A campus walkthrough of Visa's software engineer intern process is circulating after a candidate shared his experience of a virtual, two-day interview cycle that ended with an offer. It is useful as a prep map, not as gospel.
The structure, drawn from coverage on GeeksforGeeks, is straightforward: one 60-minute online coding round, then a 45-minute combined technical and HR interview the next day.
How the process actually ran
Two coding questions, sixty minutes, easy-to-medium difficulty. The first, drawn from the famous "Last Stone Weight" problem on LeetCode, asks you to keep smashing the two heaviest stones in a list until either one stone or none is left, returning the smallest possible weight. The second is a batch-processing problem: given queues with a maximum batch size, a processing time per batch and a task count, return the minimum total time to clear all tasks. Neither is exotic; both reward clean loops and quick mental maths.
About 400+ students sat the test. Four advanced.
Round 2 is where most candidates fall over, mostly because the surface area is wide. The interview opens with a deep dive on whatever is on the resume, which means anything you mention is fair game. Then comes a "split a float into integer and fractional parts without using built-ins" exercise, followed by cloning a linked list that uses both next and random pointers. After that, you read a C snippet and predict its output, then answer two SQL queries against a school-style schema. HR closes the call with a few standard prompts.
Our analysis
What this walkthrough really shows is the weight distribution. The coding round is the gatekeeper, but the technical interview is where offers are won or lost, and it does not lean hardest on algorithms. It leans on language fluency (parsing a float by hand), low-level reading (C code tracing), structural fluency (linked list with random pointers) and data literacy (SQL on a fresh schema).
There is also a quiet signal in the numbers. Roughly 400 candidates sat the test, four made it through, two were selected. That is a steep funnel. If your campus sees Visa as a stretch, you are not wrong, but the numbers make a sloppy first round very costly: a missed problem there does not get recovered by a strong second day.
The candidate reported that Visa did not run a separate HR round. Every interview combined coding with culture fit. That means your answer to "why Visa" and your answer to "split this float" are being scored by the same person. Practise talking while you code.
Who should care
| Profile | Relevance |
|---|---|
| CSE/ISE CSBS students | High – primary eligibility |
| ECE/EEE/E&I students | Moderate – eligible but CS fundamentals less fresh |
| Non-CS engineering students | Low – unless strong in coding and SQL |
| CP veterans | Moderate – easy coding round, must bridge to systems thinking |
| SQL-first learners | High – SQL carries real weight in Round 2 |
Say you have four weeks to prep
Burn through LeetCode easy-to-medium tagged "array", "string" and "linked list", with at least one random-pointer clone problem a day. Do five medium SQL problems against fresh schemas each day, no peeking at column lists before you read the question. Write a C program every other day that uses pointers, structs and the usual gotchas (postfix increments inside printf, char array termination) until output prediction feels boring. Run two mock rounds: one HackerRank-style timed test with two problems, one 45-minute live interview where a friend asks the HR questions at the end while you code. Keep a notebook of every mistake you make; reread it the morning of the real interview.
What to watch next
Confirm the exact format on the day your recruiter briefs you, as companies occasionally adjust round counts between cycles. The single best predictor of clearing this loop is not raw LeetCode volume; it is being able to write clean C, read C, write SQL and explain your last project without stalling, all in the same forty-five minutes.
Key takeaways
- Treat C, SQL and linked lists as core, not bonus material.
- Practise talking while you code; HR sits inside the technical round.
- Know your resume cold; every bullet is fair game.
- Aim for clean first attempts in the coding round; the pass rate is steep.
Frequently asked questions
How many rounds does the Visa SWE intern process have?
Two: a 60-minute online coding test on HackerRank, then a 45-minute technical plus HR interview on Microsoft Teams with HackerRank CodePair.
How many candidates move past the coding round?
In the cohort described, roughly 400+ sat the test and four advanced to the final interview stage.
What coding problems should I expect?
Easy-to-medium questions such as a "Last Stone Weight" style problem and a batch processing queue problem, drawn from common interview sets.
What technical topics come up after the coding round?
Floating-point parsing by hand, cloning a linked list with a random pointer, reading and predicting the output of C code, and SQL queries on a given schema.
How can I prepare efficiently in a few weeks?
Mix LeetCode easy-to-medium with daily SQL practice, small C exercises and at least one full mock 45-minute interview before the real one.