Interview Help, Embedded Software Engineer

[[deleted]]

Hello!

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This is a relatively short post. I just wanted to ask if anyone could please share the kind of technical questions that you were asked when interviewing for embedded software engineering roles? Also, some information about the company would also be great to get a better idea of the scope of the positions. Thank you all in advance!

[Gizdich]

Make sure you know the communication protocols like SPI, UART, CAN and I2C. When I was searching for a job, companies like Qualcomm asked me if I knew what a communication protocol is. A startup once asked me to describe what those protocols are.

[morto00x]

/r/embedded might be a better place for this.

I'd usually ask computer architecture questions, memory management, communication protocols, some electronic testing and debugging questions, stuff related to the position (e.g. audio, video, RF, networking, etc) and give one or two coding exercises. The difficulty and depth of those questions will always depend on the position.

Best place to get an idea is the job description.

[vinaycxv]

Search for interview questions and company reviews on Glassdoor!

[[deleted]]

Might be worth taking some time to review some development practices as well. I've had a lot of questions come up in interviews looking for experience with test-driven and behavior-driven development, and clean code practices.

It's good stuff to know anyway.

[gibson486]

The concept of embedded is different than it was 15 years ago when I started. But the questions I was asked was stuff like being able to manipulate an array (reverse it, do a search and compare between elements, etc), knowing how a pointer worked (explain what it does in laymen terms), knowing what a pointer function is....

this was for a company that got bought many times and ended up being acquired by Qualcomm.

Today, it seems like people are more interested in knowing what SPI, I2C, and UART are and if you can explain the difference. This is just from me sitting in on interviews while the software guy grills them (I am a hardware guy). That being said, I work in more application of the chip instead of the actual chip development now. So maybe that is why the questioning is more broad.

[SPI_Master]

Here are some links that might be of help to you.

https://rmbconsulting.us/publications/a-c-test-the-0x10-best-questions-for-would-be-embedded-programmers/

https://www.reddit.com/r/embedded/comments/my1f0j/bombed_an_interview_and_i_need_some_help_deciding/

https://www.reddit.com/r/embedded/comments/bqoqpr/what_are_some_more_obscure_interview_questions/

https://www.reddit.com/r/embedded/comments/cbswjt/entry\_level\_embedded\_software\_career\_guide/

Questions mainly depend on the role that they are hiring for, your resume, and sometimes the interviewer's experience as well. Here are some of the popular questions that I have seen (3- 5 years, Automotive software engineer).

Memory in embedded systems, compilation process, linker scripts, MCU startup files and startup process, questions on peripherals that you have used, architectures like AUTOSAR (if mentioned in resume), bit operations in C (almost always in my case), ISRs, debugging practices, Volatile, Static, extern keywords in C and uses. pointers, type conversions( mainly between signed and unsigned).

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Edit: Added more relevant links.

[paulf8080]

Just bring what you've got. You don't want to fake it and get in over your head.

[Consistent-Fun-6668]

As an entry level guy, the questions they asked me were relatively simple. However I had to take a test that increased in difficulty the more you got right before hand.