C++ Interview Preparation Advice Needed
Hello, my background is in full stack development with c# and Typescript stack and I’m 2 years into my career after college graduation in CS degree, all with the same team.
I’m interested in a role that is focused on C++ embedded low-level programming which requires experience in C++ and understanding of hardware / memory / pipelining / registers / semaphores, because my interest and work style might be more suited for these type of engineering work.
How should I create a study or preparation plan to get myself ready for the interview so I am able to cut into this area? I have around 3-6 months to prepare. What projects and experience can be beneficial?
Discussion
(2 comments)- 17 months agoTech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course Hero
I did some quick searching and wasn't able to find any good side projects, which makes sense given that this is lower level. I was able to find this though: https://github.com/nhivp/Awesome-Embedded
Zooming out though, I have 3 broader pieces of feedback:
- Try to avoid over-indexing on 1 role - This post only mentions a singular role. In this market, it's way better to diversify and apply to many roles. From there, see which hiring managers are actually giving you interviews and extrapolate patterns from there (e.g. "I keep getting TypeScript front-end interviews with good companies, so I'll focus my studying efforts on that").
- Figure out what the interview will look like - Follow the advice here: "How to figure out what's going to be on an interview?". It's possible that the interview for this role isn't as technical as you imagine. I have heard of interviews being majority behavioral (including at FAANG).
- Don't forget the other interview pillars - In particular, I'm talking about DSA and behavioral. You can use these resources to level up here:
- 17 months agoTech Lead/Manager at Meta, Pinterest, Kosei
Alex's advice is spot-on. I'll add one thing: ask the recruiter.
Find an opportunity that fits your criteria ("C++ embedded low-level programming") and then simply ask the recruiter what to expect in the interview process.
You have plenty of time to prepare, so doing a quick interview as a "burner" to get familiar with the process and types of questions is 100% worthwhile.
