Intuit

Intuit Interview Experience

Rejection

Intuit Interview Experience for Experienced SDE - 1, Jan 2026

Role

SDE - 1

Experience

Experienced

Platform

Website

Prep Duration

3 months

Eligibility / Offer Details

NA, (Salary package: 27 LPA)

Branch

Computer Science Engineering

Total Rounds

2 Rounds

Application Experience

I applied for the role through the official Intuit careers portal after coming across the opening online. After submitting my application, I received a follow-up from the recruitment team to proceed with the interview process. The communication throughout was clear and timely, with proper guidance shared at each stage. The process was well-structured and professionally managed, starting with an initial screening and moving forward step by step toward the interviews. Overall, the journey felt smooth, transparent, and candidate-friendly, making it a positive and insightful application experience.

Preparation

Topics Prepared: Data Structures, Algorithms, Dynamic Programming, Graphs, Trees, Arrays & Strings, Recursion, Time & Space Complexity

Preparation Tips

Tip 1: Practice DSA consistently with a focus on understanding patterns rather than memorizing solutions. Tip 2: Analyse every mistake after solving problems and revise weak topics regularly.

Resume Tips

Tip 1: Keep your resume concise and impact-driven, highlighting measurable results and real contributions instead of generic responsibilities. Tip 2: Showcase strong projects with clean GitHub links, and ensure every skill mentioned is something you can confidently explain and defend in an interview.

Interview Rounds (2)

Detailed breakdown of each evaluation round, questions asked, and candidate approaches.

Round 1

Round 1 — Online Coding Test

90 minutesEasyCleared

Problems & Questions Asked (3)

Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters

Problem Statement

Given a string input of length n, find the length of the longest substring without repeating characters i.e return a substring that does not have any repeating characters. Substring is the continuous sub-part of the string formed by removing zero or more characters from both ends. Input format: The first and the only line consists of a string of length n containing lowercase alphabets. Output format: You need to print the length of the longest unique characters substring. Constraints: 1<= n <=10^5 Time Limit: 1 sec

Candidate Approach

Step 1: I first thought of a brute-force approach where I check all possible substrings and verify if each substring has unique characters. I realized this would take too much time for large inputs. Step 2: I identified that the problem could be optimized using the sliding window technique with two pointers to maintain a window of unique characters. Step 3: I used a hash set (or map) to keep track of characters in the current window. When a duplicate character appeared, I moved the left pointer forward until the window became valid again. Step 4: At each step, I updated the maximum length of the valid window. Step 5: This reduced the time complexity to O(n), and the solution handled all edge cases efficiently.

Merge Intervals

Problem Statement

You are given N number of intervals, where each interval contains two integers denoting the start time and the end time for the interval. The task is to merge all the overlapping intervals and return the list of merged intervals sorted by increasing order of their start time. Two intervals [A,B] and [C,D] are said to be overlapping with each other if there is at least one integer that is covered by both of them. For example: For the given 5 intervals - [1, 4], [3, 5], [6, 8], [10, 12], [8, 9]. Since intervals [1, 4] and [3, 5] overlap with each other, we will merge them into a single interval as [1, 5]. Similarly, [6, 8] and [8, 9] overlap, merge them into [6,9]. Interval [10, 12] does not overlap with any interval. Final List after merging overlapping intervals: [1, 5], [6, 9], [10, 12]. Input Format: The first line of input contains an integer N, the number of intervals. The second line of input contains N integers, i.e. all the start times of the N intervals. The third line of input contains N integers, i.e. all the end times of the N intervals. Output Format: Print S lines, each contains two single space-separated integers A, and B, where S is the size of the merged array of intervals, 'A' is the start time of an interval and 'B' is the end time of the same interval. Note You do not need to print anything, it has already been taken care of. Just implement the given function. Constraints: 1 <= N <= 10^5 0 <= START, FINISH <= 10^9 Time Limit: 1sec

Candidate Approach

Step 1: I first understood the problem clearly and identified that overlapping intervals need to be combined into a single interval. Step 2: I realized that sorting the intervals by their start time is necessary to process them in order. Step 3: After sorting, I initialized a result list and started comparing the current interval with the last merged interval. Step 4: If the intervals overlapped, I merged them by updating the end time; otherwise, I added the interval as a new entry. Step 5: Finally, I returned the merged list, which handled all edge cases efficiently with optimal time complexity.

Maximum Subarray Sum

Problem Statement

You are given an array/list ARR consisting of N integers. Your task is to find the maximum possible sum of a non-empty subarray(contiguous) of this array. Note: An array C is a subarray of array D if it can be obtained by deletion of several elements(possibly zero) from the beginning and the end of array D. For e.g.- All the non-empty subarrays of array [1,2,3] are [1], [2], [3], [1,2], [2,3], [1,2,3]. Input Format The first line of input contains a single integer ‘N’ denoting the number of elements in the array/list. The second line of input contains ‘N’ single space-separated integers, denoting the elements of the array. Output Format : Print the maximum possible sum of any subarray of the array/list. Note: You do not need to print anything; it has already been taken care of. Just implement the given function. Constraints: 1 <= N <= 5*10^5 -10^9 <= ARR[i] <=10^9 Time Limit: 1sec

Candidate Approach

Step 1: I first thought of a brute-force approach, checking all possible subarrays and calculating their sums. This helped me understand the problem clearly, but the time complexity was too high. Step 2: I realized the brute-force solution was inefficient, so I focused on optimizing it by avoiding repeated sum calculations. Step 3: I applied Kadane’s Algorithm, where I maintained a running sum and reset it whenever it became negative, while tracking the maximum sum found so far. Step 4: I handled edge cases like arrays with all negative numbers. Step 5: The final solution worked in O(n) time and O(1) space, which met the expected efficiency.

Round 2

Round 2 — HR Round

30 minutesEasyCleared

Timing: The round was conducted during regular working hours, not late night. Environment: The environment was calm, professional, and well-organized, which made the conversation comfortable and smooth. Other Significant Activity: The recruiter clearly explained the role, team expectations, and overall hiring process, and also discussed my background and career goals. Interviewer: The recruiter was friendly, attentive, and supportive, creating an open discussion rather than a stressful interview. The interaction felt more like a two-way conversation focused on mutual fit.

Problems & Questions Asked (2)

HR Questions

Problem Statement

Tell me about yourself and your current role. Walk me through your resume and key projects. Why are you interested in Intuit and this role? What kind of problems do you enjoy working on? How do you approach learning a new technology quickly? Describe a challenging situation you faced and how you handled it. What are your strengths and areas you are working to improve? Where do you see yourself in the next few years?

Candidate Approach

Tip 1: Be structured and honest: I answered in a clear flow (context → action → outcome) instead of long stories. Tip 2: Connect answers to impact: I linked my experiences to problem-solving, ownership, and learning mindset. Tip 3: Show growth mindset: For weaknesses or failures, I focused on what I learned and how I improved.

Selection Perspective

Problem Statement

I was not selected for the role, but the experience was an important learning milestone. I believe I performed well in problem-solving and communication; however, the process highlighted that depth and consistency under pressure play a crucial role in competitive interviews. The feedback—both explicit and implicit—showed me the importance of writing clean, optimal solutions quickly and clearly explaining trade-offs. This rejection helped me identify gaps in speed and edge-case handling, pushing me to refine my preparation strategy. Overall, it strengthened my mindset, improved my approach to interviews, and better prepared me for future opportunities.

Key Preparation Tips

Prepare DSA thoroughly.

Practice aptitude and puzzle-based questions.

Have at least two good projects on your resume.

Be prepared to explain your projects clearly.

Practice coding problems involving Arrays, Binary Search, DP and Recursion.

Prepare common HR questions such as Tell me about yourself and Who is your role model?

Candidate Approach