Qualcomm Associate Engineer Interview Questions, Process, and Tips

Round: Test
Experience: Tell me about yourself: tell something special about yourself and make yourself proud. Setup time and hold time Digital design, Combinational and sequential circuits design(thorough understanding of design steps) were some of the questions. appeared for VLSI written test. They expected very basic knowledge in Digital, analog, communication subjects. CAT type of questions and very basic Computer programming questions (Three sections each about 15-20 questions). Online test was very easy, so I think cutoff was high.
Tips: Be calm, relaxed and answer questions thoughtfully Attention to instructions is important.
Total Questions: 60

Round: Interview
Experience: Interview was completely oriented on Job profile: digital VLSI and some personal questions.
Tips: Be confident. Be clear in your answers and proper explanation to it. Take your time to think and act. If you don’t know something accept it. More importantly wear smile on your face. This automatically brings confidence within you.

Round: Interview
Experience: Some more VLSI design questions. Personal questions too.
Tips: Think and answer. Both Interview panels were very cool and calm. Take your time to think and answer.

Round: Interview
Experience: This was very formal interview. Not much to say.
Tips: Show your keen interest to know more about the company and activi-ties, corporate life, your work in company.

General Tips: Technology initiative and leadership. Good Academics really help a lot in the interview (There was no CV submission till we qualify Written test) Most important is a thorough preparation: Start as early as possible atleast in Mid of Oct./first week of Nov. starting from good CV preparation to brushing up and thorough understanding of all important subjects for Technology companies you are targeting.
Skill Tips: Good academic records. CGPA criteria for Qualcomm was 8 and they were very strict about CG cutoff. A thorough subject preparation. Be mentally prepared for HR questions. Be focused till you actually have offer in your hand. Tech events, Leadership qualities like positions in Hall, Gymkhana etc. in Tech committees would help a lot for these Technology companies. Qualcomm HR clearly mentioned they need candys who can take initiative, self motivated and more inclined to technology leadership and achievements.
College Name: IIT KHARAGPUR

Round: Test
Experience: Online test consists of 3 parts: 
1) Aptitude 
2) programming (C/C++, Data Structures) 
3) Technical. 
No negative marking. Apti and programming parts were easy. There were three different technical sections forthree different profiles: 1) Hardware 2) Communication/DSP 3) Software.I appeared for 2nd profile. In this, the technical section had question mostly from DSP, few from communication, analog circuits, digital circuits etc. Each section was given different amount of time. Time for the Technical section was less and I felt that this section was the deciding factor in short listing. There was a CGPA cutoff of 7.5 . My CGPA was 8.75.

Round: Interview
Experience: There were 3 rounds of interview out of which 2 were technical and 1 was HR round. Asked about thesis, term papers, trainings, and question on Digital logic circuits: to design FSM, designing simple logic circuits, delay & its calculation in the digital circuit, MOS etc. Few communication related questions, some puzzles and apti questions. In HR, they asked common HR questions like about yourself, Why qualcomm, training experience, any specific location preference etc. both the technical rounds were almost 40 minutes long and HR was 20 minutes.

General Tips: 1) Should be clear about your M.Tech thesis, B.Tech project, summer training, Term papers. Understand their terminologies and concepts since almost all companies ask about it.
2) For aptitude preparation, solve the material available in preparation portal, can see for online aptitude tests and puzzles and along with that appear honestly in the mock tests organized by SPO. Aim on accuracy and speed.
3) For Programming preparation, revise basic concepts of C and DS, you can use book by Denis Ritche, Yeshwant Kanetkar. Solve online mock programming tests, so you get aware of standard questions andmost common mistakes. Try to write some codes while preparing so that you will be confident writing infront of interviewer, especially of DS like linked list, trees, sorting, searching etc. I did not prepare for OS,but most of the software companies do ask questions on it. Galvin is the standard book for OS.
4) Technical: very vast field includes all the course and practical knowledge you have been studying. Basicconcepts should be clear. Prepare Digital circuit design, Communication, Wireless Communication, DSP,
Computer networks, and most importantly subjects of your interest 
5) Do prepare in groups, it will help you in clearing your doubts and also it will improve your interview skills. Mock interviews are also organized for your confidence building.
College Name: IIT KANPUR

Round: Test
Experience: Questions based on O.S., compiler, DS, and C. The questions were basic, testing normal knowledge.
Total Questions: 20-25

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: It was a 20-minute round. Apart from the questions mentioned, one puzzle regarding number of rectangles on a chessboard was given.
Tips: Over all preparation in C, DSP course, OS and course in networking helps.

Round: HR Interview
Tips: Know about the company, PPT and website.

College Name: IIT KANPUR

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: The interview was completely technical which I was not prepared for. But, later I interviewed with Samsung and got selected.

College Name: IIT KANPUR

Round: Test
Experience: aptitude was as usual.
Technical was tough. lots of concepts were revisited. Digital systems, analog circuits, Computer Oraganization etc.
Tips: For aptitude general prep for placements is enough.
If you want to get seriously placed for Qualcomm then you must be thorough with all the courses i mentioned.
Only Mtechs have cleared the test. Even in the extended shortlist there were no Btechs. Everyone may not be lucky as myself in getting a Walk-in interview.

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: Basic questions on Digital Systems. Some aptitude questions.
General questions about interests and future goals.
Tips: Questions were easy if u have prepared even a little bit.
Get shortlisted for interview and then it must be easy to crack.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: Maybe i was already hired, as no questions were asked. She actually gave me an idea of how the work is going to be in Qualcomm Chennai.
Tips: Just clear the test and tech interview and you most likely will get the job.

General Tips: Prepare well and be cool during the interviews.
Skills: Digital Systems
College Name: IIT MADRAS
Motivation: Its core and a well established MNC with lots of future possibilities.

Round: Test
Experience: The placement website mentioned that you can choose either the VLSI stream or the DSP stream and the online test was held accordingly. I wrote the DSP test and I was prepared only for a DSP interview and I was feeling pretty confident. However during the interview I was told that the Bangalore plant hires only VLSI Design engineers, so I decided to give it a go anyway but my lack of preparation led to my doom.
Tips: I didn't use any online content, the curriculum covered by the EC dept. is sufficient.

Round: Other Interview
Experience: Make the interviewer ask you questions based on your strengths. They only try to assess how well you can understand something you actually like.

General Tips: The overall experience is a pain for people who have specific interests. Do not rely on information available on the placement website and wait for companies especially if placements are not your top priority.
My suggestion is to prepare well for the first few companies and get placed soon. You can sit off campus for companies you really like if all else fails.
College Name: NIT SURATHKAL