I applied online and received a request for a phone interview a little over two weeks later.

The phone interview was technical. I was asked to send C code implementing usual linked list operations (insertion, deletion).

I was also asked about my experience in wireless. (This was for an embedded wireless firmware job, for which the business no longer exists.)

The on-site interview occurred a week later, which was faster than normal (typically two weeks after the phone interview).

About six people interviewed me, each for an hour.

The schedule was a bit dynamic because they were busy, so some scheduled interviewers were replaced by engineers as last-minute substitutions. This can be perceived negatively, potentially giving a poor impression of the group's organization. However, if you take it in stride, you realize it reflects how hectic the group is at the moment. This situation presents an opportunity to highlight your ability to perform well under stress.

All interviews consisted of in-depth technical questions, with no behavioral questions other than the initial one with HR.

Two interviewers asked embedded C questions:

• What is volatile?
• What is static?
• Describe the characteristics of an RTOS.
• How do you set bits in an int?

One interviewer posed a brain teaser (the one about a bird flying between two oncoming trains and calculating the total distance flown).

Another asked about wireless protocols (WCDMA, LTE), including how initial access works, the control channels, and the information contained within each control channel.

All interviewers reviewed my resume (as if seeing it for the first time!) and asked for details about the work I had done, requesting descriptions. This is a fair approach; if something is on your resume, you should be prepared to demonstrate that you performed well and were once an expert in that area.

The final interviewer was the hiring manager, who presented a mathematical problem and asked me to solve it.

He left for five minutes and then returned to ask if I had the answer. I did not, but I explained my plan of attack to show that I wasn't stumped, just exploring different solution methods. I eventually found the solution, but I was disappointed that I didn't solve it immediately.

He explained that he wanted to assess how I performed under pressure and emphasized that the job will be stressful at times.

Two trains are traveling towards each other at a certain closing speed and initial distance between them.

A bird, at another speed, is flying from one train to another, turning around every time it reaches a train.

How far does the bird fly before the trains collide?