Intuit Staff Software Engineer Interview Experience — Two Long Screens and a Final-Round Rejection

Intuit's interview process had two rounds.

The process was long, but HR was patient. The final round was a big production too.

First round: Coding

The interviewer was very nice and kept encouraging me.

The first coding problem was to design a rate limiter.

Requirement: design a rate limiter that allows five people through during each time period.

Then the design was extended: when VIP users arrive, let the VIP users through first, then let ordinary users through.

There were no stated constraints.

I used a token-based algorithm.

The interviewer then asked questions related to AI coding. If you use AI coding regularly, this part should not be a problem.

The interviewer gave good feedback. Afterward, however, HR told me I had struggled during the coding phase, so it was not a strong yes.

After I passed the first round, I was told to clone the company's own React and Java/Python playground from GitHub. It would be used in the second round.

Second round: Composite interview

This round lasted more than three hours, involved four people, and included a 15-minute break.

In the first half, I introduced myself and projects I had worked on through slides. They asked follow-up questions about those projects.

I then implemented a feature in the playground project: admin users and ordinary users needed to see different user information.

The next three segments were each with a different person.

First, we discussed my experience with project architecture, mainly through questions about my own projects.

Next, we discussed AI applications. This was not limited to AI coding; I needed to discuss specific experience using LLMs. I did not have much experience in this area, and I think this is probably where I failed.

Finally, I discussed project management with the manager.

Result: rejected.