Cracking the Applied-Intuition Coding Challenge: Insights on Parser Design

applied-intuition | Software Engineer | Interview Experience

Interview Date: Not specified
Result: Not specified
Difficulty: Not specified

Interview Process

The candidate was contacted by a recruiter and directly started with a coding challenge. The task involved creating a parser similar to protobuf. The input was a string that needed to be processed, with examples provided. The interview included a self-introduction and casual chat that lasted nearly 20 minutes, which made the candidate feel pressed for time.

Technical Questions

  • Implement a parser for a string input resembling protobuf.
  • Create two functions:
    1. get_size(message_name)
    2. get_type(message_name, field_name)
  • Support for nested cases.

Tips & Insights

The candidate felt that the casual chat at the beginning took up too much time, making it difficult to complete the technical tasks within the allotted time.