Retrod Travel Tech
Student Expense Tracker
Build a working expense tracker in Python. No DSA, no tricks — just real coding. Top submissions get a direct interview with RETROD's tech team. Open-book. 2 hours. Show us you can build.
Evaluationopen
Overview
Build a working expense tracker in Python. No DSA, no tricks — just real coding. Top submissions get a direct interview with RETROD's tech team. Open-book. 2 hours. Show us you can build.
Problem statement
College students often lose track of where their money goes each month — UPI payments, canteen bills, recharges, travel. There's no simple tool that works from the command line without needing an app or internet.
Your task: Build a Python command-line program where a student can:
1. Add an expense (date, amount, category — e.g. food, travel, recharge, other)
2. View all expenses they've added
3. See total amount spent
4. See which category has the highest spending
Bonus (optional): Add a feature to set a monthly budget and show a warning when spending crosses it.
Constraints:
• Use only Python standard library + optionally pandas (no Django, Flask, or web frameworks)
• No database needed — store in lists or dictionaries
• Code should run without errors when we test it
• Include at least 3 sample expenses already added so reviewers can see output immediately
Deliverables
- A working .py file that runs without errors
- Screenshot of the program running with sample output (terminal screenshot)
- A short README (5-10 lines): what your program does, how to run it, and one thing you'd improve if you had more time
Evaluation criteria
- Does it work? (
- Code quality (
- Bonus feature + effort (
- README clarity (