Mobile, Embedded & VLSI Interview

Activity and Fragment lifecycle, configuration changes, process death and state restoration, and why ViewModel and SavedStateHandle exist · Jetpack Compose: composable functions, recomposition, state hoisting, remember and derivedStateOf, side effects, and migrating from XML views · Architecture: MVVM and clean architecture, repository pattern, Hilt or Dagger for dependency injection, modularisation and unidirectional data flow · Concurrency with Kotlin coroutines and Flow: structured concurrency, dispatchers, cancellation, StateFlow versus SharedFlow, and the mistakes that leak or block · Networking and persistence: Retrofit and OkHttp, interceptors, caching and retries on flaky Indian networks, Room, DataStore and offline-first design · Performance and quality: memory leaks, ANRs, jank and the frame budget, Profiler, baseline profiles, R8 and app size for low-end devices · Background work and system constraints: WorkManager, foreground services, Doze and battery restrictions, runtime permissions and notification changes across API levels · Release engineering: Gradle and build variants, signing, Play Console, staged rollouts, crash reporting with Firebase Crashlytics and target SDK requirements

13+ seeded questions

Swift fundamentals the panel checks: optionals, value versus reference types, protocols and generics, closures, and error handling · Memory management: ARC, strong, weak and unowned references, retain cycles in closures and delegates, and finding leaks with Instruments · UIKit versus SwiftUI: view controller lifecycle, Auto Layout, SwiftUI state (@State, @Binding, @ObservedObject, @StateObject, Observable), and mixing both in one app · Concurrency: Grand Central Dispatch, async/await, actors, main-thread rules, Sendable and data races · Architecture: MVC, MVVM, coordinators, Combine, dependency injection and testability with XCTest · Networking and persistence: URLSession, Codable, Core Data or SwiftData, Keychain for secrets, caching and offline behaviour · Performance and quality: launch time, scrolling performance, Instruments (Time Profiler, Allocations), crash logs and symbolication · App Store and release: provisioning profiles and certificates, TestFlight, App Store Review Guidelines, privacy manifests and App Tracking Transparency

13+ seeded questions

Flutter widget tree and rendering: StatelessWidget versus StatefulWidget, build and the element tree, keys, const constructors and avoiding unnecessary rebuilds · State management choices and trade-offs: Provider, Riverpod, Bloc, GetX in Flutter; Redux, Zustand, Context and React Query in React Native · React Native architecture: the JavaScript thread versus the UI thread, the new architecture (JSI, Fabric, TurboModules), Hermes and bridging · Platform channels and native modules: when you must write Kotlin or Swift, calling native SDKs for payments, maps or biometrics, and keeping both platforms in sync · Navigation, deep links and app lifecycle on both platforms, including background behaviour and push notifications · Performance: 60 or 120 fps, jank diagnosis with DevTools or Flipper, image handling, list virtualisation, app size and startup time on low-end Android phones · Testing and release: widget and integration tests or Jest and Detox, CI with Codemagic or Fastlane, code push or Shorebird, and store submission for both platforms · Deciding cross-platform versus native: when Flutter or RN is the wrong choice, and explaining it to a product manager

13+ seeded questions

Embedded C and the hardware boundary: volatile, bit manipulation, memory-mapped registers, pointers and alignment, startup code and the linker script · Microcontroller fundamentals: ARM Cortex-M architecture, clock trees, GPIO, timers and PWM, ADC and DAC, watchdog timers and low-power modes · Interrupts: vector tables, priorities and nesting, ISR design, latency, race conditions and sharing data between ISR and main loop · Communication protocols: UART, I2C (addressing, clock stretching, pull-ups), SPI (modes, chip select), CAN basics, and debugging them with a logic analyser · RTOS concepts with FreeRTOS or Zephyr: tasks and scheduling, priority inversion and priority inheritance, semaphores, mutexes, queues, and stack sizing · Memory and resources: stack versus heap, fragmentation, static allocation, flash wear, and fitting firmware into a few hundred kilobytes · Debugging and tools: JTAG and SWD, GDB and OpenOCD, hard faults and reading a stack trace, oscilloscope basics and reading a datasheet · Firmware lifecycle: bootloaders and OTA updates, versioning, testing on hardware-in-the-loop, Linux device drivers and Yocto for embedded Linux roles

13+ seeded questions

Digital design fundamentals: combinational versus sequential logic, FSM design, setup and hold, metastability, synchronisers and clock domain crossing · RTL coding in Verilog or SystemVerilog: blocking versus non-blocking assignments, synthesisable constructs, latches by mistake, resets and parameterised design · Verification methodology: testbench architecture, UVM components (sequencer, driver, monitor, scoreboard), constrained random stimulus and functional coverage closure · SystemVerilog assertions and formal basics: immediate versus concurrent assertions, properties, and when formal verification beats simulation · Static timing analysis: critical paths, slack, multicycle and false paths, on-chip variation, and fixing a timing violation in RTL versus in the backend · Low power and physical awareness: clock gating, power domains, UPF, area versus speed versus power trade-offs, and DFT and scan basics · Protocols and IP the industry asks about: AMBA AXI and APB handshakes, FIFOs and arbiters, memory interfaces, and designing a small block on the whiteboard · Tools and flow: simulation (VCS, Xcelium, Questa), synthesis (Design Compiler, Genus), lint and CDC tools, and scripting in Python, Tcl or Perl for the flow

13+ seeded questions