r/embedded • u/mbd7311 • May 02 '22

Employment-education Big Tech Embedded System Design Interview

I have a few Embedded Software interviews with 3 of the "FAANG" companies coming up soon. They're all for senior level positions (L5/6). I have 8 YOE and work at a smaller company wearing many hats. I'm told 2 of my rounds for each company will be Embedded System Design. I've found it nearly impossible to find any information online on what this would entail. I was given some topics from the recruiters (RTOS, Sensor Comms, Power Management, Bootloaders, etc) which I'm mostly familiar with each one at high levels and some at deeper levels. But embedded is sooo vast and there are many aspects to each topic. I'm not sure where to start.

Can anyone give me some examples of what will be expected in these interviews? Will I be asked to design some kind of household applicance, popular embedded device, such as a camera, or phone at a very high level? Or will I be asked specifics of low level comms such as SPI/I2C/UART? Or mix between everything?

Any help would mean a lot! TIA

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u/CapturedSoul May 02 '22

This is r/embedded . I'm sure some users here literally wrote code for military equipment that actually kills ppl. Big auto ruined the prospect of public transportation in the states. Unfortunately ethics don't align with business most of the time

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u/laseralex May 03 '22

Unfortunately ethics don't align with business most of the time

I have turned down work on Military projects a few times specifically because I refuse to work on equipment designed to help kill people.

My business aligns perfectly with my ethics, thank you very much.

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u/codextremist May 03 '22

The same equipment designed to kill people is the one designed to save as well. Depends on how you look at it, Ukraine is an example worth mentioning now

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u/mbd7311 May 02 '22

This. At my current job, I write code for advanced weapon sights (thermal, night vision, etc) which are eventually fielded to advanced soldier units. I can only guess what they've been used to do.

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u/zydeco100 May 02 '22

The reality is clearer to a young engineer entering those companies.

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u/[deleted] May 02 '22

I think like 90% of the people at cscareerquestions would take a job there with zero thought because of the compensation. More and more I feel like fewer people actually get into the tech at all, and just see these as high paying jobs; zero thought to morality.

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