problem (a food ordering system in one 2025 report). A 2024 report describes it as screen-recorded and proctored with no interviewer present. A guide and a frontend report describe a review afterwards where the interviewer goes through the code, and the guide says you may be asked to extend it. One report says the code had to compile and be testable.

   • object-oriented design
   • SOLID and patterns
   • working, testable code
   • modularity and naming
   • edge cases

   Varies: Frontend candidates build a small UI app in plain HTML/CSS/JS (120 min, Apr 2025). An undated SDE-1 report allowed about 2 hours and focused on edge cases more than OOP.

   Practise for this round

   • Machine codingScheduling M jobs on N threads under four policiesStrategy, Open-closed principle · runnable code→
   • Machine codingInterviewer allocationStrategy, Registry · runnable code→

   What can be asked in a machine coding round

   You build a small working system in your own editor in 60 to 120 minutes, then walk through it. Clean entities, extensibility, a runnable demo and tests matter more than clever algorithms.

   • Parking lot, library or inventory system with several entity types

     Spend the first ten minutes on requirements and entities, not code. For a parking lot you might list Vehicle, Slot, Ticket and Lot, with slot types as an enum and the allocation rule hidden behind an interface so a nearest-slot strategy can be swapped. Keep the code runnable early, write a small demo in main, and add a few tests. Say what you would add with more time, such as pricing rules.

     Whiteboard →
   • Splitwise-style expense sharing, a wallet or a ledger

     The core of expense sharing is a balance ledger: for each pair or each user, store the net amount owed. An expense has a payer, an amount and a split type such as equal, exact or percent, handled by a split strategy per type. Validate that exact splits sum to the total and handle rounding explicitly. To simplify debts, compute each person's net balance and match the largest creditor with the largest debtor.

   • Snake and ladder, tic-tac-toe, chess or another game engine

     Model the board, players, dice or moves, and a game controller that owns the turn loop, with rules kept out of the board class. For tic-tac-toe, keep counters per row, column and both diagonals, so a win check is O(1) per move instead of scanning the grid. For snake and ladder, store jumps in a map from square to destination. Make board size and number of players configurable rather than hard coded.

   • An in-memory cache, key-value store, rate limiter or job scheduler

     Start with the public interface and the invariants. For a rate limiter, a token bucket stores tokens and a last refill time per key, refills lazily on each call and allows the request if a token remains. For an LRU or key-value store, say the data structure and the complexity. For a scheduler, a priority queue ordered by run time with a worker that waits for the earliest job.

   • Elevator, vending machine or ATM as a state machine

     Draw the states and transitions before coding. An elevator is idle, moving up, moving down or doors open, and each event such as a button press or arrival is handled by the current state. A vending machine moves through idle, has money, dispensing and out of stock. Implement it with a state interface or an enum and a transition table, so invalid actions are rejected in one place instead of with scattered if statements.

   • Follow-ups: add a new rule without rewriting, make it concurrent, add persistence

     Show that your design bends without a rewrite. For a new rule, say you add a new class that implements the existing interface and register it, leaving old code unchanged. For concurrency, name the shared state and protect it with a lock per resource, or atomic operations, keeping check-and-update in one critical section. For persistence, put a repository interface in front of storage so an in-memory version can be replaced by a database.

     Mock interviews →

   4 sources for this round

   • Candidate write-up · 2025Jointaro: Flipkart SDE2 Bengaluru experiences ↗
   • Candidate write-up · 2025Roundz: Flipkart frontend engineer SDE2 ↗
   • Candidate write-upGeeksforGeeks: Flipkart SDE-1 interview (machine coding) ↗
   • Prep guide · 2026TechPrep: Flipkart's interview process ↗
3. 3

   Problem solving and data structures

   Data structures and algorithmsabout 60 min per round

   Several reports

   One or two live rounds with about two coding problems each (two LeetCode-medium problems in a 2025 SDE2 report; a guide says medium-to-hard). A 2023 SDE-1 report says interviewers asked for alternative approaches and ways to cut time and space, and varied the questions somewhat.

   • medium-hard DSA
   • complexity trade-offs
   • alternative approaches
   • adapting to follow-ups

   Varies: A 2023 SDE-1 off-campus loop had two such rounds, one running about 45 minutes over; an undated SDE-1 referral report had one round of two questions in 30 minutes. The frontend SDE-2 report included promise and tree problems.

   Practise for this round

   • CodingMaximum Points You Can Obtain from CardsMedium · O(n)→
   • CodingLongest Substring Without Repeating CharactersMedium · O(n)→
   • CodingHouse RobberMedium · O(n)→
   • CodingFewest Energy Drinks to Finish a MarathonHard · O(n log n)→

   What can be asked in a data structures and algorithms round

   A live coding round of 45 to 60 minutes with one or two problems. You are judged on how you clarify, reason, code, test and state the complexity, not on the answer alone.

   • Arrays, strings and hashing: pairs, windows, frequency counts, prefix sums

     Name the pattern from the shape of the question. Pairs with a target use a hash map of seen values. A contiguous range with a condition uses a sliding window that grows on the right and shrinks on the left, so each element enters and leaves once, giving O(n). Range sums over many queries use a prefix sum array so each query is O(1) after O(n) setup. Count characters with a fixed-size array or map.

     DSA course →
   • Linked lists, stacks and queues, including design-a-structure problems such as an LRU cache

     For an LRU cache, combine a hash map from key to node with a doubly linked list ordered by recency. Get moves the node to the front, put inserts at the front, and when over capacity you remove the tail node and its map entry. Both operations are O(1), and you say why: the map finds the node, the list reorders it without a scan. For stacks, mention a monotonic stack for next greater element.

     DSA course →
   • Trees and BSTs, graphs (BFS, DFS, topological sort, shortest paths) and grids

     Decide the traversal from what is asked. Level by level or shortest path in an unweighted graph is BFS with a queue. Exploring all paths, components or cycles is DFS. A dependency order is topological sort: Kahn's algorithm repeatedly removes nodes with in-degree zero, and leftover nodes mean a cycle. Weighted shortest path with non-negative edges is Dijkstra with a heap, O((V + E) log V). On a BST, an in-order walk is sorted.

     DSA course →
   • Heaps and top-K, intervals, binary search on the answer

     For the K largest items keep a min-heap of size K: push each element and pop the smallest when the heap exceeds K, so the cost is O(n log K) and memory is O(K). For intervals, sort by start, then merge by comparing the next start with the current end. For binary search on the answer, define a yes or no check that is monotonic, such as can ship within D days, and search the capacity range.

     DSA course →
   • Dynamic programming from one dimension up to knapsack and string DP

     Define the state in a sentence, write the recurrence, fix the base cases, and decide the order of filling. Start with the recursive version with memoisation, then convert to a table. For 0/1 knapsack, dp[w] is the best value at capacity w, and in the one dimensional form you loop capacity downward so each item is used once. For string problems such as edit distance, the state is a pair of prefix lengths.

     DSA course →
   • Follow-ups: optimise space, handle streaming input, make it thread-safe

     Treat follow-ups as a chance to show depth, and answer in the same calm order each time. To save space, ask which previous rows or values the recurrence actually reads and keep only those. For streaming input, say what summary you can keep, such as a heap of size K or a running count. For thread safety, name the shared state, guard it with a lock, and keep the critical section short.

   Prepare with: Book · DSA roundDSA course

   4 sources for this round

   • Candidate write-up · 2025Jointaro: Flipkart SDE2 Bengaluru experiences ↗
   • Candidate write-up · 2023GeeksforGeeks: Flipkart SDE-1 off-campus 2023 ↗
   • Candidate write-up · 2025Roundz: Flipkart frontend engineer SDE2 ↗
   • Prep guide · 2026TechPrep: Flipkart's interview process ↗
4. 4

   Low-level design round

   Low-level design

   One report

   An object-oriented design discussion. One 2025 SDE2 report calls it a system design round that was LLD-based, with a notification system to design. A guide mentions class diagrams, schema and design-pattern justification.

   • class design
   • schema design
   • design patterns
   • justifying choices

   Varies: Not reported in every loop; the 2023 SDE-1 loop had none.

   What can be asked in a low-level design round

   An object-oriented design discussion: classes, interfaces, relationships and the patterns that keep them flexible. Often combined with machine coding.

   • Class design for a booking system, a notification service or a payment module

     Begin by listing the nouns and verbs from the requirements, then turn nouns into classes and group verbs by who owns the data. For a booking system you might have Resource, Booking, User and a BookingService, with a rule that two bookings for one resource cannot overlap. Draw relationships clearly: composition when a part cannot exist alone, an interface when behaviour varies. Say which classes you would write first and why.

     Whiteboard →
   • SOLID principles applied to your own classes

     Tie each principle to a concrete choice in your design rather than reciting the acronym. Single responsibility: the invoice class does not also send email. Open and closed: add a new payment method by adding a class, not editing a switch. Liskov: a subclass must honour the parent's contract. Interface segregation: small interfaces. Dependency inversion: the service depends on a notifier interface, not on an SMS client.

   • Strategy, observer, factory, state and builder patterns, and when each helps

     Know the problem each pattern solves. Strategy swaps an algorithm, such as pricing or routing. Observer lets many listeners react to one event, as in notifications. Factory hides which concrete class is created. State moves behaviour into a class per state, as in an order lifecycle. Builder assembles an object with many optional fields. Say when not to use one: a pattern with a single implementation is usually noise.

   • Concurrency inside the design: locks, thread-safe collections, idempotent operations

     Identify what is shared and mutable, then choose the smallest protection that works. Use a lock around a compound check-then-act, a concurrent map for independent keys, and atomic counters for simple tallies. For operations that may be retried, make them idempotent by carrying a request id and ignoring a repeat. Example: charging a booking twice is prevented by storing the request id with the result and returning it again.

   • Extending the design for a new requirement without breaking old code

     Show the design absorbing change. When a new requirement arrives, say which existing abstraction already covers it and which new class you add. If a discount rule appears, add a new implementation of the discount interface and register it. If you must change old code, explain why the original split was wrong and how you would limit the edit. Mention tests: existing tests should still pass unchanged after the extension.

   2 sources for this round

   • Candidate write-up · 2025Jointaro: Flipkart SDE2 Bengaluru experiences ↗
   • Prep guide · 2026TechPrep: Flipkart's interview process ↗
5. 5

   High-level design

   System design

   Prep guides

   A guide describes an architecture round covering CAP, microservices and traffic spikes such as a big sale, for SDE-2 and SDE-3 only. No candidate report read describes a separate HLD round, so treat it as a guide claim.

   • architecture
   • scalability
   • trade-off reasoning

   Varies: SDE-2 and above only, per the guide.

   Practise for this round

   • DesignDesign a BookMyShow-style ticket booking system4 chapters · diagrams→
   • DesignDesign a ledger that stores transactions from many services4 chapters · diagrams→
   • DesignDesign a daily-essentials subscription service4 chapters · diagrams→

   What can be asked in a system design round

   A 45 to 60 minute discussion of how to build a system at scale: requirements, numbers, APIs, data model, components, bottlenecks and trade-offs.

   • Short links, chat, news feed, notifications, search, rate limiting

     Use one repeatable path: clarify scope and scale, estimate load, define the API, sketch the data model, draw the main components, then probe bottlenecks. For short links, store a mapping from a generated short id to the long url, generate ids with a counter encoded in base 62, cache hot links, and note reads far outnumber writes. For chat, mention persistent connections and a store ordered per conversation.

     System design course →
   • Payments, wallets and ledgers where money must never be lost or doubled

     Money systems put correctness before speed. Use a double-entry ledger where entries are append-only and every transfer writes a debit and an equal credit in one transaction. Protect against doubled charges with an idempotency key stored with the result, so a retry returns the original outcome. For lost updates use a database transaction, and reconcile with the payment provider's records on a schedule.

     System design course →
   • Ride matching, maps and anything with live location

     Split the problem into location ingestion, a geospatial index and matching. Drivers send updates every few seconds to a write-optimised store, often in memory, keyed by a grid cell such as a geohash or S2 cell. To find nearby drivers, query the rider's cell and its neighbours, then rank by distance and estimated time. Say how you handle a stale location and a driver who accepts two rides.

     System design course →
   • File storage and sync, video streaming and content delivery

     For file sync, split files into chunks, hash each chunk and upload only chunks the server lacks, so a small edit transfers a small amount. Keep metadata in a database and chunks in object storage. For video, upload the original, transcode into several resolutions, store segments and serve them through a content delivery network with adaptive bitrate streaming, so the player switches quality as bandwidth changes.

     System design course →
   • Fundamentals: caching, sharding, replication, queues, consistency, failure handling

     Treat each as a tool with a cost. A cache cuts read latency but adds staleness and invalidation. Sharding spreads write load but makes cross-shard queries hard. Replication gives availability and read scale but introduces lag. Queues smooth spikes and decouple services but require idempotent consumers. For failures, name timeouts, retries with backoff and a fallback. State what you give up whenever you choose.

     System design course →
   • Back-of-envelope estimates and what they decide

     Estimates are there to choose a design, so finish each one with a decision. Use round numbers: a day has about 100,000 seconds, so 10 million requests a day is roughly 100 per second on average, with a peak of a few times that. Multiply object size by count for storage, and compare against one machine's capacity. If one database handles the load, say so and avoid sharding.

     Capacity estimation →

   Prepare with: Book · System designSystem design course

   1 source for this round

   • Prep guide · 2026TechPrep: Flipkart's interview process ↗
6. 6

   UI technical round (frontend track)

   Role-specific deep dive60 min

   One report

   Frontend-specific questions and coding in one April 2025 report: implementing Promise.all, memoization, debouncing and throttling, centering with Flexbox, and web performance topics such as web vitals, the critical rendering path and lazy loading.

   • JavaScript internals
   • CSS layout
   • web performance
   • utility implementation

   Varies: Frontend (UI2/WDE2) track only; one report, April 2025.

   What can be asked in a role-specific deep dive round

   Depth in the skills the job needs: a language or framework, APIs, debugging, cloud basics, or the company's own domain such as payments or trading.

   • Language and framework internals for the role (JavaScript, React, Node, Java and so on)

     Prepare the internals of the stack named in the job, not just usage. For JavaScript, be able to explain closures, the event loop with its microtask queue, and how this is bound. For React, explain rendering, keys, and why state updates are batched. Give a short example with each claim, and say when you do not know a detail rather than guessing. The depth is checked by follow-up questions.

     JavaScript and TypeScript chapter →
   • API design, error handling, idempotency and retries

     Good API design is predictable. Use clear resource names, correct status codes and a consistent error body with a stable code. A retry is only safe if the operation is idempotent: GET and PUT already are, and for POST accept an idempotency key and return the stored result on repeat. For retries use exponential backoff with jitter and a cap, and only retry errors that can succeed later, such as timeouts or 503.

     Node and NestJS chapter →
   • Debugging a failing service from logs and metrics

     Work from the user-visible symptom inward. Check whether errors or latency rose, when it started and what changed at that time, such as a deploy. Use metrics to find the failing component, logs with a request id to follow one failing request, and traces to find the slow hop. Form one hypothesis, test it, and roll back if a recent release is the likely cause. Say you would write down what you learned afterwards.

   • Cloud, containers and deployment basics

     Know the basic picture and be honest about your depth. A container packages an app with its dependencies and shares the host kernel, unlike a virtual machine. An image is built from layers and run as a container. For deployment, mention a build in CI, an immutable image, configuration through environment variables, health checks and a rollback path. Name one cloud service you have used and what it does.

     AWS, Docker and CI/CD chapter →
   • Domain scenarios: duplicate callbacks, reconciliation, market data

     Think about duplicates, ordering and mismatch. A payment provider may send the same callback twice, so store the event id and process each once, making the handler idempotent. Reconciliation compares your records with the provider's settlement report and flags differences for review. For market data, expect out-of-order or missed ticks, so sequence numbers and a way to request a replay matter. Name what you would alert on.

   Prepare with: Book · JavaScript & TSBook · React & Next.jsBook · Node & NestJSBook · AWS, Docker, CI/CD

   1 source for this round

   • Candidate write-up · 2025Roundz: Flipkart frontend engineer SDE2 ↗
7. 7

   Product sense (frontend track)

   Role-specific deep dive45 min

   One report

   An open-ended discussion rather than an engineering problem: design a two-player game, propose features and rank them P0/P1/P2, then discuss MVP trade-offs. The candidate called it the hardest round.

   • product thinking
   • prioritisation
   • MVP trade-offs

   Varies: Reported only for the frontend track, April 2025.

   What can be asked in a role-specific deep dive round

   Depth in the skills the job needs: a language or framework, APIs, debugging, cloud basics, or the company's own domain such as payments or trading.

   • Language and framework internals for the role (JavaScript, React, Node, Java and so on)

     Prepare the internals of the stack named in the job, not just usage. For JavaScript, be able to explain closures, the event loop with its microtask queue, and how this is bound. For React, explain rendering, keys, and why state updates are batched. Give a short example with each claim, and say when you do not know a detail rather than guessing. The depth is checked by follow-up questions.

     JavaScript and TypeScript chapter →
   • API design, error handling, idempotency and retries

     Good API design is predictable. Use clear resource names, correct status codes and a consistent error body with a stable code. A retry is only safe if the operation is idempotent: GET and PUT already are, and for POST accept an idempotency key and return the stored result on repeat. For retries use exponential backoff with jitter and a cap, and only retry errors that can succeed later, such as timeouts or 503.

     Node and NestJS chapter →
   • Debugging a failing service from logs and metrics

     Work from the user-visible symptom inward. Check whether errors or latency rose, when it started and what changed at that time, such as a deploy. Use metrics to find the failing component, logs with a request id to follow one failing request, and traces to find the slow hop. Form one hypothesis, test it, and roll back if a recent release is the likely cause. Say you would write down what you learned afterwards.

   • Cloud, containers and deployment basics

     Know the basic picture and be honest about your depth. A container packages an app with its dependencies and shares the host kernel, unlike a virtual machine. An image is built from layers and run as a container. For deployment, mention a build in CI, an immutable image, configuration through environment variables, health checks and a rollback path. Name one cloud service you have used and what it does.

     AWS, Docker and CI/CD chapter →
   • Domain scenarios: duplicate callbacks, reconciliation, market data

     Think about duplicates, ordering and mismatch. A payment provider may send the same callback twice, so store the event id and process each once, making the handler idempotent. Reconciliation compares your records with the provider's settlement report and flags differences for review. For market data, expect out-of-order or missed ticks, so sequence numbers and a way to request a replay matter. Name what you would alert on.

   Prepare with: Book · JavaScript & TSBook · React & Next.jsBook · Node & NestJSBook · AWS, Docker, CI/CD

   1 source for this round

   • Candidate write-up · 2025Roundz: Flipkart frontend engineer SDE2 ↗
8. 8

   Hiring manager

   Hiring manager30-60 min

   Several reports

   A discussion of projects, tech stacks, teamwork and difficulties faced, plus motivation for joining Flipkart and leaving your current employer (2023 SDE-1 report). The frontend SDE-2 report adds mentoring and conflict questions and technical depth such as web security and integrating a third-party payment system.

   • project ownership
   • teamwork and conflict
   • motivation
   • technical depth on past work

   Varies: The 2023 SDE-1 session was scheduled for 30 minutes and ran about an hour; an undated SDE-1 report says 30 to 35 minutes; the frontend SDE-2 session was 60 minutes.

   Practise for this round

   • BookDraw the architecture of one of your applications.Resume grilling→
   • BookWhat is the worst technical decision you have made, and what did it cost?Resume grilling→
   • BookIf you have written standards for a team, give me three rules and why each exists.Resume grilling→

   What can be asked in a hiring manager round

   A conversation about your past work and how you would fit the team: depth on projects, ownership, decisions and trade-offs, sometimes a design problem.

   • Pick a project and go deep: why this design, what broke, what you would change

     Choose a project you can discuss at every layer. Explain the problem and who it served, the options you considered, why you chose one, what broke and what you would change now. Be clear which parts you did and which the team did. Admitting a flaw earns trust. Opening line: the main constraint was latency, so I chose a cache in front of the database, and I would now add an invalidation strategy.

     Resume grilling chapter →
   • A time you disagreed with a teammate or pushed back on a decision

     Use situation, task, action, result, and keep the disagreement about the work, never the person. The listener is checking that you can hold a view with evidence, listen, and commit once the decision is made. Describe what you proposed, the data or reasoning you used, how you reached agreement or accepted the other path, and what happened. Do not invent a story: use a real one, even a small one.

     Behavioural chapter →
   • How you prioritise when everything is urgent

     Show a method rather than a claim of being busy. Describe how you judge impact and deadline, ask who needs the result and when, and say no or renegotiate scope early when two things clash. Mention communicating the trade-off to stakeholders so nobody is surprised. A sentence you could adapt: I list what is blocking others first, then what has a fixed date, then what moves a metric.

     Behavioural chapter →
   • What you want from the next role and the team

     Answer honestly and tie it to what the role offers. Say what you want to learn or own next, such as larger systems, more ownership of design, or mentoring, and what kind of team helps you do it. Then ask what the team is trying to achieve this year and how the work is reviewed. The listener checks that your wishes match the job and that you have thought about it.

   Prepare with: Book · Resume grillingBook · Behavioural

   4 sources for this round

   • Candidate write-up · 2023GeeksforGeeks: Flipkart SDE-1 off-campus 2023 ↗
   • Candidate write-up · 2025Roundz: Flipkart frontend engineer SDE2 ↗
   • Candidate write-up · 2025Jointaro: Flipkart SDE2 Bengaluru experiences ↗
   • Candidate write-upGeeksforGeeks: Flipkart SDE-1 interview (machine coding) ↗

What we could not verify. No official Flipkart interview page. The LeetCode SDE-2 posts (2025-26), Glassdoor and similar were 403, so the HLD round, OA and any HR/offer stage are not backed by a readable candidate report. No overall timeline found. One GeeksforGeeks page is undated; the 2023 one mentions no machine coding round.