Qualcomm Incorporated is an American multinational semiconductor and telecommunications equipment company that designs and markets wireless telecommunications products and services. Qualcomm is the world leader in 3G, 4G, and next-generation wireless technology innovations for more than 30 years. It derives most of its revenue from chipmaking and the bulk of its profit from patent licensing businesses. The company is headquartered in San Diego, California, United States, and has 224 locations worldwide.
Stage-1
CPI cut-off : 7.0 and above
Branches allowed : CSE, IT, ECE, EE
Job Profile : Both software & Hardware
Provision of PPO : Yes
Stage-2
It was an online MCQ based test. It consists of 3 sections having 20 questions each.
( Time: 30 mins each section: 90 mins overall, Contains negative marking(+4,-1) ).
1. Logical Reasoning and Aptitude - In this section questions were asked from topics like: Time, Speed and Distance, Time and work, Boats and streams, Trains, Averages, mixtures, Probability, permutation and combinations. Also there will be two paragraphs which will include 5 questions each. The difficulty level of one paragraph will be hard. So try figuring that out, and try to attempt in the last only, as it will consume too much of your time. Overall, the aptitude level was easy to moderate. With some practice you can easily go through it. The main thing that creates a difference here is speed. So try to increase your speed as much as you can.
2. Basic Programming - It consists of C++ and C output based questions from topics like operator precedence order, pointers, structures, memory-related problems,etc. This section was little bit difficult as compared to other 2 sections.This is the section that creates a really big difference. Try solving quizzes on C/C++ on geeksforgeeks.
3. Technical Aptitude - This section was different for hardware and software profile.
For Hardware Profile - It mainly consists of questions from digital electronics related to FSM, Flip-flops, counters, k-maps, combinational circuits,etc. Moreover, it also had 3-4 questions from CMOS(implementation of basic gates, finding the output function that a given cmos circuit implements) and 2 questions from microprocessor(number of clock cycles required in executing instruction, status of a register after executing some instruction).
For Software Profile - This section consisted of questions regarding time complexities, data structures and algorithms, computer architecture ,OS and DBMS(not many). Questions from OS,CA and DBMS were not in depth.
Stage-3
Interview Experience 1 : Hardware Profile
Technical Interview:
The interview started with the usual questions like "Tell me something about yourself ?". So think beforehand about these type of questions or else you should have that spontaneity to converse with the interviewer.
1. I was anxious about how my interview will proceed, so I did stammer in the start. But the interviewer asked me to chill. He asked me if I wanted something or not. In nutshell, the interviewer made the atmosphere comfortable. So you don't have to be anxious.
2. My interview started with my chess skills. It was more like having a general discussion about the tournaments I played, when did I start ? What is my motivation to play better? and which grandmasters do I love watching ? It went for about 10 minutes.
3. Then, some technical questions :
3.1 Draw CMOS Inverter, mention all the terminals. Explain why body and source are shorted.
3.2 Asked me truth tables of 4-5 basic gates. I thought there would be a trick behind this question, but there was nothing. I think all he wanted to check there was speed.
3.3 Make D flip-flop using NAND gates.
3.4 Then he asked me questions about the projects I made. Asked me to explain my projects.
3.5 Asked me about setup time and hold Time. Also, asked me to explain it with the help of diagram.
4. Then he had a short discussion about bhangra. As I am a member of bhangra committee and I had mentioned in my resume.
5. Then he asked me if I have any questions, So I just asked if I could get a feedback of how my interview went.
Usually, Technical round follows by HR round but due to time constraint, it was omitted.
My Personal Tips :
Try to engage yourself in extra- curricular activities. Try to do something extra than the academics alone. Also, work on your communication skills. Many times it happens that you know everything, but you fail to express that. Make your interview more as an interactive session. This worked for me completely. I hope it does to you too. Communication skill does play a vital role. My interviewer did complement me saying I have good communication skills.
ECE Batch of 2021
Interview Experience 2 : Software Profile
Technical Interview:
My interview started with the most obvious question “Tell me something about yourself”. I talked about my hobbies, strengths ,weaknesses etc . This question is basically intended for you to shed your anxiety and open up with your interviewer for the questions to come. Next he asked me about the expectations I have as an intern and my interests in company’s technologies .So google a little bit about the company you are applying for before appearing for its interview .Then he asked me certain questions about bit manipulation, both logical questions and codes. I don’t remember the exact questions but most of them were short logical ones from geeksforgeeks. There were few questions about garbage collection, memory management and some basics of C, C++(majorly) and JAVA(not much, just 1 question). If you are an ECE student, like me, be prepared with one of your electronics’ subjects besides data structures and algorithms. Since I had mentioned digital electronics in my resume, a few questions about universal gates, implementation of logics and other basics were also asked. At the end, he asked me if I had any questions for him, to which I responded inquisitively and asked about the projects we might expect during our internship. He quite calmly explained me about the various projects they have assigned in the past and about the technologies they are working on presently.
We were expecting another interview, HR round , but because of lack of time we had none and the results were declared after this round.
Personal Tips :
Most importantly be confident while you answer. To have a healthy and positive start be prepared with the general HR questions .While answering the technical questions, don’t be quite for long , if you are not sure about the solution try guiding the interviewer through your approach. Know your resume well. Hope this helps and all the best.
Anupa Sahu
ECE Batch of 2021
Results:
6 students(S/W-3, H/W-3; All from ECE) including Vatsal and Anupa were selected for the internship role at Qualcomm.
