As an old chip giant, theIntel In recent years in the software direction also continued to recruit, especially in the cloud computing, edge computing and other emerging directions, the technical requirements for SDE (Software Development Engineer) positions are not low. In this article, we have compiled a real Intel SDE interview experience, including the interview process, key questions in each round, and preparation suggestions, which is suitable for students who are submitting Intel or similar U.S. companies for software positions for reference!
Intel SDE Interview Process Overview (SDE Positions)
Intel's Software Development Engineer (SDE) interview process is pretty standard, with three rounds of interviews, each with a different focus. The first round is generally OA or technical interviews, the main test algorithm questions + simplified version of the system design, the difficulty is probably in the LeetCode medium to hard between the more inclined to the practical kind, such as how to design a memory cache, dealing with a bunch of logs, or sliding window class of the classic problem, the test points are not particularly new, but it is not too simple, or need to be certain to brush up the foundation of the problem. System design will generally ask how to structure a small module, such as a storage mechanism, scheduling programs, and so on, the purpose is to see if you have the ability to disassemble and abstract the module, the idea is more important than the code.
The second round is generally with the technical interviewer to talk about the project in depth, will be based on your resume experience to dig deep, especially concerned about your technical decision-making in the project and the ability to land. For example, why use a certain framework, what performance problems encountered how to optimize the system how to do fault tolerance, etc., may also allow you to write a section of the scene with the project similar to the small code module. This round is not only to test whether you can write, but also to test whether you have "engineering sense". If you have done projects dealing with hardware, or the experience of optimizing the bottom layer of the system, you must take the initiative to speak out, it will add a lot of points!
The last round is the Hiring Manager interview, the atmosphere is more relaxed but actually very important, you will be asked how to communicate with the team, how to deal with conflict, whether you have led a project, how to solve problems when under pressure and other behavioral questions. Some managers will ask some more open system design questions in relation to the job requirements, but not too detailed, mainly to see your overall judgment and team matching degree. Intel attaches great importance to the candidate's communication, sense of responsibility and technical judgment, and showing that you are willing to be responsible for a project to the end will be a plus point.
Intel SDE Every Round Interview Detailed
OA Round - 90 minutes, Remote
Two algorithmic questions focus on data structure manipulation and space optimization, strictly limiting time and space complexity, echoing Intel's emphasis on "embedded system resource-constrained" scenarios.
Problem 1: Merge an ascending sorted linked list (L1) and a descending sorted linked list (L2) into one ascending sorted list, with O(M + N) time and O(1) space.
Ideas: First reverse the descending L2 to ascending, then merge the two ascending lists in place with a double pointer, allocating no extra space (except for the result pointer).
Java Implementation:
// Definition of the linked list node
class ListNode {
class ListNode { int val; int
int val; ListNode next; ListNode(int val) { class ListNode(int val) { int val
ListNode(int val) {
this.next = null; }
}
}
public class MergeLinkedLists {
public ListNode merge(ListNode l1, ListNode l2) {
// Reverse the descending linked list L2 to ascending order
ListNode reversedL2 = reverse(l2); // Merge two ascending linked lists.
// Merge two ascending linked lists
return mergeTwoAscending(l1, reversedL2); }
}
private ListNode reverse(ListNode head) {
ListNode prev = null; ListNode curr = head; }
ListNode prev = null; ListNode curr = head; while (curr !
while (curr ! curr = head; while (curr ! = null) {
ListNode nextTemp = curr.next; curr.next = prev; // Reverse the po.
nextTemp = curr.next; curr.next = prev; // Reverse the pointer
nextTemp = curr.next; curr.next = prev; // Reverse the pointer.
curr = nextTemp; }
}
return prev; // New head node
}
private ListNode mergeTwoAscending(ListNode a, ListNode b) {
ListNode dummy = new ListNode(0); ListNode curr = dummy; // new head node.
ListNode curr = dummy; // Merge the two linked lists.
// Merge the two linked lists
while (a ! = null && b ! curr = dummy; // Merge the two linked lists while (a ! = null && b !
if (a.val <= b.val) {
a = a.next; } else { curr.next = a
} else {
curr.next = b; b = b.next; } else {
b = b.next; } else { curr.next = b; b = b.next; }
}
curr = curr.next; }
}
// Attach the remaining nodes
curr.next = (a ! curr.next = (a ! a : b; return dummy.next; } // Attach the remaining nodes
return dummy.next; }
}
}Problem 2: Given a binary tree, a target node, and an integer k, return all nodes with a distance k from the target.
Ideas: Record the parent node of each node using a hash table, transform the tree into an "undirected graph", and collect all nodes by BFS traversing k layers from the target node.
C++ Implementation:
#include
#include
#include
using namespace std.
struct TreeNode {
struct TreeNode { int val; TreeNode *left; TreeNode
struct TreeNode { int val; TreeNode *left; int
TreeNode *left; TreeNode *right; TreeNode(int x)
TreeNode(int x) : val(x), left(NULL), right(NULL) {}
};
class Solution {
public.
vector distanceK(TreeNode* root, TreeNode* target, int k) {
vector ans;
unordered_map parent;
queue q.
q.push(root);
// Record the parent of each node
while (!q.empty()) {
int levelSize = q.size(); for (int i = 0; i < levelSize; q.size())
for (int i = 0; i left) {
parent[curr->left->val] = curr;
q.push(curr->left);
}
if (curr->right) {
parent[curr->right->val] = curr;
q.push(curr->right);
}
}
}
unordered_map visited;
q.push(target);
visited[target->val] = true;
// BFS to traverse k levels
while (k-- && !q.empty()) {
int levelSize = q.size(); // BFS to traverse k levels while (k-- && !q.empty()) {
for (int i = 0; i left && !visited[curr->left->val]) {
visited[curr->left->val] = true;
q.push(curr->left);
}
// Check right child
if (curr->right && !visited[curr->right->val]) {
visited[curr->right->val] = true;
q.push(curr->right);
}
// Check parent node
if (parent.find(curr->val) ! = parent.end() && !visited[parent[curr->val]->val]) {
visited[parent[curr->val]->val] = true;
q.push(parent[curr->val]);
}
}
}
// Collect the result nodes
while (!q.empty()) {
ans.push_back(q.front()->val); q.pop(); } // Collect the result nodes while (!
q.pop(); }
}
return ans.
}
}; }Final Interview Round (Technical Depth + System Design, 60 minutes)
In a nutshell, it's a conversation with a senior engineer or team leader focusing on hardware-software co-design and complex problem solving, and tests understanding of Intel's chip architecture and embedded systems.
Q1: Design a firmware module for Intel's IoT sensor chips to process real-time temperature data.
IdeasCombined with the low power consumption of Intel IoT chips, we design a lightweight module that includes data acquisition, filtering, and threshold alarms, uses ring buffers to handle burst data, reduces CPU usage through interrupt mechanisms, and adapts hardware ADC (analog-to-digital converter) interfaces.
AnswerTo handle noise, a simple moving average filter with a 5-sample window would be added, which is lightweight enough for Intel's IoT. To handle noise, a simple moving average filter with a 5-sample window would be added, which is lightweight enough for Intel's IoT chips. A ring buffer (with a size of 32) would store recent readings to prevent overflow.
A threshold check would be implemented: if the temperature exceeds 85°C, an interrupt would be triggered to send an alert via the chip's UART interface. To save power, the CPU would enter a sleep state between samples and wake up only on interrupts. For reliability, CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) would be added to data packets, and a watchdog timer would be added to data packets. For reliability, CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) would be added to data packets, and a watchdog timer would be included to recover from system hangs. This design balances real-time processing with the low-power requirements of Intel's embedded software. This design balances real-time processing with the low-power requirements of Intel's embedded systems.
Q2: How would you optimize a linked list traversal for Intel's x86 architecture?
Ideas: To take advantage of the cache characteristics of the x86 architecture, it is recommended to align the linked table nodes by memory pages to reduce cache misses, use prefetch instructions (e.g., PREFETCH) to load the next node ahead of time, use chunk traversal for large-scale linked tables, and adapt the CPU's L1/L2 cache size.
Answer: On Intel's x86 CPUs, cache efficiency is crucial for linked list performance. Each ListNode would be aligned to a 64-byte boundary -matching the cache line size-so that a node does not span two cache lines. -This reduces cache misses when accessing next pointers.
For large lists, software prefetching would be used: when accessing node i, the PREFETCHT0 instruction (specific to Intel) would be used to prefetch node i + 3, giving the CPU time to load it into the cache. i + 3, giving the CPU time to load it into the cache. The list would also be traversed in chunks of 32 nodes (fitting the L1 cache) before moving to the next chunk . These optimizations leverage x86's cache hierarchy and often double the traversal speed in internal benchmarks.
BQ (Behavioral Question): Tell me about a time you fixed a critical bug in a low-level system.
Idea: Share debugging experience in embedded system or driver development. Focus on the use of underlying debugging tools (e.g., JTAG, logic analyzer), hardware dependency analysis, and systematic troubleshooting process, and demonstrate familiarity with Intel chip manuals.
Answer: In a previous project, our sensor data pipeline intermittently crashed on an Intel Atom processor. The bug only appeared under high load, so JTAG was used The bug only appeared under high load, so JTAG was used to trace the execution, revealing a race condition in the linked list free routine-two threads attempted to modify the same node.
A spinlock was initially added around the critical section, but it increased latency. Instead, the list was redesigned to use hazard pointers -a lock-free technique more efficient on Intel's multi-core chips. Instead, the list was redesigned to use hazard pointers-a lock-free technique more efficient on Intel's multi-core chips. To verify, 10,000 stress tests were run with the chip's performance counters, confirming no more crashes and a 15% reduction in latency. This experience taught me that low-level bugs often require an understanding of both software logic and hardware behavior.
Interview Insight: Intel SDE position emphasizes "system level engineering thinking".
Unlike traditional Internet SDEs, Intel's software development positions place great emphasis on underlying performance tuning and hardware co-design capabilities. Combined with our coaching experience and feedback from students, the following three points are the core competencies that have been repeatedly emphasized in interviews:
① Hardware awareness preferred
Software development at Intel is not "all about software logic", but requires candidates to have a solid understanding of the underlying system. Design solutions often need to be considered:
Cache Hierarchy and Cache Miss Costs for the x86 Architecture
Thread Scheduling and Resource Allocation in Low Power Mode
Interrupt handling, bus communication, and other mechanisms closely related to the hardware interface
It's easy to lose points for a pure software perspective; be able to stand on the SoC architecture.
② Resource optimization orientation
In programming and system design questions, Intel values your control over resources:
Can the space complexity be kept to O(1) or constant order?
Are CPU and memory footprint-optimized implementations considered?
Does the multithreaded implementation avoid resource contention or cache jitter?
Is there any optimization using bitwise operations, prefetching, etc.?
Embedded thinking of "high performance + low resources" is a plus.
③ Module disassembly emphasizes hardware synergy
When faced with complex system design questions, it is recommended to divide the modules around Intel chip features:
Data Layer (Data Access): How efficiently it is accessed and whether the cache layout makes sense;
Processing layer (Logic Compute): Scheduling schemes for multi-threaded / asynchronous processing;
Interface layer (Driver/I/O): How the system deals with hardware, whether interrupt mechanisms, bandwidth utilization, etc. are considered.
Logic design + hardware synergy are indispensable, and a complete explanation of architectural adaptability is key.
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