This article is contributed by my friend. He is currently working in Qualcomm as a hardware engineer.
The interview process consists of total 4 rounds consisting of 1 online written test, 2 technical rounds and 1 HR round. The written test had 3 sections, Aptitude section, Technical Section and programming section. Each section had approximate 20 Questions. In technical section mostly questions were from digital electronics and digital CMOS. Programming section had questions from C language. All questions were multiple choice questions.
Round 1(Technical)(Duration 45-50 Mins) :
Q1) HR went through my resume and asked me the reason for my subsequently decreasing marks from X to Graduation.
Q2)What were the subjects you studied in XII th (Ans:PCM and Bifocal Electronics) he then asked me my physics marks.
Q3)Project Discussion (32bit microprocessor)-went around for 30mins.
- Difference in Instruction execution of RISC and CISC CPU.
- Draw the architecture of the processor.
- How did you boot up your processor in verilog.
- How did you initialized your PC,Instruction Memory.
- How does PC interact with Instruction Memory (Connection Interface).
- How did you write Test bench?
- How many test cases did you write to verify your Instruction execution? – I told him that I Initialized my Instruction Memory and PC for each Instruction and tested,he told me it was wrong method and causes regression and asked me about any other possible solution. I told him about the initialization of modules using external file to avoid regression he looked convinced with the answer.
- Design of ALU.
Q4)Asked me to rate myself in verilog.
- Basic verilog questions.
- UDP’s,Time scale,Clock generation.
- I want a clock to be off till 100 ns and start clock after 100ns,write a verilog code for it.
Q5)Basic C questions static variable,scope and extent.
Q6) Asked me to draw CMOS Inverter and explain the working,If I remove the VDD how will circuit behave?
Q7)Basic STA question. 2 Flops with 2nd flop having hold time violation,he asked me methods to overcome violation.
Round 2(Technical)(Duration 45-50 Mins):
Q1) He started with brief overview of my all the projects.
Q2)Lots of C question, all basics though.
- Integer data type and its size.
- Functions,Function call(by reference,by value).
- Pointers.
- Some questions on control statements and loops.
Q3)Verilog questions.
- Functions and tasks in verilog , difference between them.
- Why a function cannot call task but a task can call a function.
- Verilog code for basic circuits.
- Synchronous and asynchronous reset code.
- Blocking and Non Blocking assignments in verilog.
Q4) A puzzle (Refer Geeks for geeks for puzzles they were asking puzzles from that website).
Q5)He again turned towards projects (32Bit CPU)
- Basics of pipelining.
- Pipelining paradox.
- Throughput and speedup of CPU.
Q6)Basic Digital Questions.
Q7) Whether I have any plans of Phd?
Q8) Why Qualcomm?
I told him my short term goal is to join a reputed company and qualcomm being a reputed semiconductor its my first preference. Then a follow up question as I used the word short term goal.
Q9)What is your long term goal?
Q10)Have you heard about Qualcomm Noida?
Q11)Do you have any questions for me?
please ask questions as it shows your interest in the company.
Round 3(HR)(Duration 5-10 Mins):
Q1)Tell me about yourself.
Q2)Why IIITA?
Q3)Your strengths and weaknesses.
Q4)Location preference.
Q5)Team Preference.