Qualcomm Associate Engineer Interview Experience [6 Month Exp.]
Summary
I recently interviewed with Qualcomm for the Associate Engineer position and was selected. The process involved three rounds, covering DSA, core CS concepts like OS and C++ fundamentals, and behavioral questions, culminating in an offer.
Full Experience
Education: BTech in Electronics Engineering
College: Tier 1 College
YOE: 6 Months
Previous Company: Product Based Startup
Title: Associate Engineer
Verdict: Selected
Hi LeetCode Family!
I recently interviewed with Qualcomm for the Associate Engineer position. The process consisted of three elimination based rounds — two technical rounds followed by a hiring manager round.
Round 1 (Medium Level):
The interview began with a discussion about my technical skill set and the technology stack I have worked on. Following this, I was asked a DSA problem on spiral traversal of an N×M matrix. After solving it, I was given another problem on detecting a loop in a linked list, along with an explanation and mathematical proof of the approach used (Floyd’s Cycle Detection Algorithm).
Round 2 (Hard Level – Core CS + DSA):
This round was conducted by a senior engineer and began unexpectedly with questions on Operating System concepts. I was asked to explain topics such as defragmentation, thrashing, memory management, and virtual memory. The interviewer went into depth on each concept and asked follow-up questions to test my understanding.
Next, the discussion moved to C++ fundamentals. I was asked about the auto storage class, pointers and const pointers, memory layout of C++ programs, and heap vs stack memory. I was also asked to explain virtual functions with an example and describe their real-world use case. Additional questions covered lambda functions, function pointers (including writing code for them), and the volatile keyword.
The interviewer also asked about recursion, including writing code to reverse a string using recursion, and discussed process scheduling, where I was asked about the best scheduling algorithm and specifically about Multi-Level Feedback Queue (MLFQ).
Concurrency and synchronization were another focus area. I was questioned in detail about mutexes, semaphores, and spinlocks, including:
- Differences between them
- Internal working
- Where and when spinlocks are preferred
After the theory section, I was given a DSA problem on swapping nodes pairwise in a linked list. I had to explain my approach and write the fully working code, and the interviewer asked follow-up questions based on my solution.
Round 3 (Medium Level):
The hiring manager began by asking how the previous rounds went and then moved into a resume-based discussion. I was asked to explain the projects I had worked on in my previous organization, the role I played in them, and how my contributions helped improve runtime performance through code optimizations.
The discussion then shifted to object-oriented design. I was asked to explain the Singleton design pattern, how to ensure thread safety in its implementation, and to write the corresponding code.
After that, I was given a few DSA and design-oriented problems, including:
- Given numbers from 1 to n, finding the missing and repeating number
- Deleting an element from an array
- Deleting a node from a linked list
- Designing a Memory Leak Analyzer in C++, where I was asked to explain the high-level design (Object Oriented) and approach
This was followed by a managerial and behavioral discussion, where I was asked about my problem-solving approach, how I handle challenges in a team environment, and my expectations from the role. The interviewer also discussed the team’s work and gave an overview of the responsibilities associated with the position.
Interview Questions (14)
Spiral Traversal of Matrix
Given an N×M matrix, traverse and print its elements in spiral order.
Detect Cycle in Linked List
Detect if a linked list contains a cycle. Explain the approach and provide a mathematical proof (Floyd’s Cycle Detection Algorithm).
Operating System Concepts
Explain defragmentation, thrashing, memory management, and virtual memory in detail, including follow-up questions.
C++ Fundamentals
Discuss C++ concepts including: auto storage class, pointers and const pointers, memory layout, heap vs stack memory, virtual functions (with example and real-world use), lambda functions, function pointers (with code), and the volatile keyword.
Reverse String using Recursion
Write code to reverse a string using recursion.
Process Scheduling Algorithms
Discuss process scheduling, including the best scheduling algorithm and Multi-Level Feedback Queue (MLFQ).
Concurrency and Synchronization Primitives
Discuss mutexes, semaphores, and spinlocks, covering their differences, internal workings, and scenarios where spinlocks are preferred.
Swap Nodes in Pairs (Linked List)
Given a linked list, swap every two adjacent nodes and return its head. I had to explain my approach and write the fully working code.
Singleton Design Pattern
Explain the Singleton design pattern, how to ensure thread safety in its implementation, and write the corresponding code.
Find Missing and Repeating Number
Given an array of numbers from 1 to n with one number missing and one repeating, find both numbers.
Delete Element from Array
Explain how to delete an element from an array.
Delete Node from Linked List
Explain how to delete a node from a linked list.
Design Memory Leak Analyzer in C++
Design a Memory Leak Analyzer in C++, explaining the high-level object-oriented design and approach.
Behavioral Questions
Discuss my problem-solving approach, how I handle challenges in a team environment, and my expectations from the role.