Intel Corporation Interview Questions
& Process

So, applying to Intel for a software or engineering gig is usually like a 4-6 step thing. It might change a bit depending on if you're going for software, hardware, or research, but it's pretty much the same plan. First up, you send in your application through their website or if you're coming from campus. Then, some recruiter checks out your resume to see if you've got the right stuff, skills, and projects. If they like it, you move on. Sometimes, they throw in an online test before the actual interviews, which could have brain teasers like logic, numbers, and words, plus some coding and basic CS stuff to check if you can think and code. After that, you'll chat with a recruiter or HR person for about 30-45 minutes. They'll ask about where you've been, what you know, what languages you use, why you want to work at Intel, and what you expect to earn. This is mostly to see if you're a decent match before they get all technical. The technical interview part is the main deal, though.

The interview experience was quite relaxed and lasted for about 45 minutes. The person interviewing me was really nice and made the whole thing feel more like a chat than an exam. They mostly asked about functional and formal verification, specifically what the difference is between them. I told them that functional verification checks if the design works as expected, usually with simulations and testbenches. Formal verification, though, uses math to prove design properties without simulations. It was more of a discussion than an interrogation, and I felt I explained my understanding well.

So first there was this 20 minute call with the manager, then after that there was a 90 minute technical interview with two software engineers. The interview itself went pretty well, but the timeline for getting the results was kinda slow. I had to wait for like two weeks after the final interview even though I had another offer waiting. I sent two emails to follow up on the result but ended up getting rejected in the end.

The interview included some very basic SQL questions and the interviewers were quite rude. They asked me to write the answers in a Word document and then laughed when I didn’t capitalize the table name correctly, even though they said it was pseudocode. I was not informed that there would be coding involved, so I hadn't reviewed SQL syntax beforehand. They questioned every line I typed, even when I performed fine. The entire experience felt unnecessary and unprofessional; I would not recommend working with this team!