Walmart Interview Experience for Principal Engineer : Lack of Engagement and Unclear Expectations
Round 1
Questions: The interview began with vague requirements that made it difficult to clarify the problem. Specific questions were not provided, but the discussion included searching in a Binary Search Tree (BST) and a problem resembling the 3Sum problem from LeetCode.
Candidate's Approach
The candidate attempted to clarify the problem requirements and explained the time complexity of searching in a BST as O(logn) in a balanced tree, correcting the interviewer's incorrect statement of O(nlogn). For the 3Sum problem, the candidate provided an O(n log n) solution, which is generally accepted as optimal, despite the interviewer's insistence on an O(logn) complexity.
Interviewer's Feedback
The interviewer did not engage with the candidate's explanations or provide constructive feedback. Instead, they insisted on certain methods without justification and made irrelevant comparisons, which contributed to a lack of engagement throughout the interview.