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Role: Software Architect Intern (MPU Sitara)

College: Not Specified

Interview Date: 2023

Interview Type: Off-Campus, Internship

Result: Selected

Difficulty: Easy to Moderate

Rounds: 3 rounds

Topics Asked: C language, Operating Systems, Computer Architecture, Basic programming skills, Pointers, Structures in C, Kernel and its role, Cache (L1, L2, L3), `memcpy` function, Mutex and Semaphore, Technical journey, Open Source contributions, 5-year plan.

Experience:

The candidate received an email from HR for an Internship opportunity at the Bengaluru Office for the MPU Sitara Software Architect Intern role. After sending the resume, it was accepted within a week.

Round 1: Technical Interview

The interview was scheduled with an engineer and questions were expected from C language, operating systems, computer architecture, and basic programming skills. The interview took place on a shared code editor with screen sharing. Questions asked were:

• Reverse an integer. Follow-up: Is there any case where `reverse(reverse(N)) != N`? (Answer: If the reversed integer goes out of data type limits).
• Pointers: Given a code snippet, predict the output without running it.
• Structures in C: Define a structure with an integer, a float, and a character. How to use it inside another function? How to send the structure as an argument to another function?
• Assume a `rand()` function gives random 10-bit integer values. Break a loop whenever `rand()` prints a number it has printed initially (hinting at HashSet/boolean array for 1024 values).
• What is the kernel and its role in computers?
• If you write a program with an infinite loop on Linux, can it hang the machine? Why?
• What happens if the compiler does not optimize?
• What is Cache? Explain L1, L2, L3 Cache.
• What does `memcpy` do? Write a custom implementation.
• What are Mutex and Semaphore?

This round lasted for about an hour. The candidate was qualified for the next round.

Round 2: Online Coding Assessment

This round consisted of around 40 objective questions on COA, OS, and C basics.

Round 3: HR Round

This round happened on a telephone call. Questions included: technical journey, availability to work at the Bengaluru office for a minimum of 2 weeks, Open Source contributions and interests in technology, and where the candidate sees themselves in the next 5 years.

A few days later, an offer letter was received for a 2-month internship. The overall evaluation process was fair.