I applied for the Red Hat SWE Internship 2026 through a referral. Here’s my complete interview experience.

1. Referral (3 Nov 2025)

I received a referral for the Software Engineering Intern (CY26 – Pune) role on 3 Nov 2025.
Shortly after the referral, I got an official email from Red Hat Workday along with the application link.

2. Opportunity Details (7 Nov 2025)

On 7 Nov 2025, I received a detailed email from the Emerging Talent Team describing:

• Internship duration: 6 months (Jan 19, 2026 – July 17, 2026)
• 40 hours/week, full-time paid internship
• Onsite role in Red Hat Pune
• Conversion based on performance
• Requirement of a NOC after selection
• 2026 pass-outs only

Along with this, I was asked to book a 20-minute telephonic screening interview.

3. Telephonic Interview (11 Nov 2025)

The telephonic round lasted 20 minutes and was a basic introduction + screening round.

What was asked:

• My past projects and internships
• My responsibilities in previous roles
• High-level tech stack discussion
• Behavioral questions
  • How I handle challenges
  • Team collaboration
  • Communication & ownership

This round was mainly to understand my background and fit.

4. Technical Interview (13 Nov 2025 – 45 minutes)

I was scheduled for a 45-minute Google Meet interview with:

• 1 Manager
• 1 Senior Software Engineer

Topics covered in the interview:

a) Internship & Project Discussion

• Questions about my full-stack projects
• Architecture, design choices, technologies used
• Challenges faced & how I solved them

b) JavaScript Questions

They asked:

• Core JS concepts
• Some scenario-based questions

c) DSA Question

I was asked one coding/DSA problem.
(The question level was moderate.)

d) AI/ML Questions (Unexpected)

The manager asked some questions related to AI/ML.

• How do you use AI in your dail life?
• On which architecture it is based? Explain.
• and some ML concepts

Since I am primarily a full-stack engineer and hadn’t prepared for ML, I answered honestly and stuck to what I knew.

Verdict

Awaiting the final result at the time of writing this experience.

Key Takeaways

• Red Hat interviews focus a lot on project depth and clarity of explanation.
• JavaScript knowledge is important for SWE Intern (CY26).
• Expect some cross-domain questions depending on the interviewer.
• Communication, honesty, and clarity matter a lot.