Intuit Interview Questions, Process, and Tips

Round duration - 60 minutes
Round difficulty - Hard

10 MCQs and 3 programming questions are given.
MCQs included questions asking the outputs of code snippets, algorithmic complexities.
Programming problems are tough.
I was able to solve only 1 problem completely and 1 partially.
Partial score is given for passing some test cases.
Tips: For programming problems code any solution(even brute force) if you are not able to come up with exact solution

Q1. 
LCA of Binary Tree Problem Statement
You are given a binary tree consisting of distinct integers and two nodes, X and Y. Your task is to find and return the Lowest Common Ancestor (LCA) of these two nodes...read more
Ans. 
Find the Lowest Common Ancestor (LCA) of two nodes in a binary tree.
• Traverse the binary tree to find the paths from the root to nodes X and Y.

• Compare the paths to find the last common node, which is the LCA.

• Handle cases where one node is an ancestor of the other.

• Consider edge cases like when X or Y is the root node.

• Implement a recursive or iterative solution to find the LCA efficiently.
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Q2. 
Stack with getMin Operation
Create a stack data structure that supports not only the usual push and pop operations but also getMin(), which retrieves the minimum element, all in O(1) time complexity witho...read more
Ans. 
Implement a stack with getMin operation in O(1) time complexity without using extra space.
• Use two stacks - one to store the actual elements and another to store the minimum values encountered so far.

• When pushing an element, check if it is smaller than the current minimum and if so, push it onto the minimum stack.

• When popping an element, check if it is the current minimum and if so, pop from the minimum stack as well.

• Fo...read more
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Round duration - 60 minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

This was a technical interview round. I was able to solve all questions.

Q1. 
Count Pairs with Given Sum
Given an integer array/list arr and an integer 'Sum', determine the total number of unique pairs in the array whose elements sum up to the given 'Sum'.
Input:
The first line c...read more
Ans. 
Count the total number of unique pairs in an array whose elements sum up to a given value.
• Iterate through the array and for each element, check if the complement (Sum - current element) exists in a hash set.

• If the complement exists, increment the count of pairs and remove the complement from the set to avoid duplicates.

• Return the total count of pairs at the end.
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Q2. Can you explain all the concepts of Object-Oriented Programming (OOP)?
Ans. 
OOP is a programming paradigm based on the concept of objects, which can contain data in the form of fields and code in the form of procedures.
• OOP focuses on creating objects that interact with each other to solve problems.

• Key concepts include encapsulation, inheritance, and polymorphism.

• Encapsulation involves bundling data and methods that operate on the data into a single unit.

• Inheritance allows a class to inherit pr...read more
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Round duration - 60 minutes
Round difficulty - Hard

I couldn't answer 3rd and 4th questions properly but gave some suboptimal solutions.
Tips: Answer multiple solutions trading off time and space complexities

Q1. Calculate the definite integral of a function within the limits a to b.
Ans. 
Definite integral of a function within given limits a to b.
• Use the definite integral formula: ∫[a, b] f(x) dx = F(b) - F(a), where F(x) is the antiderivative of f(x).

• Calculate the antiderivative of the function and then evaluate it at the upper and lower limits.

• Make sure to check for any discontinuities or singularities within the interval.

• Example: Calculate ∫[0, 2] x^2 dx = (1/3)x^3 |[0, 2] = (1/3)(2^3) - (1/3)(0^3) =
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Q2. 
Closest Distance Pair Problem Statement
Given an array containing 'N' points in a 2D plane, determine the minimum distance between the closest pair of points.
Note:
Distance between two points (x1, y1) ...read more
Ans. 
The problem involves finding the minimum distance between the closest pair of points in a 2D plane.
• Iterate through all pairs of points and calculate the distance between them using the given formula.

• Keep track of the minimum distance found so far.

• Optimize the solution by using techniques like sorting the points based on x or y coordinates.
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Q3. How would you design a website that displays the top 1000 products with product ratings that update every second?
Ans. 
Design a website to display top 1000 products with real-time ratings.
• Utilize a backend server to fetch and update product ratings every second.

• Implement a front-end framework like React to display the products and ratings dynamically.

• Use a database to store and retrieve product information efficiently.

• Consider implementing caching mechanisms to reduce server load.

• Optimize the website for performance to handle frequent
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Round duration - 60 minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

It comprised of general aptitude questions and two coding questions. It was an offline test.

Q1. 
N Queens Problem
Given an integer N, find all possible placements of N queens on an N x N chessboard such that no two queens threaten each other.
Explanation:
A queen can attack another queen if they ar...read more
Ans. 
The N Queens Problem involves finding all possible placements of N queens on an N x N chessboard without threatening each other.
• Use backtracking algorithm to explore all possible configurations.

• Keep track of rows, columns, and diagonals to ensure queens do not threaten each other.

• Generate all valid configurations and print them out.
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Q2. 
Sort 0 1 2 Problem Statement
Given an integer array arr of size 'N' containing only 0s, 1s, and 2s, write an algorithm to sort the array.
Input:
The first line contains an integer 'T' representing the n...read more
Ans. 
Sort an array of 0s, 1s, and 2s in linear time complexity using a single scan.
• Use three pointers to keep track of the positions of 0s, 1s, and 2s in the array.

• Iterate through the array and swap elements based on their values and the pointers.

• After a single scan, the array will be sorted in-place with 0s, 1s, and 2s in order.
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Round duration - 60 minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

The interviewer started by having a look at my CV. He asked for a firm technical introduction. He asked question about my projects. As I have had my intern from a very good place, he appeared impressed from the very start. After having a technical discussion about my CV, he gave me 2 questions to code.

Q1. 
Detect the First Node of the Loop in a Singly Linked List
You are provided with a singly linked list that may contain a cycle. Your task is to return the node where the cycle begins, if such a cycle exist...read more
Ans. 
To detect the first node of a loop in a singly linked list, we can use Floyd's Cycle Detection Algorithm.
• Use Floyd's Cycle Detection Algorithm to detect the cycle in the linked list.

• Once the cycle is detected, find the starting node of the cycle using two pointers approach.

• The first pointer moves one step at a time while the second pointer moves two steps at a time until they meet at the starting node of the cycle.
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Q2. 
Word Presence in Sentence
Determine if a given word 'W' is present in the sentence 'S' as a complete word. The word should not merely be a substring of another word.
Input:
The first line contains an in...read more
Ans. 
Check if a given word is present in a sentence as a complete word.
• Split the sentence into words using spaces as delimiter.

• Check if the given word matches any of the words in the sentence.

• Ensure the word is not just a substring of another word in the sentence.
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Round duration - 60 minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

The interviewer was a young guy. He too had a look at my CV and appeared impressed. He discussed in detail about the two major projects done during my internship. He sat smiling at me with a friendly look and said that yes you have had actually done a lot of work. In the end for formality sake he gave me one question to code

Q1. 
Inorder Successor in a Binary Tree
Find the inorder successor of a given node in a binary tree. The inorder successor is the node that appears immediately after the given node during an inorder traversal....read more
Ans. 
Find the inorder successor of a given node in a binary tree.
• Perform an inorder traversal of the binary tree to find the successor node

• If the given node has a right child, the successor is the leftmost node in the right subtree

• If the given node does not have a right child, backtrack to find the ancestor whose left child is the given node
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Round duration - 45 minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

This was supposed to be the HR round but out of surprise the interviewer started by giving me a question to code.
After I approached this question with the right solution he just asked about my family. After that he said to wait.
After half an hour the results were announced. A total of three students were hired and I was amongst one of them.

Q1. 
Generate All Parentheses Combinations
Given an integer N, your task is to create all possible valid parentheses configurations that are well-formed using N pairs. A sequence of parentheses is considered w...read more
Ans. 
Generate all valid parentheses combinations for N pairs.
• Use backtracking to generate all possible combinations of parentheses.

• Keep track of the number of open and close parentheses used.

• Add '(' if there are remaining open parentheses, and add ')' if there are remaining close parentheses.

• Stop when the length of the generated string is 2*N.
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Round duration - 60 minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

Technical interview round that lasted for around 60 minutes. The interviewer asked me programming questions, puzzles, Java basics and some output based questions.

Q1. 
Maximum Non-Adjacent Subsequence Sum
Given an array of integers, determine the maximum sum of a subsequence without choosing adjacent elements in the original array.
Input:
The first line consists of an...read more
Ans. 
Find the maximum sum of a subsequence without choosing adjacent elements in an array.
• Use dynamic programming to keep track of the maximum sum at each index, considering whether to include the current element or not.

• At each index, the maximum sum can be either the sum of the current element and the element two positions back, or the maximum sum at the previous index.

• Iterate through the array and update the maximum sum a...read more
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