Valeo interview experience
Part one :
1 The interviewer and the interviewee introduce themselves
I mentioned in the cv the knowledge of MISRA C and git/github, and I was asked
what I know about them
2 You are requested to talk about a project that you're comfortable with and through
it, You will get to explain the main embedded systems concepts like (adc pwm serial
communications... etc )
*I explained the concepts in details using illustrations and equations ... No code was
required, only how each component was configured.
3 I was asked directly what do you know about " Data Structures "
Then, I was asked to simply construct a linked list that contains the elements 1,2,3
Then, I was asked to make a linked list in an unconventional way of not using
dynamic allocation or arrays
4 I was asked to make a "complete executable program" which is a simple
compression algorithm that accepts an array of 8 bytes erase the MSB and
concatenate the bytes so at the end instead of having 8 bytes you will have 7 bytes
Through out discussing the program, I was asked about the scope of the memory in a
program where the variables are kept ... etc
I was asked about the startup code and bootloaders
Can I edit the memory locations ?
Return by value and return by reference.
Why always the array is sent as a pointer and not by its value?
Part Two:
At the end I asked about some carrier guidance tips :
What microcontrollers are currently used in the industry and would knowing
various versions of the same processor is important like for example knowing different
arm versions (tiva C and stm32 for example) ?
Currently, The industry use 8bit (which have the challenge of writing codes for
small resources ), and 32bits and not the 16bit ones as their costs is too close to the 32
ones but of course the 8bits are still very cheap compared to the 32bits so they are still
in use
knowing different versions of microcontrollers is not important (...I believe bcz companies use AUTOSAR ??!)
Is embedded linux used in the industry !?
Embedded linux cannot be used widely in the automotive industry, As it doesn't
“directly” support real time response (and I was asked to search on why :D), but is
used in interfacing the screens.
Further, I was advised to deeply study operating systems mainly “RTOS” and data
structures.
Review :
Embedded systems interviews are all the same, in focusing on the same topics, solve
several related questions and practice on an IDE.