Infineon Technologies visited our campus (NIT Agartala) on 14th August 2023 for two roles R&D engineer and Application Engineer. The basic eligibility criteria were at least 70 % in class 10th and 12th with a CGPA of 7 and above and no active backlog. Eligible branches were CSE, ECE, EE.
Round 1: Shortlisting based on CGPA. Top 100 students were selected to appear for the pre placement talk and online assessment round.
Round 2. Online Assessment. It was scheduled on 16th August 2023. The platform was Geek Assess. Each candidate was given two options either hardware or software to take test. I had given it from hardware. There were 3 sections and each having 14 questions with 20 minutes of time limit.
- Section 1: Aptitude. It had questions from quantitative, logical and verbal. Difficulty was moderate. I was able to solve 11 questions correctly.
- Section 2: Digital Electronics. It had questions from Sequential Circuits (Synchronous Counters), Number Representation, Delay in Asynchronous Circuits, Output of Complex logic gates. Difficulty was hard. I was able to solve 12 questions correctly. Suggestion: Try to practice Gate previous year questions.
- Section 3: Core Electronics. It had questions from Analog Circuits, Electronic Devices, Microprocessor and Analog VLSI. Difficulty was moderate. I was able to solve 10 questions correctly. Suggestion: Revise the class notes of these subjects that will be enough.
Results were declared in the evening and 30 students were able to clear the round.
Round 3: Resume Shortlisting. The candidates who have cleared the online test were asked to submit their resume. Out of 30 students only 10 students resume was shortlisted for the interview.
Suggestion: Try to mention Digital Electronics, Microprocessors and Microcontrollers, Embedded C as skills in the resume.
Round 4: Technical Interview. It was scheduled at 11 Am on 18th August 2023 on CISCO Webex platform. It started with the formal introduction of the interviewer. He then asked me to introduce myself. After that he told me that Infineon is very specific about the role for which they are hiring.
- He then asked me how do I rate myself in microprocessor and microcontroller. I replied 8/10.
- He asked me to explain the basic architecture of microcontroller and how it differs from microprocessor. I answered explaining each block of architecture.
- He asked me to explain the difference between Von Neuman Architecture and Harvard Architecture and to give a practical scenario where both can be implemented. I explained him taking the example of 8085 microprocessor and 8051 microcontroller.
- He then asked me what is the need to fabricate 16-bit microcontroller we can do it simply by cascading 8-bit microcontroller. I answered it using clock delay and the interviewer was quite satisfied.
- He asked me about interrupt service routine and how does microprocessor handle multiple interrupts and also about usage of interrupts. I explained usage of each interrupt and functionality of interrupt service routine.
- He asked me about how to optimize interrupt service routine. I told him about optimization which is done by avoiding the loops. He was satisfied.
- He then asked me about frequency of 8051 microcontroller. I told him 12 Mhz. Then he gave a simple numerical to calculate the machine cycle of 8051. I was able to solve it.
- He asked me about how negative numbers are stored in registers. I told him in 2’s Complement form. Then he asked me what is the range of numbers including negative numbers that can be stored in a 16-bit processor. I answered him using the formula -(2n-1 ) to (2n-1-1). He was quite satisfied.
- He then asked me whether I know about embedded C. I told him that I have basic understanding about it.
- He asked me about basic keywords like volatile, const, static. Also, he asked me about macros, segmentation error and how to modify a value of variable if it is declared const? I was able to answer all of them except macros which I forgot, but the interviewer was very much supportive and he explained me macros.
- He then asked me to share my screen and write a switch case program in embedded c to set, reset and toggle a bit. I was able to code it within 2 minutes and explained him the intuition using a random bit stream. He was satisfied.
- At the last phase of interview, he asked me about my project. I explained it briefly. As my project was on python he asked me real life usage of pandas and I gave some examples using data frame. He asked me if I had any questions, I asked him about my feedback. He replied saying that I was having very good grasp over microcontroller and microprocessor as well as embedded C.
The interview lasted for about 65 minutes and immediately after HR told me that I have been shortlisted for the second round.
Only 3 students from our campus were able to clear this round.
Round 5: Managerial Round. This round was scheduled on 2 Pm on 18th August. The round started with the formal introduction of the interviewer. He told me that he is the Senior Manager working on embedded system at Infineon. Then he asked me introduce myself. After introduction he asked me how was the technical round what was my experience. I told him that it was great experience and the interviewer was also very supportive.
- He then asked me to give some real-life examples of embedded systems. I told him about washing machine, smart bulb, smart inverter AC.
- He then asked me about my family background and why I was interested in joining Infineon. I told him that I had joined Electronics and Communication instead of Computer Science because of my interest in semiconductor.
- He was impressed with my CGPA and asked me about three achievements of my life. I told him about my Internship at IITGN, my gate qualification and also about my institute rank.
- He then moved towards the behavioral questions. He had given me a situation like you are given a particular team at Infineon but the team members are not co-operative, they do not properly communicate with you neither do they invite you for lunch or dinner. In that what I would do?
- I gave him a diplomatic answer saying that I would try to first introspect myself if there is nothing wrong with me then I would consult with the manager and take guidance from.
- He had given another question and it was the last one. He told me that “Your manager has given you a task to complete in 10 days but you know from your past experience that it is not possible to complete the task in 10 days in that situation what would you do?” I answered it saying that giving up is not an option rather I would love to take the responsibility to complete the task in 10 days and if there are some constraints, I would ask help from my team.
- Then he asked me if I had any questions. I asked him about job security at Infineon and also about flexibility of working. He told me that they never do layoff rather they recruit very less. He also told me it was after two years that they were recruiting for their team and they only had 15 vacancy which they for which they are conducting drive all over India. Regarding flexibility he told me that internal switching is possible after 1 year.
The interview lasted for almost 30 minutes and experience was good.
After interview HR told me that it had been a long day for me so now, I should take rest and they will send the result to college within evening.
At 7pm the results were declared two students were selected and I was one of them.
The CTC provided by Infineon was very good as the base was very high and it was at par with market