Intel Interview Questions and Tips to Crack the Technical Interview

Is your Intel interview just around the corner? If yes, this article on Intel interview questions will help you get a fair idea of what to expect at the interview. We’ll look at Intel interview questions on coding, systems design, and behavioral attributes.

Intel is a multinational technology company primarily dealing with semiconductor design and manufacturing. It is the biggest semiconductor manufacturer globally, and also manufactures Graphic Processing Units, Microcontrollers, Modems, Network Interface Controllers, and more.

Intel is among the top 50 highest revenue-generating companies and consistently ranks high in the best places to work. Intel offers a culturally diverse work environment that strongly encourages initiative, ownership, and leadership. The company also pays lucrative salaries to its employees, with the average salary of Intel software engineers being $119,677.

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In this article, we’ll look at some Intel interview questions covering Intel coding interview questions, Intel systems design interview questions, and behavioral interview questions.

Here’s a quick look at what we’ll discuss:

• Intel Interview Process
• Intel Software Engineer Interview Questions
• Intel Interview Questions on Coding
• Intel Interview Questions on Distributed Systems Design
• Intel Behavioral Interview Questions
• Tips to Crack the Intel Interview
• FAQs on Intel Interview Questions

The Intel Interview Process

The interview process at Intel typically tests your problem-solving and analytical programming skills. The main aspects of the interview include:

1. Intel interview questions on coding
2. Intel interview questions on systems design
3. Behavioral  interview questions

Let’s look at the interview process in detail.

The Initial Recruiter Screen

The Recruiter Screen is the first round where a recruiter from Intel’s human resources department will give you details about the open position and find out your interest. Intel interview questions in this round are mostly around your experience, previous organizations you’ve worked with, your skill level, and general expectations from the role.

The recruiter will also obtain details about your current and expected compensations. If your skill set and level of experience are in tune with the demands of the role, you’ll be invited to the Technical Phone Screen interview.

The Technical Phone Screen Interview

This round essentially evaluates your programming and problem-solving skills. Your abilities as a coder are closely assessed through a coding problem. The problem will involve applying concepts in core data structures. You’ll be asked to code up an algorithm and arrive at the most optimal solution to the problem.

You're usually asked to solve one or two coding problems (easy-medium difficulty) in the Technical Phone Screen round. The hiring manager might also tweak the problem statement to understand your thought process and ability to account for multiple variables while solving the problem.

If your performance on the Technical Phone Screen is satisfactory, you’ll be called for the Intel On-site interview.

The On-site Interview

The on-site fundamentally tests your coding and systems design skills. There’s also a behavioral and soft skill round where you’re asked a bunch of questions on your strengths, professional experiences in the past, workplace conduct, and ethics.

The on-site Intel interview will usually have these rounds:

• 1-2 coding rounds
• 1-2 systems design rounds
• One domain round
• One behavioral round

Intel Software Engineer Interview Questions

This section on Intel interview questions will cover sample questions that you can expect at the Intel interview. It will cover Intel coding interview questions, Intel systems design questions, and behavioral interview questions.

Intel Interview Questions on Coding for Software Engineers

Intel interview questions on coding are predominantly around core data structures and graph algorithms. Below are the important coding concepts around which Intel interview questions are asked:

• Recursion
• Trees and graphs
• Hash tables and queues
• Arrays, strings, and linked lists
• Sorting algorithms — quicksort, merge sort, heap sort, etc.
• Graph algorithms, including greedy algorithms
• Dynamic programming

Sample coding interview questions asked at the Intel interview:

1. Given a string “S” containing a set of words, transform it such that the words appear in the reverse order. One or more spaces separate words in “S”. (Solution)
2. Given an unsorted set of numbers from 1 to N with exactly two missing numbers, find those two missing numbers. (Solution)
3. You are given an array of integers, arr, of size n, analogous to a continuous stream of integers input. Your task is to find “K” largest elements from a given stream of numbers. (Solution)
4. Given a sequence, return its next lexicographically greater permutation. If such a permutation does not exist, then return it in ascending order. (Solution)
5. a) Given A Graph, Build A New One With Reversed Edges b) Given a strongly connected directed graph, build a new graph with the same number of nodes but every edge reversed. This is also called transposing a graph. (Solution)
6. Implement an iterator over a binary tree with integer values. Your iterator will be initialized with the root node.
   1. next() method must return the next number in the in-order traversal of the tree.
   2. hasNext() method must return whether the next element exists. (Solution)
7. Given an integer array arr of size n, find all magic triplets in it. A Magic triplet is a group of three numbers whose sum is zero. (Solution)
8. Given a binary tree “T,” write a code to generate the mirror image of the tree. (Solution)
9. Given a variety of coin types defining a currency system, find the minimum number of coins required to express a given amount of money. Assume an infinite supply of coins of every type. (Solution).
10. Given a partially filled two-dimensional integer array, fill all the empty cells such that each row, each column, and each 3 x 3 subgrid (as highlighted below by bolder lines) has every digit from 1 to 9 exactly once. (Solution)

Get access to several more coding problems along with optimal solutions at our Problems Page.

Our Learn Page will help you brush up on important coding and design concepts for the interview.

Intel Systems Design Interview Questions

Your knowledge of concepts in scalable systems design is tested in this round. Below are the important topics for the Systems design interview at Intel:

• Concurrency
• Sharding techniques
• Caching and Loading
• Processing Systems
• Optimizing system performance
• Systems Design Case Studies
• API modeling
• Network Protocols

Sample systems design interview questions:

1. What design requirements would you consider while designing a file-sharing system like Dropbox?
2. How would you ensure the overall security of a scalable system?
3. What are your thoughts on the server requirements for an e-commerce website like Amazon?
4. What design aspects would you consider while designing a cab-hailing service like Uber?
5. What is a Proximity server, and how would you design one?

Intel Behavioral Interview Questions

Behavioral interview questions fundamentally test your ability to react optimally to challenging workplace situations and your general attitude towards professional and personal situations. Below are some sample behavioral interview questions asked at the Intel interview:

1. How do you prioritize your tasks at work, especially on a day when you have multiple tasks that need to be completed?
2. How do you manage work-life stress?
3. How do you ensure to stay motivated and driven towards work?
4. What habits do you think are important for an ideal work-life balance?
5. Why do you want to work at Intel?
6. Tell us about a time when you had a disagreement with a superior?
7. Tell us about a time when you had to work long hours to meet deadlines. How did you deal with it, and how did it affect you?
8. How often do you think it’s necessary to take a vacation?

Tips to Ace Your Intel Interview

Let’s look at some noteworthy tips to ace the technical interview at Intel:

1. Spend at least 8-10 weeks preparing. It will take you that long to cover the extent of topics in coding and systems design. Make sure to spend at least a week creating and practicing responses to behavioral questions.
2. Identify patterns in problems and use analogous patterns to solve new problems. This is the best way to scale up your problem-solving skills.
3. Find a good resource to help you with your interview prep. With Interview Kickstart, you’ll receive training from instructors who are FAANG+ hiring managers and are closely acquainted with the interview process.
4. Practice a good number of mock interviews with experts. Mocks are the best way to overcome interview anxiety, build confidence, and strengthen areas where you’re lacking.
5. Optimize your LinkedIn profile with the right keywords and information.

FAQs on Intel Interview Questions

1. How important are Intel interview questions on systems design?

Systems design is an integral component of the interview process. There can be 2 systems design rounds On-site, with questions mostly around scalable systems and applications, network protocols, databases, caching and Sharding, and systems design case studies. Systems design interviews at Square are more important for senior developer and managerial (Engineering Management) positions.

2. What type of Intel interview questions are asked at behavioral interviews?

Behavioral interview questions asked at Intel’s technical interview are mostly around past experiences with challenging projects, relationships with coworkers and superiors, work-life balance, productivity, and general workplace-related situations. You can also be asked questions about your strengths and weaknesses and how you’d manage stress and pressure in the face of demanding work projects.  

3. How many Intel interview questions are asked in coding?

You can expect 1-2 Intel interview questions on coding during the Technical Phone Screen round and 1-2 questions during the On-site coding round.

4. Which is the best mock interview course to practice for the Intel interview?

Interview Kickstart’s mock interview course is just the perfect resource to help you prepare for mock interviews to tackle technical interviews at the biggest companies.

5. How many Intel interview questions are asked in distributed systems design?

Questions on distributed systems design are asked during the On-site design round. You can expect one problem-type question and a few concept and theory-based Intel interview questions on systems design.

Gear up for Your Next Technical Interview

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