Qualcomm Interview Experience For Graphics Software Engineer (Off-Campus) 2024

Qualcomm Bangaluru Off-campus Hiring for Graphics Software Engineer role.

So to start with I am a final year student of MCA from VIT University. I have done projects on Graphics development using OpenGL and Vulkan APIs and also worked on real-time Ray tracing and Path tracing. Ray Marching and many more. You can check out my LinkedIn for more info about my Profile.

It was important to tell you about the projects I have done because those got my resume selected, so I got a referral through LinkedIn, then my resume got shortlisted, and then these rounds followed with it.

Round 1:

For me, this round was skipped and the reason they told me was that they were so impressed by my resume that they wanted to start the interview directly, more on this later on.

But it is usually an online Test on HIrePro Platform which was proctored. The First Round is totally based on MCQs with negative markings. It was divided into three sections and 30 minutes for each. Each Section contained 20 questions.

• Aptitude
• Programming Questions
• Operating System, Computer Networks, Computer Architecture, and Data Structure Algorithm based

Round 2:

It was an Interview Round on MS Teams. For writing and sharing code an online code sharing Tool was used. This round took 2 hours. Following are all the questions that were asked.

Graphics Development questions: These were the questions based on my resume, they asked questions from my projects, like I have done a project on Raytracing engine using Vulkan, so he asked many questions on that, I told him how in this project, first I have done the ray intersection computation by solving the Quadratic equation using the quadratic formula as each ray which gets out of the pixel is a vector (it has a direction and size) which makes it a line and I just solved the equation to get on which points does that line intersects with the objects on the 3D space and in my case it was a simple sphere, so I detected using quadratic formula whether that line intersects with the circle. So these computations were being done on the CPU side and then after generating the image, I transferred it to the ImageView in Vulkan using a buffer to be displayed on the surface.

So like this, I explained to him about my projects and how I would use the Vulkan raytracing extensions to implement the raytracing on the GPU side, he also asked about the acceleration structures, which can be used to make the raytracing faster.

Problem-solving questions: Then he asked me to implement some programs using C++, some of them were DSA questions and some were functions that are most commonly used in computer graphics. Following were the questions he asked.

Language-Specific(C and C++ Based on your Resume)

Implement a method to copy the data from one memory space to another, and you are provided with the address of the first block of memory,

and there were other easy to medium-level questions, but the key is not how fast or how easily you solve the question, the key is that you have to keep communicating with the interviewer while solving the problem at hand, like keep telling him how you are thinking to solve the problem and start with the naive approach then tell its complexity then go for optimized approach, and all this while keeping the flow of communication, keep the interviewer indulged and with this approach, he will also help you with your approach and it’s the best approach to go for.

Round 3:

Then another interviewer started taking the interview, this one happened on the continuation of Round 2. This round took 1 hour

This interviewer focused mostly on the problem-solving approach, he gave me some DSA questions and they were of medium level, he also asked questions on Vector mostly on how vectors work. and I followed the same approach as I was told in Round 2, always remember the approach and keep communicating is the way to crack these so-called DSA rounds, they aren’t expecting the best solutions out of you. They are expecting you to have a good approach, which is to start from the naive way to solve the question and then optimise it further, while keep talking about the approaches you are taking.

Round 4:

This round took place the next day, and it took approximately 1 hour.

This round was more focused on the skills I possess, the Interviewer asked me questions on Vulkan development, he asked about different concepts of Vukan, and then he started asking questions more on Raytracing, he asked more about acceleration structures, how they work, what they are.

And at the end talked to me about my post-graduation, when it’s completed and all.

Then I asked him about the feedback, for which he told me that, as far as my concern you are a good fit (these are not the exact words, but this is what he meant) and told me that we will have to discuss it with other interviewers too, and then soon the result will be conveyed.

Verdict:

So exactly 1 month after this interview process started, the Hiring staff called me first he told me that we couldn’t go forward with my application when I asked why, because I knew that all my interviews went well, and the interviewers were also happy with my performance, then he told me that as per our policy, we hire only MTech students for this post and you are an MCA student, he told me that your interviews went very well that is why we took this much time discussing whether to hire you or not but at the en,d we can’t go forward with your application due to your education background, he told me that if you have had a year of experience that we would have selected you.

The interview experience was great, I enjoyed it all, but I didn’t get selected even after having the required skills because of my educational background, but I can’t do anything about it Qualcomm can’t go against their policy and I will have to move on.

After Math:

Overall interview process is focused on your fundamentals of Graphics Development, Vulkan, OpenGL, and Computer Science. I have prepared core subjects from YouTube, GeeksforGeeks, GPU Gems, Graphics Codex, The Cherno, and Vulkan-tutorial.com. Also, GeeksforGeeks Qualcomm archives were very helpful to me. The interviewers in all rounds were very helpful. They gave me hints in some questions where I was stuck. Always discuss the approach first with the interviewer then only write code so that he could help you if you are going wrong.

Best of luck!!