Skip to contentSkip to footer
  • Community
  • Jobs
  • Companies
  • Salaries
  • For employers
      Notifications

      Loading...

      Elevate your career

      Discover your earning potential, land dream jobs, and share work-life insights anonymously.

      employer cover photo
      employer logo
      employer logo

      Apple

      Engaged employer

      About
      Reviews
      Pay and benefits
      Jobs
      Interviews
      Interviews
      Related searches: Apple reviews | Apple jobs | Apple salaries | Apple benefits | Apple conversations
      Apple interviewsApple Firmware Engineer interviewsApple interview


      Glassdoor

      • About / Press
      • Awards
      • Blog
      • Research
      • Contact Us
      • Guides

      Employers

      • Free Employer Account
      • Employer Centre
      • Employers Blog

      Information

      • Help
      • Guidelines
      • Terms of Use
      • Privacy and Ad Choices
      • Do Not Sell Or Share My Information
      • Cookie Consent Tool
      • Security

      Work With Us

      • Advertisers
      • Careers
      Download the App

      • Browse by:
      • Companies
      • Jobs
      • Locations
      • Communities
      • Recent posts

      Copyright © 2008-2026. Glassdoor LLC. "Glassdoor," "Worklife Pro," "Bowls" and logo are proprietary trademarks of Glassdoor LLC.

      Company Bowl sample

      Want the inside scoop on your own company?

      Check out your Company Bowl for anonymous work chats.

      Bowls

      Get actionable career advice tailored to you by joining more bowls.

      Followed companies

      Stay ahead in opportunities and insider tips by following your dream companies.

      Job searches

      Get personalised job recommendations and updates by starting your searches.

      Firmware Engineer Interview

      16 Jan 2013
      Anonymous interview candidate
      No offer
      Difficult interview

      Application

      I applied through an employee referral. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at Apple

      Interview

      I had applied a number of times online. I didn't get any response from anyone in HR until I had an employee referral. The process moved very quickly. From the time I got my first email from HR to the time I was on-site doing an in-person interview was 7 days. There was some emails exchanged with HR then two phone interviews. The first phone interview was with the hiring manager. This was a pleasant conversation that lasted about 30 minutes. Some very high-level technical questions were asked but nothing too serious. The second phone interview was two days later with 3 people from his team. They sent me a link to a website that would allow me to write code and they could watch in real time. This was used as they asked me technical questions for about 45 minutes. I was then asked to fly out to Cupertino for an on-site interview. Interviews were scheduled from 10am to 5pm straight, where there was 1.5 hour block startin at 11:30 for lunch. Most of my interview sessions were either 30 minutes or 45 minutes. The first session was with two engineers and they started throwing all sorts of coding and technical level questions at me. I then had a one-on-one session with the hiring manager then a few more sessions. Finally, when the lunch session came, two engineers came and got me and brought me to get the cafeteria. We took our food to go and went into a conference room where they continued to interview me. I didn't really get to eat since I was busy talking. When they were done, the HR person came in and told me that my skill set didn't match what they were looking for and I was free to go. I was scheduled to interview until 5pm and it was only 1pm. Needless to say, my ego was a little bruised.

      Interview questions [2]

      Question 1

      Write your own version of atoi().
      Answer question

      Question 2

      Explain how RS232 works from a hardware level? What are the areas of concern when writing firmware to drive an RS232 UART when strictly using GPIO pins?
      1 Answer
      15

      Other Firmware Engineer interview reviews for Apple

      Firmware Engineer Interview

      21 Mar 2026
      Anonymous interview candidate
      Cupertino, CA
      No offer
      Positive experience
      Average interview

      Application

      I applied online. I interviewed at Apple (Cupertino, CA) in Feb 2026

      Interview

      Technical screening was directly and only coding. Didn't ask intro or anything. Try to explain theory concepts in between coding, they seem to like it. Basic C question, pointer arithmatic, bit manipuation etc,

      Interview questions [1]

      Question 1

      Aligned & Free Malloc, pointer arithmatic, Bit manipulation and Array Question. Overall it was easy, I didn't perform well due to nervousness.
      Answer question

      Firmware Engineer Interview

      8 Feb 2026
      Anonymous interview candidate
      No offer
      Negative experience
      Difficult interview

      Application

      I applied online. I interviewed at Apple in Jan 2026

      Interview

      The role description was pretty vague, listing only desiring a number of years of C++ experience, an embedded systems background, and strong programming/debugging skills. The recruiter moved me onto the first technical screen with the hiring manager. I was told that the main objective of this screen was to assess my coding ability. During the technical screen, which was friendly and professional to be fair, I was able to pass the coding question and come up with the correct solution. I was also asked technical questions. I knew the answers to some, but others were, imo, extremely niche and domain specific, and my current experience didn't cover those. I was then ghosted for three weeks. I had to ask for an update from the recruiter, who finally informed me that the team didn't find me to be the right fit. It's clear that the recruiter and hiring manager don't actually agree on what they want. The process ended up feeling like a huge waste of time.

      Interview questions [1]

      Question 1

      Live coding question: move raw data stored in packed 12-bit integers and 64-byte rows, with padding, into an NxM matrix of 16-bit integers.
      1 Answer

      Firmware Engineer Interview

      11 Dec 2025
      Anonymous interview candidate
      No offer
      Positive experience
      Difficult interview

      Application

      I interviewed at Apple

      Interview

      code interview using C++ and solving 2 problems and explain about the fundamental knowledge about electrical engineering code interview using C++ and solving 2 problems and explain about the fundamental knowledge about electrical engineering

      Interview questions [1]

      Question 1

      code interview using C++ and solving 2 problems and explain about the fundamental knowledge about electrical engineering
      Answer question