Qualcomm

Role: Engineer (C++)

College: BE in ETCE from Tier 1 College

Interview Date: August 2025

Interview Type: Full-Time (Not specified, but implies full-time employment)

Result: Selected

Difficulty: Round 1: Medium to Hard, Round 2: Hard, Round 3: Medium

Rounds: 3 elimination rounds

Topics Asked: Data Structures & Algorithms (Binary Tree, Linked List, Arrays, Binary Tree Maximum Path Sum, Asteroid Collision, LRU Cache - twisted, Reverse Nodes in K Group), Operating Systems (Defragmentation, Thrashing, Memory Management, Virtual Memory), C++ (Auto storage class, Virtual functions, Singleton class, Thread safety in Singleton, Abstraction, Virtual classes, Vtable, Vptr), Resume and Project Discussion, Object-Oriented Design.

Experience:

This candidate, with a BE in ETCE from a Tier 1 College and experience at a Top EDA Company, interviewed for an Engineer position at Qualcomm and was selected. The process involved three elimination rounds.

Round 1: Technical (Medium to Hard Level)

• Brief introduction, then directly moved to problem-solving.
• Coding Question 1: Find the maximum element in a binary tree.
• Follow-up DSA problem similar to Binary Tree Maximum Path Sum.
• Another question similar to Asteroid Collision.

Round 2: Technical (Hard Level)

• Conducted by a senior engineer.
• Operating System concepts: Defragmentation, Thrashing, Memory Management concepts, Virtual memory (deep dive into each concept).
• C++ questions: Auto storage class, explain virtual functions with an example and their use case.
• DSA problem: A twisted version of the LRU Cache (explained logic and wrote pseudo-code).

Round 3: Managerial/Technical (Medium Level)

• Hiring manager asked about previous rounds.
• Resume-based discussion: Explained projects from the previous organization, role, and contributions to runtime improvements.
• Object-Oriented Design: Explain the Singleton class, how to ensure thread safety in its implementation, and write the code for it.
• Deep-dive discussion on Abstraction, Virtual classes, Vtable, and Vptr.
• Coding problem: Similar to Reverse Nodes in K Group (explained approach and wrote pseudo-code due to time constraints).