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      Embedded Software Engineer Interview

      22 May 2020
      Anonymous interview candidate
      San Diego, CA
      No offer
      Negative experience
      Difficult interview

      Application

      I applied through an employee referral. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at Qualcomm (San Diego, CA) in Apr 2020

      Interview

      I was interviewed for 2 separate positions to be located in San Diego, once in late March 2020, and the other in late April 2020. The first interview for the first position (an Audio DSP Software Engineer role) was a technical phone interview with one of their engineers. First of all, my interviewer was late to the call by 40 minutes. He at least let me know that he'd be about 15 mins late over an email, but then he still didn't call me for another 25 minutes. That was already a red flag for me. In the interview, he asked me really detailed questions on C, such as what sizeof() would return when used on a struct that he gave me the definition for (I had to keep in mind the rules of byte padding in structs, which I did not remember clearly at the time). He then proceeded to ask me questions regarding multi-threading and critical sections. I thought the interview had gone alright, and he had at least promised me that I'd hear back soon. That did not happen. I ended up having to ping my HR contact for this position a few weeks later, and still no response. A month after that first interview, I ping my HR contact again, and instead of getting yes/no on whether I'd be moving forward, she asks if I'd be interested in interviewing for a separate position (Computer Vision Software Engineer), also in San Diego. I agree, thinking the first step would be a phone interview like the first position, and give her my availability for the following few days. However, instead of a phone screen, they wanted to schedule a full-on virtual on-site interview with 3 separate panels. WITH ONLY 24 HOURS' NOTICE. I ask if I can push the interview back to the following week, but they refused, and so I begrudgingly went through the virtual interview the next day. The first 2 rounds of interviews were fine, and the interviewers were pretty friendly. Despite the role being a Computer Vision one, there were surprisingly few questions on CV concepts, which worked in my favor since I have little experience in that area. Most of the questions were about embedded software engineering concepts or OS concepts. However, my last interviewer, who was only supposed to ask me questions for 45 mins, ended up taking OVER 2 HOURS, and just kept asking me such a wide range of questions from fundamentl C concepts to algorithms to OS multi-threading concepts. One question he asked was how to detect a loop within a Linked-List; luckily, I had encountered that same question before in a previous interview years ago, so I knew to suggest using Floyd's cycle detection algorithm, and how to implement it. However, strangely, he asked what other solutions I could use that may not be as optimal. I suppose he was trying to gauge how I think about a problem, but it was still strange for him to ask for a non-optimal solution. After the interview, I felt I had done pretty good for just 24 hours' notice and almost no time to prepare (since I still had to work), and was told that I would hear back in 2 weeks. Of course that was also not the case, and I kept pinging my HR contact. They finally got back to me almost a month after that interview, just sending me what looked like an automated rejection letter. This was a very messy and unorganized process, and my overall interview experience with them was pretty negative. I won't be applying to Qualcomm again for at least a few years after this.

      Interview questions [5]

      Question 1

      Given the following struct definition in C, what would sizeof(myStruct) return? typedef struct { short a; long b; char c; } myStruct;
      7 Answers

      Question 2

      Given an image represented as an array of pixels, develop an algorithm that flips it 180 degrees.
      Answer question

      Question 3

      Develop an algorithm to detect a cycle in a Linked-List.
      2 Answers

      Question 4

      Develop an algorithm to reverse the bits in a byte.
      1 Answer

      Question 5

      What are virtual functions?
      2 Answers
      14

      Other Embedded Software Engineer interview reviews for Qualcomm

      Embedded Software Engineer Interview

      26 May 2026
      Anonymous interview candidate
      No offer
      Positive experience
      Average interview

      Application

      I interviewed at Qualcomm

      Interview

      they call you and ask you the your availability and typical interview goes for 3 hours if they are interested. They ask C questions and your project related questions. At last a manager comes and takes your interview.

      Interview questions [1]

      Question 1

      Storage classes in C, Bit manipulation questions.
      Answer question

      Embedded Software Engineer Interview

      2 Apr 2026
      Anonymous interview candidate
      No offer
      Neutral experience
      Average interview

      Application

      I interviewed at Qualcomm

      Interview

      I had 1 screening round with 4 onsite rounds . All the rounds focuses on basic C concepts and additional concepts specific to role. Prepare behavioural questions related to your past work experience
      1

      Embedded Software Engineer Interview

      4 Mar 2026
      Anonymous interview candidate
      San Diego, CA
      No offer
      Neutral experience
      Average interview

      Application

      I interviewed at Qualcomm (San Diego, CA)

      Interview

      Applied online. Recruiter reached out to schedule 2 technical interviews , 1 was about C/C++ coding , as well as fundamental coding / memory concepts. And another was a deep dive about items on my resume focusing on both technical and other aspects. Thought they went good but didn’t get the offer

      Interview questions [1]

      Question 1

      Going through code snippets and finding issues/ changing code
      Answer question

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