I was in contact with a recruiter via the Handshake app for months and then visited their booth when they came to campus. I mentioned the recruiter I had been in contact with. I filled out an application online.

They asked me to do an online coding challenge via HackerRank. Not going to lie, the problem was very difficult, but I was still able to crack it somehow.

Then they scheduled this online video interview with an engineer from Karat. Now, mind you, this person was very nice and friendly, but knew over 30 coding languages and had over 35 years of experience in this industry. I, myself, am just a sophomore trying to learn more about the company and get some experience.

So, the interviewer gave me a coding challenge to solve, and it was based on Data Structures. They didn't ask me if I had covered it yet (I am taking Data Structures next semester). I proceeded to try approaching the problem with the knowledge I had, like using ArrayLists and for loops. The engineer then wanted me to take a Data Structures approach and ended up kind of walking me through the entire code. This made me look like I had zero knowledge and didn't know what I was doing. The interview ended very embarrassingly for me.

I just wish they would not have made their interview process so difficult and perhaps asked students about their current academic standing and courses taken. Honestly, it worked out for the best, as another company (a pretty famous one) hired me. They asked me those questions first, then tested my knowledge, and didn't give me problem after problem to solve.

I wanted to learn more about Intuit's culture, as I use most of their products, and I could have brought fresher ideas to the table if they had conducted any kind of behavioral interview, at the very least.

Two coding challenges were presented.

The first involved using 2D arrays to solve a grid-based problem.

The second required using data structures in front of an engineer.