Interview Experience - 46 - Intuit | Software Development Engineer | SE1
Summary
📌 Job Role: Software Development Engineer
🔢 Number of Rounds: 3
📜 Offer Status: Offer
📍 Location: Bangalore, India
👤 Candidate Name: Not disclosing due to signed NDA
Interview Process
I received an email from the recruiter informing me that I was shortlisted for the online assessment for the SDE 1 role at Intuit.
Completed the online assessment on HackerEarth on 29th April 2021.
The following day, I received an email confirming I had cleared the OA and was selected for the first technical interview round.
Virtual Technical Interview Round 1 (30 minutes) was conducted on 7th May 2021.
The next day, I received confirmation that I had been shortlisted for Round 2.
Virtual Technical Interview Round 2 (60 minutes) took place with two senior interviewers.
After two days, I received the offer.
Preparation Guide
I began my interview preparation journey with Leetcode at the beginning of 2020. It was a gradual grind till August, and I had completed around 330 problems by then. Here are some of the approaches and lessons I took away from the process:
I followed a BFS-style strategy—starting with broad topics and the top 100 interview questions, then moving on to company-specific and topic-specific lists. Understanding problem-solving patterns is key.
YouTube turned out to be a great resource. Channels like Back to Back SWE, Tushar Roy, and Pepcoding played a major role in simplifying concepts and problems that initially seemed tough.
For Intuit, in particular, you should be well-prepared with CS fundamentals and expect questions based on your projects.
Don’t be disheartened if easy Leetcode questions still trip you up even after solving hundreds of them. It’s more common than you think.
Quality matters more than quantity. After solving around 250 problems, I circled back to revisit and re-solve them.
Memorizing isn’t the goal, but some frequently encountered questions will naturally stick. Revise template solutions like Binary Search, BFS, DFS, Linked List reversals, and Backtracking regularly.
Maintain a balance—don't make Leetcode your entire life.
Leetcode Discuss is a goldmine for additional experiences and real interview questions—highly recommended.
Interview Rounds
Round 1: Online Assessment, HackerEarth
Duration: ~90 minutes
Difficulty Level: Medium
Experience:
The online assessment consisted of four coding problems on HackerEarth. These questions tested a range of data structures and algorithmic skills:
Friends and Candies – Problem focused on distributing candies among students with some constraints.
Visited Nodes – Graph traversal-based problem requiring priority-based selection.
Array Reduction – Required performing operations on an array and reducing it under specific rules.
Cells in a Matrix – A matrix manipulation question testing 2D array handling and logic building.
I was able to solve all four questions successfully and pass all test cases.
Key Learnings:
The questions can span a wide variety of topics—arrays, graphs, matrix problems. Be versatile.
Practicing with HackerEarth or similar platforms will help build familiarity with the environment and time pressure.
Round 2: Virtual Technical Interview Round 1
Duration: 30 minutes
Difficulty Level: Medium
Experience:
The interview began with a short introduction from both sides. The interviewer was kind and mentioned they had reviewed my OA submissions and were impressed with the solutions.
We briefly discussed my OA solutions before transitioning into the main coding question:
The task was to count occurrences of a string in a file, considering case sensitivity. The solution, discussion, and implementation took around 10 minutes.
The interviewer then asked how the approach could be optimized. I discussed Rabin-Karp and KMP algorithms and we dived into a short discussion on both.
Finally, I was asked some HR-style questions—like what triggers me and what makes me happy. The conversation was engaging and the interviewer also took time to answer the questions I had for them, sharing insights about the team and work culture.
Key Learnings:
Be prepared to not just code but also optimize and explain your approach.
Strong foundational knowledge of string matching algorithms is useful.
Behavioral questions are common—reflect on your experiences and be ready to talk about them.
Round 3: Virtual Technical Interview Round 2
Duration: 60 minutes
Difficulty Level: Hard
Experience:
This round was conducted by two senior engineers. The interview started with quick introductions followed by questions around my projects, especially my experience with Angular and Spring Boot.
Then came the main coding part:
I was asked to solve Reverse Nodes in K Group—a Leetcode Hard problem. I discussed the recursive approach and then implemented it using the linked list reversal technique. I also walked through test cases and explained each step.
When prompted for optimization, I proposed a stack-based approach and the interviewer acknowledged the thought process.
The second half focused on Object-Oriented Programming:
Topics included abstract classes, pure virtual functions, usage of new/delete, and the behavior of constructors/destructors.
I was presented with different scenarios and asked which OOP concepts apply—sometimes combinations of multiple concepts.
One open-ended question asked me to design a human body using OOP principles, which led to a broader discussion on design thinking.
Overall, the interviewers were engaged and even shared feedback with me toward the end.
Key Learnings:
Expect Leetcode Hard-level questions and be prepared to reason through your solution.
Deep understanding of OOP principles is essential—not just theory but application.
Practice explaining your thought process clearly and concisely, especially during design questions.
Final Thoughts
Preparation is a marathon. Don’t aim to memorize—understand the patterns and strengthen your intuition.
Focus on revisiting and re-solving problems. It helps build long-term memory and confidence.
Keep practicing behavioral questions. They matter more than candidates usually anticipate.
Learn to articulate your thoughts during open-ended questions and system designs.
Build a study routine that’s consistent but also gives you space to enjoy life—burnout is real.
This experience taught me that getting better at interviews isn’t just about solving harder problems—it’s about improving your overall problem-solving approach, communicating effectively, and staying persistent.