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Comparison of SDE Internship Interview Focus: US vs. China

US:

What they evaluate:

  1. Luck
  2. Algorithm problems
  3. Behavioral questions (BQ)
  4. Project details

Summer internship application timeline: Typically from August of the year before enrollment through March of the following year. The process is very long — some take four or five months (e.g., Google). It's common to wait at least two weeks for results after interviewing.

The evaluation criteria above are listed in decreasing order of importance. In US SDE interviews, luck and algorithm problems carry the most weight. Luck determines whether an HR will see your resume and reach out for an interview. Your proficiency in algorithm problems determines whether you pass. Interview algorithm difficulty is generally on par with China. Compared to Chinese SDE interviews, there's much less focus on project details — they're typically examined through behavioral questions, such as "What's your proudest project?" without deep follow-up questions. The focus of the entire interview is on algorithm problems. The typical flow is: restate the problem - walk through an example - write code - analyze time complexity. You can't let the interview go silent — you need to talk while you code. Internal referrals can help you get interviews (I got one small-company interview through an internal referral). BQ is very important — for some companies (like Amazon), it can directly determine whether you get an offer. You can study BQ using the LP (Leadership Principles) framework from YouTube videos or forum resources.

China:

What they evaluate:

  1. Internship experience
  2. Projects
  3. CS fundamentals (OS, Computer Networks, MySQL, Redis)
  4. Algorithm problems

Summer internship application timeline: Typically March through May of the same year. Apply when you're ready. Chinese interview processes move very fast — they generally expect you to start relatively quickly (within two weeks).

The evaluation criteria above are listed in decreasing order of importance, but failing to solve the algorithm problem is an automatic rejection. Internship and project experience take up the majority of the interview time. Interviews typically consist of 3 technical rounds + 1 HR round, though sometimes it's 2 technical rounds. Technical evaluation goes deeper compared to the US, with many questions about business details. For example, if your internship experience was in search/ads/recommendation, they might ask about cold start problems, how to store large-scale data, how to ensure real-time performance, etc. Behavioral questions are basically not asked, unless it's an Alibaba-affiliated company interview — their HR has a large scope and can directly reject a candidate. For the algorithm portion, you generally don't need to explain while coding — you just need to ensure you write the optimal solution. Internal referrals don't help with getting interviews.