Autodesk SDE-1 Interview Experience

I applied to Autodesk for an SDE-1 role through an off-campus opportunity, and my process had multiple onsite rounds.

Round-by-Round Experience

Round 1: Manager and Resume Discussion

My first round started directly from my resume rather than DSA.

I picked one of my projects and explained the problem I was solving, the overall design, how different components interacted and what I had personally implemented.

Whenever I mentioned a technology or design choice, I had to explain why I had chosen it.

I was also asked questions from Computer Networks, Operating Systems and basic security concepts.

Round 2: Arrays and Target Sum

Here, I received a problem involving two arrays and a target sum. I had to find the minimum combination satisfying the given target.

Before coding, I explained my initial approach and then worked through possible optimizations.

I also had to dry-run my final solution and discuss how it would behave for different inputs.
Similar problem:

Round 3: DSA

I received two different problems in this round.

My first problem involved a circular linked list, where I had to determine its head. I had to reason carefully about the pointer relationships because there was no normal NULL ending like a regular linked list.
Similar problem:

My second problem was to search for a target in a matrix.

For both problems, I had to explain my reasoning rather than jump directly to the final code.

Round 4: Internship and Technical Discussion

A major part of this round was based on my six-month internship.

I explained what I had worked on, the responsibilities I owned and some of the technical decisions I had made.

My answers naturally led to follow-up questions around my projects and core CS fundamentals, so I had to connect what I had learned with what I had actually built.

Round 5: Final Manager Discussion

My final discussion again went back to my resume.

I was asked about implementation details, technical decisions and why I had chosen particular approaches in my projects.

I also answered a few fundamental questions and explained how those concepts connected with my actual work.

For me, this felt less like another new technical round and more like a final check of how deeply I understood everything I had presented throughout the process.

Interview Result

I completed all the interview rounds, but I hadn't received the final result when I shared this experience.

The biggest thing I noticed during my Autodesk process was how frequently my resume and projects came back into the discussion.