How I landed a Summer Internship at Flipkart.

I am a final year undergrad pursuing a BTech in CSE at NITK. I recently completed my Summer Internship with Flipkart and it’s been an amazing experience.

Virtual Internship to be precise, thanks to the pandemic.

I bagged the Internship when Flipkart visited NITK during last year’s campus placement drive.

The Prep.

A bit of background.

Two college courses that I excelled in — Data Structures & Algorithms(DSA) and Design & Analysis of Algorithms(DAA) along with the fact that I used to solve problems on HackerRank sporadically gave me a strong base to build off.

Over the Summer.

After some reading online, I found out that it was imperative to choose one language and become very comfortable with coding in it without the help of an IDE. My pick was Python.

I implemented various data structures like Graphs, Linked Lists, Trees, Stacks, Tries, etc. and their variants in Python. This did two things — refreshed my DS knowledge and acclimated me to coding them out easily.

I also familiarized myself with some Python modules like collections, itertools, etc. which might come in handy. Here’s an excellent article on this.

All in all, I spent an hour or two per day four or five days a week to get all this done.

Back to college — 5th Semester starts.

College had started and I felt super underprepared. I wandered aimlessly for a few days on the Internet until I chanced upon InterviewBit.

I spanned across the different topics and solved a decent number of problems in each. This was my prep for the most part.

I went through GeeksForGeeks for DBMS, OS, OOPS, and some basic COA towards the end.

Prep ends or has it really?

Campus placement season had started and I had applied to a lot of companies.

Since I was giving online coding tests almost every single day (which was a lot of indirect prep) I didn’t bother prepping anymore.

Key Takeaways:

1. Master DSA and DAA. Take online courses if necessary. This is 90% of the work.
2. Pick a language and become comfortable enough to be able to code in it with a normal text editor.
3. Solve problems on online platforms like LeetCode, HackerRank, InterviewBit, etc.
4. Revise CS subjects like DBMS, OS, OOPS, and basic COA.

Enter Flipkart.

Flipkart was one of the first few companies to visit.

Round 1 — Online Coding Test.

This round had 3 problems solving questions and 75 minutes to solve them. The first question was easy, the second one moderate and the last one was hard.

I managed to solve the first one completely and the second one partially (80 percent of the test cases passed).

Did I make it to the shortlist?

No, I didn’t!

But through an unlikely twist of fate, I made it to the extended shortlist instead!

They had shortlisted around 13 candidates.

Round 2 — Problem-solving Interview.

This round was a 60 minutes interview where the Interviewer asked 3 problem-solving questions.

The first one and third one were easy and moderate array problems respectively which I had no problem solving.

No, wasn’t trying to be punny at all

The second one was a harder variation of this which proved very tricky for me. I relentlessly kept attacking the problem and coming up with different solutions that kept failing.

I was very vocal with the interviewer and with a few hints, I managed to arrive at a partially correct solution.

Round 3 — Problem-solving Interview.

This round was a 30 to 40 minutes Interview. The Interviewer asked 2 moderate to hard problem-solving questions.

The first one was an RGB version of this. The interviewer wanted me to keep optimizing it till it could be done with a single pass of the array. Like earlier, I was relentless and very vocal. With a few hints and some intense thinking, I managed to solve it.

The second question was a variation of this. This question hinged on a crucial observation which I managed to arrive at after around 10 minutes.

The interviewer seemed satisfied and we had a short conversation about what his job entails and Flipkart in general.

Imagine my shock.

As I walked out of the Interviewer’s room, I noticed that the waiting room was empty except for just another candidate.

Turns out they had already selected one candidate and the rest didn’t make it through!

40 Minutes of Impatience and Anxiety.

We were told to wait while the panel deliberated which one of us or if both of us would make it to the next round.

We sat in silence after exchanging a few words of hope. Time never felt slower. I bade my time with a few visits to the lavatory.

The HR comes out and walks up to us — 2 hearts thumping loud and says the other candidate’s name followed by “you can leave”.

Elation for one and disappointment for the other. But that’s how life is.

On a positive note, the other candidate landed an Internship in another good organization.

Round 4 — The Grand Finale.

I am ushered into another room and the interviewer walks in. He asks me if I am tired to which I reply in the affirmative. He assures me by saying that this won’t take long.

I am given only one problem which seems nigh impossible to me at first glance.

Instead of freaking out, I brainstorm, communicate with my Interviewer, and try different approaches.

After around 10 minutes of doing this in vain, a bolt of lightning hits me and I notice something which makes the problem straightforward.

Barely able to conceal my excitement, I proceed to explain the algorithm to him and he seems satisfied. I am asked to write the pseudo-code which I do and he nods satisfactorily.

With a pat on my shoulder, he asks me to wait outside.

Another 20 minutes of Impatience and Anxiety.

I sit motionless with all kinds of thoughts running amok in my brain, rising once or twice, only to use the lavatory.

A voice saying “Congratulations! You have been selected.” snaps me out of my reverie.

Aftermath.

A short celebratory discussion with the other selects and the panel ensued. A long day or rather a night but a memorable one. My Interviews had started at around 6:00 PM and it was around 12:30 AM when I trudged back, had some dinner, and crashed in bed.

Interview Tips:

1. Clarify every question with your interviewer and make sure to state any assumptions you make.
2. Think out loud. Keep talking to your interviewer about any observations, possible approaches, etc.
3. Come up with a few nontrivial test cases and try to make observations.
4. If you do arrive at a solution, make ample use of the whiteboard, gestures, and concise words to explain the solution to the interviewer.
5. Don’t blabber bullshit if you don’t know something. Be honest about it.
6. Be relentless. Don’t give up on the problem and keep trying. The fact that you rose up to the challenge and are trying hard is a green flag.
7. Hold tight!

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