With over 9,000 employees across 10 countries, Intuit is a leading technology platform focused on financial management solutions for consumers, small businesses, and accounting professionals. Landing a software engineering role at this Fortune 500 firm can be a great boost to your career. However, Intuit’s rigorous interview process means you need to be fully prepared to stand out among top talent.
In this comprehensive guide, we provide tips and sample responses to common Intuit software engineer interview questions. Whether you have an upcoming phone screen or onsite with Intuit, use these strategies to showcase your skills and maximize your chances of getting hired.
Overview of the Intuit Software Engineering Interview Process
The Intuit software engineer interview typically comprises
- Initial phone screen with recruiter
- Technical phone interview
- Take-home coding assignment
- Virtual onsite interview:
- Coding questions
- System design
- Behavioral
- Manager interview
The entire process can span over 1-2 weeks Understanding what to expect in each round is key to devising an effective preparation plan.
Tips for Acing the Intuit Coding Interview
Coding questions form a major part of the Intuit software engineering interview across the different rounds. Here are some tips to master the coding portion:
Study Intuit’s preferred languages – Brush up on languages like Java Python C++ etc. which are prominently used at Intuit.
Practice on LeetCode – Many Intuit coding questions are modeled after problems on LeetCode. Solve questions tagged as Intuit to get familiar with their style.
Brush up data structures and algorithms – Revise basics like arrays, strings, trees, graphs, sorting, searching etc. Know optimal approaches and time/space complexities.
Think through test cases – Walk through examples to test your code. Ask clarifying questions to determine constraints and edge cases.
Communicate your approach – Clearly explain your thought process and choices. Show your analytical skills.
Write clean, runnable code – Stick to best practices like meaningful names, good organization, and comments. Double check for bugs.
With practice, you’ll be able to write optimized code efficiently even under pressure during the interviews.
Technical Phone Interview Questions
The technical phone screen focuses primarily on coding. Some sample questions include:
Q1. Two Sum – Given an array of integers and a target sum, find two numbers that add up to the target.
Q2. Reverse Linked List – Reverse the nodes in a singly linked list in-place.
Q3. Valid Parentheses – Given a string containing just parentheses, determine if it is valid.
Q4. Rotate Array – Rotate a given array by k elements.
Q5. Ransom Note – Given two strings, determine if one can be constructed fully using characters from the other.
Q6. Merge Intervals – Given overlapping intervals, merge them into non-overlapping intervals.
Aim for optimal solutions under 15-20 mins per question. Communicate your approach clearly. Ask clarifying questions and think through test cases.
Take-Home Coding Assignment
The take-home coding challenge tests your skills in a more practical setting. You’ll be given a project spec to work on over 1-2 days.
Some tips for acing it:
-
Read requirements carefully – Understand the use cases and constraints. Create mocks or samples if needed.
-
Draft designs before coding – Create outlines, flowcharts etc. to think through major components and logic.
-
Use standard libraries where possible – Don’t reinvent the wheel. Utilize built-in functions and data structures.
-
Implement core functionality first – Get the minimum viable product working end-to-end before adding bells and whistles.
-
Write tests – Include unit tests to cover critical parts. Automated tests showcase your thoroughness.
-
Make it user-friendly – Use self-explanatory names, add comments, print logs, handle errors gracefully.
-
Review before submitting – Double check it meets all requirements. Verify all use cases work. Fix bugs.
With a robust submission indicating strong coding skills, you’ll make a stellar impression leading into the onsites.
Onsite Interview Coding Questions
During the intensive virtual onsite at Intuit, you’ll face more rigorous coding rounds along with system design and behavioral interviews.
Some common coding problems from prior candidates’ experiences include:
Q1. Top K Frequent Elements – Given an integer array, return the k most frequent elements.
Q2. LRU Cache – Implement an LRU cache data structure with O(1) operations.
Q3. Maximum Subarray – Find the subarray with the maximum sum within a given array.
Q4. Word Break – Given a string and a dictionary, determine if the string can be split into dictionary words.
Q5. Max Stack – Design a max stack supporting push, pop, and retrieving max elements in O(1).
Q6. Minimum Window Substring – Find the smallest substring containing all characters of a given string.
Aim for time/space optimized solutions. Be prepared to code cleanly on online IDEs like CollabEdit. Test your solutions thoroughly.
Intuit System Design Interview Tips
Besides coding, your system design skills will be evaluated at Intuit via questions like:
-
Design an API rate limiter
-
Design a ride sharing service
-
Design a system to crawl and index web pages
To stand out in system design:
-
Clarify requirements – Ask questions and confirm assumptions before diving in.
-
Think through high-level components – Map out the broad architecture and flow. Use diagrams.
-
Drill down into sub-components – Flesh out how major pieces like storage, APIs, services interact.
-
Consider scale – Discuss load balancing, caching, databases, and microservices.
-
Focus on tradeoffs – Weigh different choices like consistency vs availability.
-
Communicate clearly – Verbalize your thoughts and explain diagrams visually.
The goal is demonstrating strong analytical skills and architecture know-how, not necessarily low-level details.
Intuit Behavioral Interview Questions and Tips
Behavioral or “culture fit” interviews evaluate your soft skills and alignnment with Intuit’s principles like:
-
Innovation
-
Customer obsession
-
One team
-
Make an impact
Common behavioral questions aim to assess these qualities:
-
Tell me about yourself – Highlight your background and passion for technology.
-
Why Intuit? – Show your enthusiasm for their mission of powering financial prosperity.
-
Describe a challenging technical issue you faced – Demonstrate problem-solving, resilience and leadership.
-
Tell me about a time you failed – Share lessons learned and growth mindset.
-
Discuss a conflict you faced working on a team – Illustrate teamwork, empathy, communication skills.
-
Where do you see yourself in 5 years? – Articulate long-term goals and desire for impact.
Use real examples, quantify achievements, and emphasize positivity. Show you’ll thrive in Intuit’s innovative culture.
Questions to Ask the Interviewer
Interviewers look for candidates who are excited about Intuit and invested in mutual success. Prepare some thoughtful questions such as:
-
How do you see this role evolving in the next few years?
-
What opportunities are there for learning and career development?
-
How would you describe the engineering culture and values at Intuit?
-
What technologies and trends are you most excited about?
-
What challenges is the team currently focused on solving?
-
What attributes make someone successful on your team?
Smart questions demonstrate your engagement and align your goals with the company.
Final Takeaways for Acing the Intuit Interview
With diligent preparation using these tips, you’ll be equipped to excel in the Intuit software engineering interview process. Showcase both outstanding technical expertise as well as passion for Intuit’s mission. Keep practicing coding challenges while internalizing behavioral stories and questions. Stay confident under pressure, think on your feet, and emphasize problem-solving skills. You’ll be primed to land your dream job innovating financial software at one of the world’s top fintech leaders!
Is Intuit a better place to work than Google?
Both companies have their own pros and cons. People give Intuit high marks for its values and culture, work-life balance, diversity and inclusion, pay, benefits, and senior management. Regarding Google, senior management, learning opportunities, and work environment are highly-rated in Google.
2 State the differences between virtual DOM and real DOM.
| Virtual DOM | Real DOM |
| DOM manipulation is easy | DOM manipulation is complex |
| It doesn’t waste memory | It wastes memory |
| It cannot update HTML directly | It directly updates HTML |
| It updates pages faster since it is lightweight. | It updates pages slowly. |
Intuit Interview Experience for Staff Software Engineer.
FAQ
What questions does Intuit ask in an interview?
Is it difficult to get hired at Intuit?
What is the salary of Intuit SDE 2?
What questions do Intuit software engineers ask during interviews?
You are likely to be asked questions about your resume/portfolio during interviews. Diverse skill sets: Intuit software engineers must have diversified skill sets. As you can see, the above Intuit interview questions span a wide range of topics, such as DSA, OOP, DBMS, design patterns, SDLC, and automated frameworks, among others.
What skills do Intuit software engineers need?
Diverse skill sets: Intuit software engineers must have diversified skill sets. As you can see, the above Intuit interview questions span a wide range of topics, such as DSA, OOP, DBMS, design patterns, SDLC, and automated frameworks, among others. Be familiar with programming and database languages.
What was the interview process like at Intuit?
I interviewed at Intuit in 1/1/2024 The first interview was about general knowledge in the field and questions about experience. The second interview was technical, I had to write a microservice + during the process I was asked questions about the language, system design, etc. A few minutes later, the third interview with top management began.
How long does it take to get a job at Intuit?
Intuit’s interview process is fairly straightforward, with three-five rounds in general. Intuit may take up to three-four weeks to complete a job interview, depending on its complexity. 5. What is the eligibility criteria at Intuit?
