First Round: Telephonic Interview with Manager

Questions included:

• Use of static in C & C++ (static variables, static functions)
• What can be done in C++ that cannot be done in C?
• Difference between struct and class regarding data members and member functions
• Difference between TCP and UDP
• Flow control mechanisms in TCP (e.g., windowing)
• What was learned in the wireless communications course?
• What is 802.11 a/b/c/ad?
• Tell me about yourself

Selected for the next round: Onsite Interview at San Jose (Each interview lasted 45 minutes).

Round 1: Lunch Interview

Followed by questions related to:

• Past experience
• Any job offers
• Experience in C and self-rating
• Finding the output of C pointer code provided on a sheet
• Projects (specifically regarding latency)

Round 2

Questions asked about:

• Resume
• Whiteboard coding in C:
  • Finding the output of C pointer code.
  • Writing code to determine the machine's endianness (little-endian or big-endian).
• OSI Model network layers with protocol examples.
• Data link layer format (indicating what addresses 1, 2, and 3 represent in the MAC header).
• TCP vs. UDP differences.
• Connection-oriented vs. connectionless.
• Memory explanation based on static, global, register, and extern variables.
• Difference between macros and functions.
• Virtual memory.
• Tasks of the preprocessor and compiler.

Round 3

Given four code functions on paper to write:

• Find bugs and output in C pointer code.
• Count the number of set bits in an integer.
• Determine the machine's endianness (little-endian or big-endian).
• Convert big-endian to little-endian.
• How to prevent stack overflow.
• Does endianness matter to programmers?
• What is byte order in terms of endianness for networks? (Answer: Big-endian is called network byte order).
• What do you know about Atheros?

Round 4

Questions about:

• Resume topics covered in Wireless Communication and Mobile Wireless Networks courses.
• Projects.
• Explanation of WLAN in brief.
• Differences between malloc vs. calloc.
• What are realloc and free?
• Stack vs. heap.
• Writing a C function to reverse the bits of a number.
• Counting the number of set bits in a number.

Round 5

Questions about:

• Resume projects.
• Writing a C function to:
  • Count the number of set bits in a number.
  • Reverse a string.
• Which sorting algorithm would you use?

Round 6

Questions about:

• Resume projects.
• Writing C functions to:
  • Reverse the bits of a number.
  • Count the number of set bits in a number.
• Writing a macro to return 1 if a number is greater than another. (Answer: #define max(a, b) (((a) > (b)) ? (a) : (b)))

1. Use of static type in C & C++ (static variable, static function).

2. What can we do in C++ that we cannot do in C?

3. Difference between struct and class in terms of data members as well as function members.

4. Difference between TCP and UDP.

5. Flow control mechanism in TCP (like windowing, etc.).

6. What did you learn in a wireless communications course?

7. What is 802.11 a/b/c/ad?